Softwaresysteme sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil in der heutigen digitalen Welt und müssen oft als fundamentales Investitionsgut von Unternehmen betrachtet werden. Deswegen benötigen solche Systeme eine betriebswirtschaftliche Sichtweise: der Wert als operatives System sowie als langfristige finanzielle Investition bezüglich zukünftiger Anforderungen. Die Grundlage jeden guten Softwaresystems liegt in dessen Architektur, dem Zusammenhang von allen Teilen und deren Beziehungen untereinander, dem inneren Aufbau und der Organisation der Teile. Der Zusammenhang zwischen guter Architektur und resultierender guter Evolutionsfähigkeit und Zukunftsfähigkeit eines Systems ist generell in den Meinungen vertreten. Jedoch liegen dazu nur wenige Literaturstellen vor, welche die Thematik tatsächlich mehr als nur empirisch aufzeigen. Diese Arbeit soll einen möglichen Weg aufzeigen, wie mithilfe eines modellbasierten Ansatzes ein kausaler und quantitiver Zusammenhang zwischen Architektur eines Softwaresystems und dem resultierenden betriebswirtschaftlichen Wert (im Sinne der Evolutionsfähigkeit) hergestellt werden kann.

Les approches basées sur les composants permettent de développer des logiciels en réutilisant des composants existant dans des bibliothèques. La structure d'un tel logiciel produit par assemblage de composants est définie à l'aide d'un langage de description d'architectures (ADL). Les processus de développement sont encore peu adaptés à ce paradigme. Ainsi, les ADL existants ne fournissent pas de véritable support au développement et à l'évolution des architectures logicielles à composants. Cette thèse propose Dedal, un ADL permettant de définir une architecture logicielle à différents niveaux d'abstraction qui correspondent aux étapes du cycle de vie du logiciel : sa spécification, son implémentation et son déploiement. La définition de l'architecture est complétée par un modèle du logiciel à l'exécution. La cohérence entre les différentes définitions d'une architecture doit être assurée : sa définition à un niveau d'abstraction doit être conforme à sa définition à un niveau supérieur. Ce principe permet de contrôler l'évolution d'une architecture, en validant les modifications réalisées à un certain niveau d'abstraction ou en motivant la création d'une nouvelle version pour propager les modifications entre niveaux d'abstraction et rétablir la cohérence. Ces mécanismes préviennent les problèmes d'érosion ou de dérive qui surviennent lors des évolutions entre les différents niveaux de définition des architectures. Un environnement couvrant le cycle de vie complet d'un logiciel à base de composants a été prototypé. Il comporte un atelier, permettant de décrire des architectures avec Dedal, puis un environnement d'exécution, extension des outils Fractal, capable de contrôler l'évolution des architectures déployées. L'évolution à l'exécution est réalisée de façon graduelle, de manière à faire fonctionner et à instrumenter les nouvelles versions pendant une phase de transition, avant de valider définitivement une modification. / Component-based approaches promote software development by reuse of existing components from a repository. The structure of such software is described as an assembly of software components using an architecture description language (ADL). Software development processes often do not comply with this paradigm yet. Consequently, existing ADLs do not fully support component-based software architecture development and evolution. This thesis proposes Dedal, an ADL to describe software architectures at several abstraction levels that correspond to the steps of software lifecycle: its specification, its implementation and its deployment. The architecture definition is completed with a runtime model of the software. Consistency between the various definitions of a given architecture must be maintained: its definition at some abstraction level must conform to its definition at a higher abstraction level. This consistency principle enables to control the evolution of architectures either validating changes performed at an abstraction level or motivating the creation of a new version, to propagate changes from an abstraction level to the other and restore their consistency. These mechanisms prevent from architecture erosion or drift which might occur between two different description levels after evolution. An environment that covers the whole lifecycle of component-based software has been prototyped. It includes a CASE tool that supports the Dedal-based description of architectures and a runtime environment that extends Fractal tools to control the evolution of the deployed software. Runtime evolution is performed gradually in order to have new versions run and instrumented during a transition phase before committing changes.

