Thema dieser Arbeit sind echtzeitfähige 3D-Renderingverfahren, die 3D-Geometrie mit über der Standarddarstellung hinausgehenden Qualitäts- und Gestaltungsmerkmalen rendern können. Beispiele sind Verfahren zur Darstellung von Schatten, Reflexionen oder Transparenz. Mit heutigen computergraphischen Software-Basissystemen ist ihre Integration in 3D-Anwendungssysteme sehr aufwändig: Dies liegt einerseits an der technischen, algorithmischen Komplexität der Einzelverfahren, andererseits an Ressourcenkonflikten und Seiteneffekten bei der Kombination mehrerer Verfahren. Szenengraphsysteme, intendiert als computergraphische Softwareschicht zur Abstraktion von der Graphikhardware, stellen derzeit keine Mechanismen zur Nutzung dieser Renderingverfahren zur Verfügung.<br><br> Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, eine Software-Architektur für ein Szenengraphsystem zu konzipieren und umzusetzen, die echtzeitfähige 3D-Renderingverfahren als Komponenten modelliert und es damit erlaubt, diese Verfahren innerhalb des Szenengraphsystems für die Anwendungsentwicklung effektiv zu nutzen. Ein Entwickler, der ein solches Szenengraphsystem nutzt, steuert diese Komponenten durch Elemente in der Szenenbeschreibung an, die die sichtbare Wirkung eines Renderingverfahrens auf die Geometrie in der Szene angeben, aber keine Hinweise auf die algorithmische Implementierung des Verfahrens enthalten. Damit werden Renderingverfahren in 3D-Anwendungssystemen nutzbar, ohne dass ein Entwickler detaillierte Kenntnisse über sie benötigt, so dass der Aufwand für ihre Entwicklung drastisch reduziert wird.<br><br> Ein besonderer Augenmerk der Arbeit liegt darauf, auf diese Weise auch verschiedene Renderingverfahren in einer Szene kombiniert einsetzen zu können. Hierzu ist eine Unterteilung der Renderingverfahren in mehrere Kategorien erforderlich, die mit Hilfe unterschiedlicher Ansätze ausgewertet werden. Dies erlaubt die Abstimmung verschiedener Komponenten für Renderingverfahren und ihrer verwendeten Ressourcen.<br><br> Die Zusammenarbeit mehrerer Renderingverfahren hat dort ihre Grenzen, wo die Kombination von Renderingverfahren graphisch nicht sinnvoll ist oder fundamentale technische Beschränkungen der Verfahren eine gleichzeitige Verwendung unmöglich machen. Die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellte Software-Architektur kann diese Grenzen nicht verschieben, aber sie ermöglicht den gleichzeitigen Einsatz vieler Verfahren, bei denen eine Kombination aufgrund der hohen Komplexität der Implementierung bislang nicht erreicht wurde. Das Vermögen zur Zusammenarbeit ist dabei allerdings von der Art eines Einzelverfahrens abhängig: Verfahren zur Darstellung transparenter Geometrie beispielsweise erfordern bei der Kombination mit anderen Verfahren in der Regel vollständig neuentwickelte Renderingverfahren; entsprechende Komponenten für das Szenengraphsystem können daher nur eingeschränkt mit Komponenten für andere Renderingverfahren verwendet werden.<br><br> Das in dieser Arbeit entwickelte System integriert und kombiniert Verfahren zur Darstellung von Bumpmapping, verschiedene Schatten- und Reflexionsverfahren sowie bildbasiertes CSG-Rendering. Damit stehen wesentliche Renderingverfahren in einem Szenengraphsystem erstmalig komponentenbasiert und auf einem hohen Abstraktionsniveau zur Verfügung. Das System ist trotz des zusätzlichen Verwaltungsaufwandes in der Lage, die Renderingverfahren einzeln und in Kombination grundsätzlich in Echtzeit auszuführen. / This thesis is about real-time rendering algorithms that can render 3D-geometry with quality and design features beyond standard display. Examples include algorithms to render shadows, reflections, or transparency. Integrating these algorithms into 3D-applications using today’s rendering libraries for real-time computer graphics is exceedingly difficult: On the one hand, the rendering algorithms are technically and algorithmically complicated for their own, on the other hand, combining several algorithms causes resource conflicts and side effects that are very difficult to handle. Scene graph libraries, which intend to provide a software layer to abstract from computer graphics hardware, currently offer no mechanisms for using these rendering algorithms, either.<br><br> The objective of this thesis is to design and to implement a software architecture for a scene graph library that models real-time rendering algorithms as software components allowing an effective usage of these algorithms for 3D-application development within the scene graph library. An application developer using the scene graph library controls these components with elements in a scene description that describe the effect of a rendering algorithm for some geometry in the scene graph, but that do not contain hints about the actual implementation of the rendering algorithm. This allows for deploying rendering algorithms in 3D-applications even for application developers that do not have detailed knowledge about them. In this way, the complexity of development of rendering algorithms can be drastically reduced.<br><br> In particular, the thesis focuses on the feasibility of combining several rendering algorithms within a scene at the same time. This requires to classify rendering algorithms into different categories, which are, each, evaluated using different approaches. In this way, components for different rendering algorithms can collaborate and adjust their usage of common graphics resources.<br><br> The possibility of combining different rendering algorithms can be limited in several ways: The graphical result of the combination can be undefined, or fundamental technical restrictions can render it impossible to use two rendering algorithms at the same time. The software architecture described in this work is not able to remove these limitations, but it allows to combine a lot of different rendering algorithms that, until now, could not be combined due to the high complexities of the required implementation. The capability of collaboration, however, depends on the kind of rendering algorithm: For instance, algorithms for rendering transparent geometry can be combined with other algorithms only with a complete redesign of the algorithm. Therefore, components in the scene graph library for displaying transparency can be combined with components for other rendering algorithms in a limited way only.<br><br> The system developed in this work integrates and combines algorithms for displaying bump mapping, several variants of shadow and reflection algorithms, and image-based CSG algorithms. Hence, major rendering algorithms are available for the first time in a scene graph library as components with high abstraction level. Despite the required additional indirections and abstraction layers, the system, in principle, allows for using and combining the rendering algorithms in real-time.

