2.3 Validation of the AADL Meta Model
The AADL meta model has been validated through the construction of an Open Source AADL Tool Environment (OSATE).  This environment has been built as a set of plug-ins to the Eclipse environment and is itself extensible.  OSATE includes an AADL parser that translates textual AADL specifications into in-core declarative AADL models.  Those declarative AADL models are persistently stored in XML according to the AADL meta model specification.  OSATE also includes a semantic checker, various architecture analysis plug-ins, an XML to AADL text translator, an AADL object model editor, and an AADL graphical editing front-end.
Other specifications of the AADL meta model are possible.  For example, the UML profile of the AADL includes a conceptual model of the AADL.  In the case of the UML profile, these concept specifications are being kept consistent with the AADL meta model specification in this annex. 
The conceptual model of AADL expressed by a collection of UML stereotypes and the Ecore meta model of the AADL differ primarily in how they represent the different forms of inheritance present in AADL.  In AADL, component implementations inherit features from component types.  Component types can inherit features from component types they extend.  Similarly, component implementations that extend other component implementations inherit subcomponents, connections, and other elements.  Finally, AADL has a rich set of inheritance rules for property values.  The Ecore AADL meta model takes advantage of these different forms of inheritance by not replicating inherited objects of an AADL model.  Instead, the AADL inheritance is part of the interpretation semantics of the AADL meta model.  This has the benefit of compact models and XML documents.  The interpretation of the different forms of AADL inheritance is realized through a library of AADL object model methods.  In other words, tools that operate on AADL models can utilize these methods to access component type features from a component implementation or to retrieve a property for a component instance whose value has been declared for the component type of the instance.
The UML profile of the AADL offers the possibility of a UML-based XML interchange representation for AADL models.  The XML schema and the XMI meta model specification for the AADL have been defined independent of such a UML-based XML interchange representation such that tool developers are not required to embrace UML and its interchange specification in order to support AADL-based architecture analysis and generation capabilities.  The alignment of the conceptual model in the UML profile with the AADL meta model allows for a simple translation between the AADL XML documents and UML-based XML documents of AADL models.