A Model-Driven Architecture Approach for Modeling, Specifying and Deploying Policies in Autonomous and Autonomic Systems

Autonomic Computing (AC), self-management based on high level guidance from humans, is increasingly gaining momentum as the way forward in designing reliable systems that hide complexity and conquer IT management costs. Effectively, AC may be viewed as Policy-Based Self-Management. The Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach focuses on building models that can be transformed into code in an automatic manner. In this paper, we look at ways to implement Policy-Based Self-Management by means of models that can be converted to code using transformations that follow the MDA philosophy. We propose a set of UML-based models to specify autonomic and autonomous features along with the necessary procedures, based on modification and composition of models, to deploy a policy as an executing system

Software Engineering and Swarm-Based Systems

We discuss two software engineering aspects in the development of complex swarm-based systems. NASA researchers have been investigating various possible concept missions that would greatly advance future space exploration capabilities. The concept mission that we have focused on exploits the principles of autonomic computing as well as being based on the use of intelligent swarms, whereby a (potentially large) number of similar spacecraft collaborate to achieve mission goals. The intent is that such systems not only can be sent to explore remote and harsh environments but also are endowed with greater degrees of protection and longevity to achieve mission goals

Autonomic Pervasive Applications Driven by Abstract Specifications

Conference in conjunction with ICAC 2012 (International Conference on Autonomic Computing)International audiencePervasive application architectures present stringent requirements that make their development especially hard. In particular, they need to be flexible in order to cope with dynamism in different forms (e.g. service and data providers and consumers). The current trend to build applications out of remote services makes the availability of constituent application components inherently dynamic. Developers can no longer assume that applications are static after development or at run time. Unfortunately, developing applications that are able to cope with dynamism is very complex.Existing development approaches do not provide explicit support for managing dynamism. In this paper we describe Rondo, a tool suite for designing pervasive applications. More specifically, we present our propositions in pervasive application specification, which borrows concepts from service-oriented component assembly, model-driven engineering (MDE) and continuous deployment, resulting in a more flexible approach than traditional application definitions. Then the capabilities of our application model are demonstrated with an example application scenario designed using our approach

Sustainable and Autonomic Space Exploration Missions

Visions for future space exploration have long term science missions in sight, resulting in the need for sustainable missions. Survivability is a critical property of sustainable systems and may be addressed through autonomicity, an emerging paradigm for self-management of future computer-based systems based on inspiration from the human autonomic nervous system. This paper examines some of the ongoing research efforts to realize these survivable systems visions, with specific emphasis on developments in Autonomic Policies

Building and implementing policies in autonomous and autonomic systems using MaCMAS

Autonomic Computing, self-management based on high level guidance from humans, is increasingly being accepted as a means forward in designing reliable systems that both hide complexity from the user and control IT management costs. Effectively, AC may be viewed as Policy-Based Self-Management.We look at ways of achieving this, and in particular focus on Agent-Oriented Software Engineering. We propose utilizing MaCMAS, an AOSE methodology, for specifying autonomic and autonomous properties of the system independently, and later, by means of composition of these specifications, guided by a policy specification, construct a specification for the policy and its subsequent deployment. We illustrate this by means of a case study based on a NASA concept mission, and describe future work on a support toolkit

Implementing autonomic administration DSLs in TUNe

Software components are recognized as the most adequate approach to support autonomic administration systems. We implemented and experimented with such a system, but observed that the interfaces of a component model are too low-level and difficult to use. Consequently, we designed higher abstraction level languages for modeling administration policies. These languages are specific to our autonomic administration domain. We metamodeled and implemented these DSLs on the Kermeta framework

Autonomic Management Policy Specification: from UML to DSML

International audienceAutonomic computing is recognized as one of the most promizing solutions to address the increasingly complex task of distributed environments' administration. In this context, many projects relied on software components and architectures to provide autonomic management frameworks. We designed such a component-based autonomic management framework, but observed that the interfaces of a component model are too low-level and difficult to use. Therefore, we introduced UML diagrams for the modeling of deployment and management policies. However, we had to adapt/twist the UML semantics in order to meet our requirements, which led us to define DSMLs. In this paper, we present our experience in designing the Tune system and its support for management policy specification, relying on UML diagrams and on DSMLs. We analyse these two approaches, pinpointing the benefits of DSMLs over UML

A Systematic Literature Review of Requirements Engineering for Self-Adaptive Systems

During 2003 to 2013, the continuous effort of researchers and engineers particularly has resulted in a hugely grown body of work on engineering self-adaptive systems. Although existing studies have explored various aspects of this topic, no systematic study has been performed on categorizing and evaluating the requirement engineering for self-adaptive activities. The objective of this paper is to systematically investigate the research literature of requirements engineering for self-adaptive systems, summarize the research trends, categorize the used modeling methods and requirements engineering activities as well as the topics that most described. a systematic literature review has been conducted to answer the research questions by searching relevant studies, appraising the quality of these studies and extracting available data. From the study, a number of recommendations for future research in requirements engineering for self-adaptive systems has been derived. So that, enabling researchers and practitioners to better understand the research trends