Efficiency metrics computing in combined sensor networks

This paper discusses the computer-aided design of combined networks for offices and building automation systems based on diverse wired and wireless standards. The design requirements for these networks are often contradictive and have to consider performance, energy and cost efficiency together. For usual office communication, quality of service is more important. In the wireless sensor networks, the energy efficiency is a critical requirement to ensure their long life, to reduce maintenance costs and to increase reliability. The network optimization problem has been solved under considering of overall-costs as objective and quality of service including throughput, delay, packet losses etc. with energy efficiency as required constraints. This can be achieved by a combination of different planning methods like placement of wired and wireless nodes, tracing of cabling systems, energy-efficient sensor management and event-based sampling. A successful application of these methods requires a combined harmonized design at different levels of the networks. This paper aims to demonstrate how these methods are realized in the network planning. These tools provide optimized wired and wireless topologies under considering of costs, distances, transmitted power, frequencies, propagation environments and obstacles given in computer-aided design compatible formats

Evaluating Software Architectures: Development Stability and Evolution

We survey seminal work on software architecture evaluationmethods. We then look at an emerging class of methodsthat explicates evaluating software architectures forstability and evolution. We define architectural stabilityand formulate the problem of evaluating software architecturesfor stability and evolution. We draw the attention onthe use of Architectures Description Languages (ADLs) forsupporting the evaluation of software architectures in generaland for architectural stability in specific

Two-layer particle filter for multiple target detection and tracking

This paper deals with the detection and tracking of an unknown number of targets using a Bayesian hierarchical model with target labels. To approximate the posterior probability density function, we develop a two-layer particle filter. One deals with track initiation, and the other with track maintenance. In addition, the parallel partition method is proposed to sample the states of the surviving targets

TURTLE-P: a UML profile for the formal validation of critical and distributed systems

The timed UML and RT-LOTOS environment, or TURTLE for short, extends UML class and activity diagrams with composition and temporal operators. TURTLE is a real-time UML profile with a formal semantics expressed in RT-LOTOS. Further, it is supported by a formal validation toolkit. This paper introduces TURTLE-P, an extended profile no longer restricted to the abstract modeling of distributed systems. Indeed, TURTLE-P addresses the concrete descriptions of communication architectures, including quality of service parameters (delay, jitter, etc.). This new profile enables co-design of hardware and software components with extended UML component and deployment diagrams. Properties of these diagrams can be evaluated and/or validated thanks to the formal semantics given in RT-LOTOS. The application of TURTLE-P is illustrated with a telecommunication satellite system

Towards assessing simulated service qualities by business stakeholders outside the system boundary

The paper describes an approach for collecting opinions on quality of service-oriented systems from the specific category of real business stakeholders (which do not interact with such systems directly on theirboundary). This approach enhances the ISAREAD-S method for collecting assessments of simulated service qualities on the system boundary in context defined by the service usage process. We introduce special Service Dependency Model taking into account dependencies between usage process activities accessible by real stakeholders and boundary activities representing services under development.В работе описана технология сбора мнений реальных заинтересованных лиц (которые не взаимодействуют с системой на ее границе) о качестве сервис-ориентированных программных систем. Данная технология является расширением метода ISAREAD-S, реализующего сбор таких мнений на основе оценивания характеристик качества программных сервисов, представленных имитационными моделями, на границе системы в контексте процессов их использования. Это расширение сводится к реализации специальной модели зависимости сервисов, учитывающей зависимости между показателями качества деятельностей процессов, доступных для реальных заинтересованных лиц и показателями качества деятельностей, определенных на границе системы, которые представляют разрабатываемые сервисы

Knowledge-based platform for the provisioning system

The study examined the effectiveness and application of the tacit knowledge in the area of service delivery and order provisioning. The selected organization for this study is a corporate telecommunication body namely Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and their specific customer called Government Integrated Telecommunication Network (GITN). The study was conducted on the chosen domain and organizations due to the special business arrangement which is based on wholesale approach between TM and GITN. It is noted that the current Order Management System (OMS) in TM is inefficient to provide the required analysis and real-time status reports of the service delivery due to its poor handling of bulk service orders. The real-time analysis and service delivery reports in relation to service provisioning are vital drivers to TM management for the decision making process. It is the key objective of this study to propose a solution to improve TM current business process particularly in the area of tracking and monitoring. The approach proposed in this study is to make use of the tacit knowledge acquired from the experts at ground level. In the process of leveraging the underlying tacit knowledge in TM day-to-day business process, the study requires the process of elicitation, adoption of effective interview technique, codification of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and building up appropriate system rules for the prototype. In general, the results have shown an acceptable improvement especially in the project management of service delivery area. The findings of this study are sufficient to encourage further work on the research model. Several recommendations are presented for future research. (Author's abstract

Early timing analysis based on scenario requirements and platform models

Distributed, software-intensive systems (e.g., in the automotive sector) must fulfill communication requirements under hard real-time constraints. The requirements have to be documented and validated carefully using a systematic requirements engineering (RE) approach, for example, by applying scenario-based requirements notations. The resources of the execution platforms and their properties (e.g., CPU frequency or bus throughput) induce effects on the timing behavior, which may lead to violations of the real-time requirements. Nowadays, the platform properties and their induced timing effects are verified against the real-time requirements by means of timing analysis techniques mostly implemented in commercial-off-the-shelf tools. However, such timing analyses are conducted in late development phases since they rely on artifacts produced during these phases (e.g., the platform-specific code). In order to enable early timing analyses already during RE, we extend a scenario-based requirements notation with allocation means to platform models and define operational semantics for the purpose of simulation-based, platform-aware timing analyses. We illustrate and evaluate the approach with an automotive software-intensive system

Requirement validation with enactable descriptions of use cases.

The validation of stakeholder requirements for a software system is a pivotal activity for any nontrivial software development project. Often, differences in knowledge regarding development issues, and knowledge regarding the problem domain, impede the elaboration of requirements amongst developers and stakeholders. A description technique that provides a user perspective of the system behaviour is likely to enhance shared understanding between the developers and stakeholders. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) use case is such a notation. Use cases describe the behaviour of a system (using natural language) in terms of interactions between the external users and the system. Since the standardisation of the UML by the Object Management Group in 1997, much research has been devoted to use cases. Some researchers have focussed on the provision of writing guidelines for use case specifications whereas others have focussed on the application of formal techniques. This thesis investigates the adequacy of the use case description for the specification and validation of software behaviour. In particular, the thesis argues that whereas the user-system interaction scheme underpins the essence of the use case notation, the UML specification of the use case does not provide a mechanism by which use cases can describe dependencies amongst constituent interaction steps. Clarifying these issues is crucial for validating the adequacy of the specification against stakeholder expectations. This thesis proposes a state-based approach (the Educator approach) to use case specification where constituent events are augmented with pre and post states to express both intra-use case and inter-use case dependencies. Use case events are enacted to visualise implied behaviour, thereby enhancing shared understanding among users and developers. Moreover, enaction provides an early "feel" of the behaviour that would result from the implementation of the specification. The Educator approach and the enaction of descriptions are supported by a prototype environment, the EducatorTool, developed to demonstrate the efficacy and novelty of the approach. To validate the work presented in this thesis an industrial study, involving the specification of realtime control software, is reported. The study involves the analysis of use case specifications of the subsystems prior to the application of the proposed approach, and the analysis of the specification where the approach and tool support are applied. This way, it is possible to determine the efficacy of the Educator approach within an industrial setting