No description available.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis--Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

MASTS is an extensible, feature rich, software architecture based on tabu search (TS), a metaheuristic that relies on memory structures to intelligently organize and navigate the search space. MASTS introduces a new methodology of rule based objectives (RBOs), in which the search objective is replaced with a binary comparison operator more capable of expressing a variety of preferences. In addition, MASTS supports a new metastrategy, dynamic neighborhood selection (DNS), which “learns” about the search landscape to implement an adaptive intensification-diversification strategy. DNS can improve search performance by directing the search to promising regions and reducing the number of required evaluations. To demonstrate the flexibility and range of capabilities, MASTS is applied to two complex decision problems in conservation planning and groundwater management. As an extension of MASTS, ConsNet addresses the spatial conservation area network design problem (SCANP) in conservation biology. Given a set of possible geographic reserve sites, the goal is to select which sites to place under conservation to preserve unique elements of biodiversity. Structurally, this problem resembles the NP-hard set cover problem, but also considers additional spatial criteria including compactness, connectivity, and replication. Modeling the conservation network as a graph, ConsNet uses novel techniques to quickly compute these spatial criteria, exceeding the capabilities of classical optimization methods and prior planning software. In the arena of groundwater planning, MASTS demonstrates extraordinary flexibility as both an advanced search engine and a decision aid. In House Bill 1763, the Texas state legislature mandates that individual Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) must work together to set specific management goals for the future condition of regional groundwater resources. This complex multi-agent multi-criteria decision problem involves finding the best way to meet these goals considering a host of decision variables such as pumping locations, groundwater extraction rates, and drought management policies. In two separate projects, MASTS has shaped planning decisions in the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District and Groundwater Management Area 9 (GMA9). The software has been an invaluable decision support tool for planners, stakeholders, and scientists alike, allowing users to explore the problem from a multicriteria perspective. / text

Game engine is a set of supporting tools and services for game development. It is a component designed for reuse in different games. Therefore it is very important for game engine to be designed properly as for any successfully used reusable component. The main objective in this research is to present flexible and easily extensible architectural solution suitable for the game engine, based on the analysis of today’s game engine context and existing software architecture design. During the analysis we reviewed different types of software architecture and its implementation methods, and defined functional requirements for game engine. As the result we have chosen data-driven architecture design as the most suitable for the engine development and created our game engine prototype. For each game engine module we have provided design solution and its implementation approach referring to chosen architecture.

