Using an Architecture Description Language to Model a Large- Scale Information System – An Industrial Experience Report

An organisation that had developed a large Information System wanted to embark on a programme of significant evolution for the system. As a precursor to this, it was decided to create a comprehensive architectural description. T his undertaking faced a number of challenges, including a low general awareness of software modelling and software architecture practices . The approach taken for this project included the definition of a simple, specific, architecture description language. This paper describes the experiences of the project and the ADL created as part of it

Architecture Diagrams: A Graphical Language for Architecture Style Specification

Architecture styles characterise families of architectures sharing common characteristics. We have recently proposed configuration logics for architecture style specification. In this paper, we study a graphical notation to enhance readability and easiness of expression. We study simple architecture diagrams and a more expressive extension, interval architecture diagrams. For each type of diagrams, we present its semantics, a set of necessary and sufficient consistency conditions and a method that allows to characterise compositionally the specified architectures. We provide several examples illustrating the application of the results. We also present a polynomial-time algorithm for checking that a given architecture conforms to the architecture style specified by a diagram.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2016, arXiv:1608.0313

A Game of Attribute Decomposition for Software Architecture Design

Attribute-driven software architecture design aims to provide decision support by taking into account the quality attributes of softwares. A central question in this process is: What architecture design best fulfills the desirable software requirements? To answer this question, a system designer needs to make tradeoffs among several potentially conflicting quality attributes. Such decisions are normally ad-hoc and rely heavily on experiences. We propose a mathematical approach to tackle this problem. Game theory naturally provides the basic language: Players represent requirements, and strategies involve setting up coalitions among the players. In this way we propose a novel model, called decomposition game, for attribute-driven design. We present its solution concept based on the notion of cohesion and expansion-freedom and prove that a solution always exists. We then investigate the computational complexity of obtaining a solution. The game model and the algorithms may serve as a general framework for providing useful guidance for software architecture design. We present our results through running examples and a case study on a real-life software project.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, a shorter version to appear at 12th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing (ICTAC 2015

The concept of architectural reliability of software for ensuring the functioning of request-free measuring stations

The article proposes the concept of architectural reliability of software included in the hardware and software complex of request-free measuring stations. This concept is based on previously completed activities to shape the appearance of a complex of hardware and software for the functioning of measuring stations. It is noted that in order to solve problems related to increasing the architectural reliability of software, the security functions and information and logical interaction of the components of the measuring station are essential. Since software architecture is determined by the concept of architectural design, the work presents the stages of designing a complex software system. The description provided includes the basic operations of architectural design, with decomposition necessary to structure and organize system specifications. The final stage lists the main steps that should be taken to enhance the strategic influence of the software architecture on the functionality and reliability of the set of technical means for ensuring the operation of request-free measuring stations

Using an Architecture Description Language to Model a Large- Scale Information System – An Industrial Experience Report

An organisation that had developed a large Information System wanted to embark on a programme of significant evolution for the system. As a precursor to this, it was decided to create a comprehensive architectural description. T his undertaking faced a number of challenges, including a low general awareness of software modelling and software architecture practices . The approach taken for this project included the definition of a simple, specific, architecture description language. This paper describes the experiences of the project and the ADL created as part of it

Architecture-based Design: A Satellite On-Board Software Case Study

In this case study, we apply the architecture-based design approach to the control software of the CubETH satellite. Architectures are a means for ensuring global coordination properties and thus, achieving correctness of complex systems by construction. The design approach comprises three main steps: 1) definition of a domain-specific taxonomy of architecture styles; 2) design of the software model by applying architectures to enforce the required properties; 3) deadlock-freedom analysis of the resulting model. We provide a taxonomy of architecture styles for satellite on-board software, formally defined by architecture diagrams in the BIP component-based framework. We show how architectures are instantiated from the diagrams and applied to a set of atomic components. Deadlock-freedom of the resulting model is verified using the DFinder tool from the BIP tool-set. Finally, we provide additional validation of our approach by using the nuXmv model checker to verify that the properties enforced by the architectures are, indeed, satisfied in the resulting software model

The ALI Architecture Description Language

Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) have emerged over the past two decades as a means to abstract details of large-scale systems in order to enable better intellectual control over the complete systems. Recently, there has been an explosion in the number of ADLs created in the research community. However, industrial adoption of these ADLs has been rather limited. This has been attributed to various reasons, including the lack of support of some ADLs for: variability management, requirements traceability, architectural artefact reusability and multiple architectural views. To overcome these limitations, this paper is a report on ALI, an ADL that was designed to complement existing work by adding mechanisms to address the aforementioned limitations. The ALI design principles, concepts, notations and formal semantics are presented in this paper. The notation is illustrated using two distinct case studies, one from the information systems domain " an Asset Management System (AMS); and another from the embedded systems domain - a Wheel Brake System (WBS)