Face à l'augmentation de la taille et de la complexité des systèmeslogiciels, il convient de les décrire à un plus haut niveaud'abstraction (i.e., au-delà du code) avant de concrètement lesimplémenter. Toutefois, l'utilisation de ces descriptions de hautniveau dans les processus de construction et de vérification dessystèmes reste très rudimentaire, ne permettant pas de véritablementguider et faciliter le développement logiciel. Cette thèse propose une nouvelle approche pour rendre plus simple etplus sûr le développement de systèmes logiciels. Cette approche reposesur l'utilisation de langages dédiés et sur un couplage fort entre unecouche de spécification et d'architecture et une couched'implémentation. Elle consiste tout d'abord à décrire à un hautniveau d'abstraction différents aspects, à la fois fonctionnels et nonfonctionnels, d'un système dans la couche de spécification etd'architecture. Ces descriptions sont ensuite analysées et utiliséespour personnaliser la couche d'implémentation, afin de faciliter laconstruction et la vérification du système logiciel. Nous illustrons notre approche dans le domaine de l'informatiqueubiquitaire. À la suite d'une analyse complète du domaine, nous avonsconçu deux langages dédiés à l'orchestration d'objets communicants,Pantaxou et Pantagruel. / The sheer size and complexity of today's software systems posechallenges for both their programming and verification, making itcritical to raise the level of abstraction of software developmentbeyond the code. However, the use of high-level descriptions in thedevelopment process still remains rudimentary, improving and guidingthis process marginally.This thesis proposes a new approach to making software developmentsimpler and safer. This approach is based on the use ofdomain-specific languages and a tight coupling between a specificationand architecture layer, and an implementation layer. It consists ofdescribing functional and non-functional aspects of a software systemat a high level of abstraction, using the specification andarchitecture layer. These high-level descriptions are then analyzedand used to customize the implementation layer, greatly facilitatingthe programming and verification of the software system.We have validated our approach in the domain of pervasive computingsystems development. From a complete domain analysis, we haveintroduced two domain-specific languages, Pantaxou and Pantagruel,dedicated to the orchestration of networked smart devices.

This dissertation discusses a software application development framework. The framework supports developing software applications within the context of Joint Command and Control, which includes interoperability with network-centric systems as well as interoperability with existing legacy systems. The next generation of Command and Control systems are expected to be built on common architectures or enterprise middleware. Enterprise middleware does however not directly address integration with legacy Command and Control systems nor does it address integration with existing and future tactical systems like fighter aircraft. The software framework discussed in this dissertation enables existing legacy systems and tactical systems to interoperate with each other; it enables interoperability with the Command and Control enterprise; and it also enables simulated systems to be deployed within a real environment. The framework does all of this through a unique distributed architecture. The architecture supports both system interoperability and the simulation of systems and equipment within the context of Command and Control. This hybrid approach is the key to the success of the framework. There is a strong focus on the quality of the framework and the current implementation has already been successfully applied within the Command and Control environment. The current framework implementation is also supplied on a DVD with this dissertation. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Dispositivos móveis como smartphones e tablets são, atualmente, equipados com componentes de hardware que podem ser utilizados para a criação de soluções que auxiliam diversas atividades de pessoas com deficiência. Por exemplo, os sensores de um celular na mão de um usuário com deficiência motora podem ser utilizados para identificar movimentos da mão desse usuário e movimentar uma cadeira de rodas elétrica. Apesar de o uso de dispositivos móveis para fins de criação de soluções de acessibilidade ser explorado e documentado por muitos pesquisadores, verifica-se carência de infraestruturas que facilitem a criação de soluções para usuários com deficiência com base no uso dos recursos computacionais dos dispositivos móveis. Este trabalho apresenta um framework nativo para sistema operacional Android que provê bibliotecas para uso e integração dos diversos recursos desses dispositivos, como sensores, microfone e câmera, para auxiliar usuários com deficiência motora. O framework foi proposto com base em requisitos levantados por profissionais da área da saúde que trabalham no Centro Integrado de Reabilitação (CIR) pertencente ao Hospital Estadual de Ribeirão Preto (SP), e que reabilitam usuários com hemiparesia decorrente de Acidente Vascular Encefálico (AVE). Aplicações usando a infraestrutura proposta foram implementadas como provas de conceito que evidenciam a possibilidade de criação de soluções que usam e integram os principais componentes dos dispositivos móveis para auxiliar os usuários reabilitados. Apesar de o escopo de requisitos limitar-se a pessoas que tiveram AVE, testes realizados com desenvolvedores de software de diferentes níveis de experiência demonstraram que o framework agiliza a implementação de soluções diversas, inclusive para pessoas sem deficiência. O framework, que pode ser adaptado para diferentes sistemas operacionais, foi implementado para auxiliar a construção de aplicativos para o sistema operacional Android. / Nowadays, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are equipped with hardware components that can be used to create solutions that support various activities of people with disabilities. For example, the sensors of a mobile phone in the hand of a user with motor disability can be used to identify movements of that users hand and, then, to move an electric wheelchair. Although the use of mobile devices for the creation of accessibility solutions is deeply explored and documented by many researchers, there still is a lack of infrastructures to facilitate the creation of solutions for users with disabilities by relying on the use of the computational resources of mobile devices. This work presents an Android-native framework that provides libraries for the use and integration of the various resources of these devices, such as sensors, microphone and camera, to assist users with motor disabilities. The framework was proposed based on requirements raised by health professionals who work at a Rehabilitation Center that belongs to the State Hospital of Ribeirão Preto (SP, Brazil), where they rehabilitate users with hemiparesis due to stroke. Applications using the proposed infrastructure have been implemented as proofs of concept that demonstrate the possibility of creating solutions that use and integrate the main components of mobile devices in order to assist the rehabilitated users. Although the scope of requirements of our project is limited to people who have had stroke, tests performed with software developers of different levels of experience have shown that the framework speeds up the implementation of diverse solutions, including the ones for people without disabilities. The framework, which can be adapted for different operating systems, has been implemented to help build applications for the Android operating system.