We present a system architecture and a set of control techniques that allow heterogeneous software design tools to collaborate intelligently and automatically. One of their distinguishing features is the ability to perform concurrent processing. Systems based on this architecture are able to effectively solve large electromagnetic analysis problems, particularly those that involve loose coupling between several areas of physics. The architecture can accept any existing software analysis tool, without requiring any modification or customization of the tool. This characteristic is produced in part by our use of a neutral virtual representation for storing problem data, including geometry and material definitions. We construct a system based on this architecture, using several circuit and finite-element analysis tools, and use it to perform electromagnetic analyses of several different devices. Our results show that our architecture and techniques do allow practical problems to be solved effectively by heterogeneous tools. / On présente une architecture de système et un ensemble de techniquesde contrôle qui permettent aux logiciels d'analyse hétérogènes de collaborerde façon intelligente et automatique. Un de ses traits caractéristiques est sacapacité d'effectuer simultanément plusieurs traitements. Les systèmes baséssur cette architecture sont capables de résoudre de manière efficace des grandsproblèmes dans le domaine de l'analyse électromagnétique, particulièrementceux où existe un accouplement dégagé entre plusieurs domaines de physique.L'architecture peut accepter n'importe quel logiciel d'analyse existant; ellen'exige pas que les logiciels soyent modifiés ou fabriqués sur mesure. Cettecaractéristique est produite en partie par notre utilisation d'une représentationneutre virtuelle pour représenter les données du problème, y inclus sa géométrieet les proprietés de ses matériels. On construit un système basé sur cettearchitecture, comprenant plusieurs logiciels de simulation, et on l'emploie pourexécuter des analyses électromagnétiques de plusieurs appareils différents. Nosrésultats montrent que notre architecture et nos techniques permettent desproblèmes pratiques d'être résolus efficacement par les outils hétérogènes.

In this decade the emerging multicore technology will hit the automotive industry. The increasing complexity of the multicore-systems will make a manual verification of the safety and realtime constraints impossible. For this reason, dedicated methods and tools are utterly necessary, in order to deal with the upcoming multicore issues. A lot of researchprojects for new hardware platforms and software frameworks for the automotive industry are running nowadays, because the paradigms of the “High-Performance Computing” and “Server/Desktop Domain” cannot be easily adapted for the embedded systems. One of the difficulties is the early suitability estimation of a hardware platform for a software architecture design, but hardly a research-work is tackling that. This thesis represents a procedure to evaluate the plausibility of software architecture estimations and decisions at design stage. This includes an analysis technique of multicore systems, an underlying graph-model – to represent the multicore system – and a simulation tool evaluation. This can guide the software architect, to design a multicore system, in full consideration of all relevant parameters and issues. / In den nächsten Jahren wird die aufkommende Multicore-Technologie auf die Automobil-Branche zukommen. Die wachsende Komplexität der Multicore-Systeme lässt es nicht mehr zu, die Verifikation von Sicherheits- und Echtzeit-Anforderungen manuell auszuführen. Daher sind spezielle Methoden und Werkzeuge zwingend notwendig, um gerade mit den bevorstehenden Multicore-Problemfällen richtig umzugehen. Heutzutage laufen viele Forschungsprojekte für neue Hardware-Plattformen und Software-Frameworks für die Automobil-Industrie, weil die Paradigmen des “High-Performance Computings” und der “Server/Desktop-Domäne” nicht einfach so für die Eingebetteten Systeme angewendet werden können. Einer der Problemfälle ist das frühe Erkennen, ob die Hardware-Plattform für die Software-Architektur ausreicht, aber nur wenige Forschungs-Arbeiten berücksichtigen das. Diese Arbeit zeigt ein Vorgehens-Model auf, welches ermöglicht, dass Software-Architektur Abschätzungen und Entscheidungen bereits zur Entwurfszeit bewertet werden können. Das beinhaltet eine Analyse Technik für Multicore-Systeme, ein grundsätzliches Graphen-Model, um ein Multicore-System darzustellen, und eine Simulatoren Evaluierung. Dies kann den Software-Architekten helfen, ein Multicore System zu entwerfen, welches alle wichtigen Parameter und Problemfälle berücksichtigt.

