1,383 research outputs found
The simplicity project: easing the burden of using complex and heterogeneous ICT devices and services
As of today, to exploit the variety of different "services", users need to configure each of their devices by using different procedures and need to explicitly select among heterogeneous access technologies and protocols. In addition to that, users are authenticated and charged by different means. The lack of implicit human computer interaction, context-awareness and standardisation places an enormous burden of complexity on the shoulders of the final users. The IST-Simplicity project aims at leveraging such problems by: i) automatically creating and customizing a user communication space; ii) adapting services to user terminal characteristics and to users preferences; iii) orchestrating network capabilities. The aim of this paper is to present the technical framework of the IST-Simplicity project. This paper is a thorough analysis and qualitative evaluation of the different technologies, standards and works presented in the literature related to the Simplicity system to be developed
Elastic Business Process Management: State of the Art and Open Challenges for BPM in the Cloud
With the advent of cloud computing, organizations are nowadays able to react
rapidly to changing demands for computational resources. Not only individual
applications can be hosted on virtual cloud infrastructures, but also complete
business processes. This allows the realization of so-called elastic processes,
i.e., processes which are carried out using elastic cloud resources. Despite
the manifold benefits of elastic processes, there is still a lack of solutions
supporting them.
In this paper, we identify the state of the art of elastic Business Process
Management with a focus on infrastructural challenges. We conceptualize an
architecture for an elastic Business Process Management System and discuss
existing work on scheduling, resource allocation, monitoring, decentralized
coordination, and state management for elastic processes. Furthermore, we
present two representative elastic Business Process Management Systems which
are intended to counter these challenges. Based on our findings, we identify
open issues and outline possible research directions for the realization of
elastic processes and elastic Business Process Management.Comment: Please cite as: S. Schulte, C. Janiesch, S. Venugopal, I. Weber, and
P. Hoenisch (2015). Elastic Business Process Management: State of the Art and
Open Challenges for BPM in the Cloud. Future Generation Computer Systems,
Volume NN, Number N, NN-NN., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2014.09.00
Web service control of component-based agile manufacturing systems
Current global business competition has resulted in significant challenges for
manufacturing and production sectors focused on shorter product lifecyc1es, more diverse
and customized products as well as cost pressures from competitors and customers. To
remain competitive, manufacturers, particularly in automotive industry, require the next
generation of manufacturing paradigms supporting flexible and reconfigurable production
systems that allow quick system changeovers for various types of products. In addition,
closer integration of shop floor and business systems is required as indicated by the
research efforts in investigating "Agile and Collaborative Manufacturing Systems" in
supporting the production unit throughout the manufacturing lifecycles.
The integration of a business enterprise with its shop-floor and lifecycle supply partners
is currently only achieved through complex proprietary solutions due to differences in
technology, particularly between automation and business systems. The situation is
further complicated by the diverse types of automation control devices employed.
Recently, the emerging technology of Service Oriented Architecture's (SOA's) and Web
Services (WS) has been demonstrated and proved successful in linking business
applications. The adoption of this Web Services approach at the automation level, that
would enable a seamless integration of business enterprise and a shop-floor system, is an
active research topic within the automotive domain. If successful, reconfigurable
automation systems formed by a network of collaborative autonomous and open control
platform in distributed, loosely coupled manufacturing environment can be realized
through a unifying platform of WS interfaces for devices communication.
The adoption of SOA- Web Services on embedded automation devices can be achieved
employing Device Profile for Web Services (DPWS) protocols which encapsulate device
control functionality as provided services (e.g. device I/O operation, device state
notification, device discovery) and business application interfaces into physical control
components of machining automation. This novel approach supports the possibility of
integrating pervasive enterprise applications through unifying Web Services interfaces
and neutral Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message communication between
control systems and business applications over standard Ethernet-Local Area Networks
(LAN's). In addition, the re-configurability of the automation system is enhanced via the
utilisation of Web Services throughout an automated control, build, installation, test,
maintenance and reuse system lifecycle via device self-discovery provided by the DPWS
protocol...cont'd
Synchronous Control of Reconfiguration in Fractal Component-based Systems -- a Case Study
In the context of component-based embedded systems, the management of dynamic reconfiguration in adaptive systems is an increasingly important feature. The Fractal component-based framework, and its industrial instantiation MIND, provide for support for control operations in the lifecycle of components. Nevertheless, the use of complex and integrated architectures make the management of this reconfiguration operations difficult to handle by programmers. To address this issue, we propose to use Synchronous languages, which are a complete approach to the design of reactive systems, based on behavior models in the form of transition systems. Furthermore, the design of closed-loop reactive managers of reconfigurations can benefit from formal tools like Discrete Controller Synthesis. In this paper we describe an approach to concretely integrate synchronous reconfiguration managers in Fractal component-based systems. We describe how to model the state space of the control problem, and how to specify the control objectives. We describe the implementation of the resulting manager with the Fractal/Cecilia programming environment, taking advantage of the Comete distributed middleware. We illustrate and validate it with the case study of the Comanche HTTP server on a multi-core execution platform.Dans le contexte des composants pour systĂšmes embarquĂ©s, la gestion de la reconfiguration dynamique devient de plus en plus importante. Le modĂšle Ă composants Fractal et son implĂ©mentation MIND, fournissent des moyens de contrĂŽle de cycle de vie des composants ainsi que des moyen pour le contrĂŽle des architectures. L'utilisation des architectures intĂ©grĂ©es de plus en plus complexes, rend la gestion des opĂ©rations de reconfiguration difficile Ă maintenir par le programmeur. Cette gestion devient plus complexe quand des propriĂ©tĂ©s globales sur le systĂšmes doivent ĂȘtre assurĂ©es. Nous proposons d'utiliser des langages synchrones rĂ©actifs, reposant sur des modĂšles comportementaux sous la forme de systĂšmes de transitions. De plus, notre approches, qui produit un manager synchrone pour la reconfiguration dynamique profite des techniques formelles comme la SynthĂšse de ContrĂŽleurs Discrets. Ce papier dĂ©crit l'intĂ©gration concrĂšte d'un manager synchrone pour la reconfiguration de systĂšmes-Ă -composants Fractal. Nous dĂ©taillerons notre approche en commençant par la partie modĂ©lisation du problĂšme de contrĂŽle sous forme d'espace d'Ă©tats de configurations, ainsi que la description des propriĂ©tĂ©s de contrĂŽle. Ensuite, nous aborderons la partie implĂ©mentation du manager rĂ©sultant en Fractal/Cecilia et son intĂ©gration dans des applications Fractal distribuĂ©es en utilisant le middleware Comete. Nous validerons notre approche au moyen d'un cas d'Ă©tude sur le serveur HTTP Comanche sur une plateforme d'exĂ©cution multicoeurs
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