Context: Software-intensive systems have been increasingly interoperated forming alliances termed as Systems-of-Systems (SoS). SoS comprises a collection of systems joined to achieve a set of missions that none of the systems can accomplish on its own. Each constituent system keeps its own management, goals, and resources while coordinating within the SoS and adapting to meet SoS goals. Applications of SoS range from traffic control to emergency response and crisis management. As SoS often support critical domains, such systems must be correct by dealing with malfunction or defects and avoiding failures that could cause extensive damage and losses to the users. Problem: Correct SoS operations depend on a precise specification and a rigorous attestation of its operational consistency. However, besides limitations on languages to jointly capture SoS structure and behavior, predictions on the SoS operational consistency rely on constituent systems not totally known at design-time. Therefore, SoS have been developed and deployed without evaluating their operations, since current languages do not support such precision in evaluation. Objectives: This thesis provides solutions founded on a formal architectural description language to support an early evaluation of SoS operation regarding SoS structure and behavior by means of simulations. Contribution: The main contributions of this project comprise (i) a model transformation approach for automatically producing simulation models from SoS software architecture descriptions, combining SoS structure and behavior description in a same solution, (ii) a SoS software architecture evaluation method for SoS operation prediction considering the inherent changes that can occur, (iii) environment modelling and automatic generation of stimuli generators to sustain the SoS simulation, delivering data to feed such simulation, and (iv) a method for the automatic synchronization between the runtime descriptive architecture (changed at runtime due to dynamic architecture) and its original prescriptive architecture based on model discovery and recovery mechanisms and a backward model transformation. Evaluation: We conducted case studies to assess our solutions using Flood Monitoring SoS and Space SoS. Results: Our solutions support a high accuracy to (i) produce fault-free and fully operational simulations for SoS software architectures, (ii) support evaluation and prediction of SoS operation at design-time, (iii) automatically generate stimuli generators to sustain and feed the simulation execution, and (iv) maintain the synchronization between the runtime architecture and the intended version of the SoS architecture. Conclusions: We concluded that the proposed solutions advance the state of the art in SoS software architecture evaluation by offering solutions to predict the SoS operations effectiveness to maintain a continuous operation despite architectural changes, providing more trust for users that futurely shall rely on SoS services. / Contexto: Sistemas intensivos em software tem sido interoperados para formar alianças conhecidas como Sistemas-de-Sistemas (SoS). Domínios de aplicação de SoS variam do controle de tráfego ao gerenciamento de situações de crises e emergência. Devido à criticidade destes domínios, tais sistemas precisam ser confiáveis e robustos, lidando com potenciais defeitos e mal funcionamento, e evitando falhas que poderiam causar ameaças à integridade dos usuários. Problema: O funcionamento correto de um SoS depende da especificação precisa e da garantia rigorosa da consistência de suas operações. Entretanto, além das limitações nas linguagens quanto à especificação de ambos estrutura e comportamento do SoS, prever seu comportamento depende da especificação de constituintes que não são totalmente conhecidos em tempo de projeto e de seu comportamento emergente. Neste sentido, SoS têm sido desenvolvidos e implantados sem a devida avaliação de seus comportamentos, uma vez que as linguagens disponíveis atualmente não dão suporte a uma especificação precisa destes comportamentos. Objetivos: Este projeto de doutorado relata avanços teóricos e práticos fundamentados em uma linguagem de descrição arquitetural formal para permitir a predição e avaliação do comportamento e estrutura dos SoS com base em simulações. Contribuições: As principais contribuições deste projeto envolvem (i) uma transformação de modelos para produzir automaticamente modelos de simulação para descrições de arquitetura de software de SoS, combinando estrutura e comportamento em uma mesma solução, (ii) um método de avaliação de arquitetura de software de SoS para prever o comportamento do SoS considerando sua dinâmica