由於現今商業環境時常變動，使得使用者需求在系統開發過程中頻繁改變。傳統系統開發方式無法迅速回應使用者需求變更，強調彈性開發流程的敏捷開發方式逐漸廣為接受。敏捷開發並未探討系統設計議題而系統設計不佳會導致系統品質低落，使用軟體框架可以快速建立良好的分層結構，有助於穩定產品品質並提高軟體再用性。本研究以Scrum為基礎，結合Struts、Spring、Hibernate整合框架，建立一套系統開發方法，包含敏捷開發方式的彈性流程，兼顧系統擴充性及可維護性，研究方法為概念形成法與系統展示法，並以Java Web-Based雛型系統為例，說明相關作業內容。 / Due to the quick variation in the business environment, user requirements change frequently during the system development process. This induces the rising popularity of agile development method which emphasizes the development flexibility during the process. However, agile development method does not address the design issues and poor system design can easily cause poor system quality. Software framework helps to quickly build a good hierarchy structure and thus improve the product quality and software reusability. This study proposes a system development method based on Scrum with the integration of Struts、Spring and Hibernate frameworks. The method is embedded with the development flexibility from the agile method, as well as the system extensibility and maintainability from the software frameworks. The study is conducted with the research method of concept formulation, and would be continued with a Java Web-Based prototype development as an example to illustrate the relevant activities.

The Intelligent Control Paradigm for software architecture is the result of this work. The Viable Software Approach is developed as an instance of the paradigm. The approach uses the Viable System Model as the basis for software system architecture. The result is a model-based architecture and approach for developing software systems by piecemeal adaptation with the goal that they become adaptive systems at runtime. Software built in this manner is called Viable Software. Viable Software represents a unifying class of self-controlling software that is an “intelligent” control system. Cybernetics, Control Theory, and Complexity Theory are the background for this work, and aspects relevant to this work are presented. These results are related to software architecture and software engineering. Rationale for the selection of the Viable System Model as a basis for software systems is given. The Viable System Model is described. The model is restated as an Alexanderian “pattern language” to make it more accessible to software engineering. A Viable Software Approach is proposed and expressed in the form of a Product Line Architecture that arranges the Viable System Model, the Viable Software Architecture, a Viable Component Framework, and a Component Transfer Protocol into a system for generative programming. An important result is the formalisation of the pattern of the Viable System into the interface specifications of the Viable Component. Three case studies illustrate the approach. The first is an analysis and extension of the Groove collaboration system. This study shows how the approach is used to map an existing system into the Viable Software Architecture and add fuzzy-adaptive user interface controllers. The second study presents the design and detailed software construction of an adaptive camera controller as part of a smart environment. The final study shows how a Business-to-Business e-Commerce system can be evolved and an expert system-based controller developed to implement business contracts.

The Intelligent Control Paradigm for software architecture is the result of this work. The Viable Software Approach is developed as an instance of the paradigm. The approach uses the Viable System Model as the basis for software system architecture. The result is a model-based architecture and approach for developing software systems by piecemeal adaptation with the goal that they become adaptive systems at runtime. Software built in this manner is called Viable Software. Viable Software represents a unifying class of self-controlling software that is an “intelligent” control system. Cybernetics, Control Theory, and Complexity Theory are the background for this work, and aspects relevant to this work are presented. These results are related to software architecture and software engineering. Rationale for the selection of the Viable System Model as a basis for software systems is given. The Viable System Model is described. The model is restated as an Alexanderian “pattern language” to make it more accessible to software engineering. A Viable Software Approach is proposed and expressed in the form of a Product Line Architecture that arranges the Viable System Model, the Viable Software Architecture, a Viable Component Framework, and a Component Transfer Protocol into a system for generative programming. An important result is the formalisation of the pattern of the Viable System into the interface specifications of the Viable Component. Three case studies illustrate the approach. The first is an analysis and extension of the Groove collaboration system. This study shows how the approach is used to map an existing system into the Viable Software Architecture and add fuzzy-adaptive user interface controllers. The second study presents the design and detailed software construction of an adaptive camera controller as part of a smart environment. The final study shows how a Business-to-Business e-Commerce system can be evolved and an expert system-based controller developed to implement business contracts.