inerente, (iii) modelagem do ambiente e derivação automática de geradores de estímulos entregando dados continuamente e sustentando a execução de simulações de SoS, e (iv) um método para promover a sincronização automática entre modelos descritivos e prescritivos de arquitetura de software de SoS baseados em mecanismos de descoberta e recuperação de modelos, e transformação de modelos reversa. Avaliação: Estudos de caso foram conduzidos para avaliar as soluções nos domínios de Monitoramento de Enchentes e Espacial. Resultados: As abordagens propostas exibem alta acurácia no que tange (i) a produzir simulações operacionais e sem falhas para arquiteturas de software de SoS, (ii) ao suporte á avaliação, ainda em tempo de projeto, do comportamento que emerge da operação do SoS, (iii) à derivação automática de geradores de estímulos para entrega contínua de dados e manutenção da execução das simulações geradas, e (iv) à manutenção do alinhamento entre os modelos descritivos e prescritivos da arquitetura do SoS avaliado. Conclusões: Conclui-se que as abordagens propostas avançam o estado da arte no projeto de arquiteturas de Software de SoS ao permitir prever, em tempo de projeto, como o SoS vai operar em tempo de execução, permitindo estabelecer estratégias para manter a simulação rodando, e sua operação contínua, mesmo com as mudanças arquiteturais inerentes ao seu funcionamento, provendo mais confiabilidade para os usuários futuramente dependerão de seus serviços.

A robótica tem passado por uma notável evolução ao longo dos últimos anos, juntamente com um crescente interesse por parte da sociedade. Robôs não são mais exclusivamente produzidos para realizar atividades repetitivas em fábricas, eles têm sido projetados para apoiar humanos em diversos e importantes domínios de aplicação. Os sistemas robóticos utilizados para controlar tais robôs têm, portanto, se tornado maiores, mais complexos e difíceis de desenvolver. Nesse cenário, a Arquitetura Orientada a Serviços (do inglês, Service-Oriented Architecture - SOA) tem sido investigada como um promissor estilo arquitetural para o desenvolvimento de sistemas robóticos de forma mais flexível, reusável e produtiva. Embora um número considerável de Sistemas Robóticos Orientados a Serviços (do inglês, Service-Oriented Robotic Systems - SORS) já exista, grande parte deles têm sido desenvolvida de maneira ad hoc. A pouca atenção e o suporte limitado ao projeto das arquiteturas de software de SORS pode não só impedir a obtenção dos benefícios associados à adoção da SOA, mas também reduzir a qualidade dos sistemas robóticos que, frequentemente, são utilizados em contextos de segurança crítica. Essa tese tem por objetivo aprimorar o entendimento e a sistematização do projeto arquitetural de SORS. Para isso, é proposta uma taxonomia de serviços para o domínio de robótica, bem como um processo e uma arquitetura de referência para sistematizar o projeto das arquiteturas de software de SORS. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que tanto o processo quanto a arquitetura de referência podem impactar positivamente na qualidade das arquiteturas de software de SORS e, consequentemente, contribuir para o desenvolvimento de sistemas robóticos. / Robotics has experienced an increasing evolution and interest from the society in recent years. Robots are no longer produced exclusively to perform repetitive tasks in factories, they have been designed to collaborate with humans in several important application domains. Robotic systems that control these robots are therefore becoming larger, more complex, and difficult to develop. In this scenario, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been investigated as a promising architectural style for the design of robotic systems in a exible, reusable, and productive manner. Despite the existence of a considerable amount of Service-Oriented Robotic Systems (SORS), most of them have been developed in an ad hoc manner. The little attention and limited support devoted to the design of SORS software architectures may not only hamper the benefits of SOA adoption, but also reduce the overall quality of robotic systems, which are often used in safety-critical contexts. This thesis aims at improving the understanding and systematization of SORS architectural design. It describes a taxonomy of services for the robotics domain, as well as proposes a process and a reference architecture that systematize the design of SORS software architectures. Results achieved in the evaluation studies evidence that both process and reference architecture can positively impact on the quality of SORS software architectures and, as a consequence, contribute to the development of robotic systems.

Dans les domaines critiques tels que l’avionique, le ferroviaire ou encore l’automobile, il faut, afin de pouvoir certifier un système, démontrer qu’il réalise la fonction pour laquelle il a été conçu, selon des exigences temporelles spécifiées. En effet, un rendu temporel trop long peut rendre des données erronées, et ainsi mettre en danger la sûreté des personnes. Aujourd’hui, la plupart des approches proposent d’assurer ces exigences de Qualité de service au niveau des couches basses, e.g., au travers d’une bande passante déterministe, d’allocation statique d’intervalles de temps, et d’un ordonnancement prédéfini. Ces contraintes assurent que les applications ne peuvent dépasser le temps d’exécution alloué ; les applications récupèrent de ce fait des exigences qui sont découplées de leur fonctionnalité. En revanche, il faut aussi pouvoir certifier des exigences temporelles spécifiques à une application. De là, les garanties au niveau des couches basses ne sont plus suffisantes. Il faudrait pouvoir prendre en compte ces exigences dès la phase de conception des applications. Aujourd’hui, la plupart des approches existant dans ce domaine se concentrent sur le support de QoS à des phases isolées du processus de développement logiciel, empêchant la traçabilité des exigences. Cette thèse propose une approche dirigée par la conception pour supporter les exigences de QoS tout au long du processus de développement logiciel, intégrée dans une méthodologie outillée, appelée DiaSuite. L’extension de QoS enrichit le langage de conception DiaSpec avec la capacité d’instancier les exigences de QoS sur les composants logiciels. Un support de surveillance à l’exécution de ces exigences temporelles est ensuite généré, directement à partir de la spécification. Cette thèse intègre uniformément les concepts temporels avec les concepts de gestion d’erreurs, au travers de la méthodologie DiaSuite, afin de proposer une couche de supervision qui puisse effectuer une reconfiguration applicative, dans le cas de violation de contrat de QoS. Les contributions de cette thèse sont évaluées au regard du respect des critères de cohérence et de conformité, illustrés au travers d’une étude de cas dans le domaine avionique. / In critical domains such as avionics, railways or automotive, to certify a system, it is required to demonstrate that it achieves its function, with respect to specified timing requirements. Indeed, longer-than-predicted function computing can make data erroneous, leading potentially to endanger people lives. Today, most approaches propose to ensure these Quality of Service requirements at platform level, e.g., through deterministic bandwidth, static time slots allocation and predefined scheduling. These constraints ensure applications can’t overpass allocated time slots; applications are then fed with requirements decoupled to their functionality. However, it shall be possible to certify timing requirements, dedicated to an application. Hence, guarantees at platform-level are not sufficient anymore. It should be possible to take into account these requirements from the stage of application design. Today, most of existing approaches in this domain, focus on supporting QoS at individual stages of the software development process, preventing requirements traceability. This thesis proposes a design-driven approach to supporting QoS throughout software development process, integrated in a tool-based methodology, namely DiaSuite. The QoS extension enriches the DiaSpec design language, with the capability to instantiate QoS requirements onto software components. A runtime execution support to monitoring these timing requirements, is then generated, directly from the specification. This thesis uniformly integrates timing concepts with error ones, around DiaSuite methodology, to propose a supervision layer that could lead to application reconfiguration in case of QoS contract violation. Contributions of this thesis are evaluated through respect of coherence and conformance critera, illustrated through a case study in avionics.

Vývoj v informačním systému neustále zvyšuje nároky na účinnou, efektivní a adaptivní spolupráci mezi komponenty systému, aby se vyrovnal se změnami v systému a zaručil tak nejlepší výkon. K dosažení těchto požadavků byly zavedeny dva hlavní přístupy. Přístup k adaptaci umožňuje informačnímu systému přizpůsobit se změnám v kontextu informací systému a jeho okolního prostředí na základě adaptační strategie. Přístup ke zvyšování informovanosti zase napomáhá sledovat informace o kontextu a rozpoznat změny, které mohou proces adaptace vyvolat. V této práci představujeme obecný kontextově orientovaný model vlastní adaptivní architektury pro podporu softwarového systému s adaptačními funkcemi, které zaručují dostupnost systému, provozní podmínky a výkon. Navíc poskytujeme dvě případové studie v reálném životě jako důkaz konceptu použitelnosti našeho navrhovaného adaptačního přístupu.

The aim of this master thesis was to design and develop decision making solution (Business Intelligence) for company Toprecepty.cz. Thanks to this solution, company management will have the ability to produce better decisions based on gained analytical information.