Identifying and Classifying Processes (traditional and soft factors) that Support COTS Component Selection

COTS-Based Systems (CBS) development focuses on building large software systems by integrating previously existing software components. CBS success depends on successful evaluation and selection of Commercial-Off-The- Shelf (COTS) software components to fit customer requirements. Literature shows that successful selection of offthe- shelf systems to fit customer requirements remains problematic. This paper presents the outcome of a study aimed at using a social-technical approach to identify and classify processes (including traditional and soft factors) that support COTS software selection. The identified factors and lessons learnt from case study assisted in elaborating and further development of Social-Technical Approach to COTS Evaluation framework (STACE)

A requirements engineering framework for developing COTS GIS applications : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Information Science in Information Systems at Massey University

There has been an increase in recent years in the number of Geographic Information System (GIS) applications being developed for stakeholders using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software. There are a lack of guidelines in both industry and the literature on how to acquire user requirements for the development of GIS applications in this COTS software environment. This study investigates process activities in order to build a framework to address these inadequacies. The construction of the framework incorporates requirements engineering and COTS software evaluation and selection process activities from the Information Systems (IS) area. The framework is used to explore three issues related to developing GIS applications and used to determine whether: 1) a life cycle model is used to guide the gathering and analysing of requirements when developing GIS applications, 2) standard IS requirements processes can be used for developing GIS solutions, and 3) standard IS COTS software acquisition processes can be used for developing GIS solutions. Case studies were used to analyse current practices in the GIS industry and to validate the usefulness of these activities in the framework. The results of this investigation suggest that RE practices associated with the COTS paradigm within the IS arena are suitable for developing GIS applications based on user requirements

Ground System Harmonization Efforts at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This slide presentation reviews the efforts made at Goddard Space Flight Center in harmonizing the ground systems to assist in collaboration in space ventures. The key elements of this effort are: (1) Moving to a Common Framework (2) Use of Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Standards (3) Collaboration Across NASA Centers (4) Collaboration Across Industry and other Space Organizations. These efforts are working to bring into harmony the GSFC systems with CCSDS standards to allow for common software, use of Commercial Off the Shelf Software and low risk development and operations and also to work toward harmonization with other NASA center

An active-architecture approach to COTS integration

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software products are increasingly used as standard components within integrated information systems. This creates challenges since both their developers and source code are not usually available, and the ongoing development of COTS cannot be predicted. The ArchWare Framework approach recognises COTS products as part of the ambient environment of an information system and therefore an important part of development is incorporating COTS as effective system components. This integration of COTS components, and the composition of components, is captured by an active architecture model which changes as the system evolves. Indeed the architecture modelling language used enables it to express the monitoring and evolution of a system. This active architecture model is structured using control system principles. By modelling both integration and evolution it can guide the system’s response to both predicted and emergent changes that arise from the use of COTS products.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Ontology engineering for simulation component reuse

Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) simulation packages (CSPs) are widely used in industry, although they have yet to operate across organizational boundaries. Reuse across organizations is restricted by the same semantic issues that restrict the inter-organizational use of web services. The current representations of web components are predominantly syntactic in nature lacking the fundamental semantic underpinning required to support discovery on the emerging semantic web. Semantic models, in the form of ontology, utilized by web service discovery and deployment architectures provide one approach to support simulation model reuse. Semantic interoperation is achieved through the use of simulation component ontologies to identify required components at varying levels of granularity (including both abstract and specialized components). Selected simulation components are loaded into a CSP, modified according to the requirements of the new model and executed. The paper presents the development of an ontology, connector software and web service discovery architecture. The ontology is extracted from simulation scenarios involving airport, restaurant and kitchen service suppliers. The ontology engineering framework and discovery architecture provide a novel approach to inter-organizational simulation, adopting a less intrusive interface between participants. Although specific to CSPs the work has wider implications for the simulation community

A Multidisciplinary Tool for Systems Analysis of Planetary Entry, Descent, and Landing (SAPE)

SAPE is a Python-based multidisciplinary analysis tool for systems analysis of planetary entry, descent, and landing (EDL) for Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Titan. The purpose of SAPE is to provide a variable-fidelity capability for conceptual and preliminary analysis within the same framework. SAPE includes the following analysis modules: geometry, trajectory, aerodynamics, aerothermal, thermal protection system, and structural sizing. SAPE uses the Python language-a platform-independent open-source software for integration and for the user interface. The development has relied heavily on the object-oriented programming capabilities that are available in Python. Modules are provided to interface with commercial and government off-the-shelf software components (e.g., thermal protection systems and finite-element analysis). SAPE runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X and has been partially tested on Linux

Mobile GIS: The Development of Spatial Analysis Tools in an Integrated Environment for Emergency Responders

Bringing GIS to the field has many limitations to the end user due to currently available mobile computing and connectivity shortcomings. Of major concern is the lack of spatial analysis and querying abilities currently available in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software for mobile applications. Current mobile GIS offers mapping and visualization capabilities, while providing no analytical means to discover the data spatially. Adding spatially-based analysis tools will enable emergency responders to more accurately record the state of a particular area and better understand their surroundings while collecting important field assessments. This allows for more timely and accurate assessments by emergency planners to better allocate resources in the field. This paper outlines the development of both connected or server run, and disconnected analysis tools for emergency responders in a mobile framework. The proposed tools were developed with ESRI‟s ArcGIS Server Mobile Software Development Kit utilizing server technology. They leverage the mobile application based data and internet-based services to perform these tasks. This project is focused on the development, and subsequent inclusion into, an enterprise emergency response system: PREACT

A framework for cots software evaluation and selection for COTS mismatches handling and non-functional requirements

The decision to purchase Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software needs systematic guidelines so that the appropriate COTS software can be selected in order to provide a viable and effective solution to the organizations. However, the existing COTS software evaluation and selection frameworks focus more on functional aspects and do not give adequate attention to accommodate the mismatch between user requirements and COTS software specification, and also integration with non functional requirements of COTS software. Studies have identified that these two criteria are important in COTS software evaluation and selection. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new framework of COTS software evaluation and selection that focuses on handling COTS software mismatches and integrating the nonfunctional requirements. The study is conducted using mixed-mode methodology which involves survey and interview. The study is conducted in four main phases: a survey and interview of 63 organizations to identify COTS software evaluation criteria, development of COTS software evaluation and selection framework using Evaluation Theory, development of a new decision making technique by integrating Analytical Hierarchy Process and Gap Analysis to handle COTS software mismatches, and validation of the practicality and reliability of the proposed COTS software Evaluation and Selection Framework (COTS-ESF) using experts’ review, case studies and yardstick validation. This study has developed the COTS-ESF which consists of five categories of evaluation criteria: Quality, Domain, Architecture, Operational Environment and Vendor Reputation. It also provides a decision making technique and a complete process for performing the evaluation and selection of COTS software. The result of this study shows that the evaluated aspects of the framework are feasible and demonstrate their potential and practicality to be applied in the real environment. The contribution of this study straddles both the research and practical perspectives of software evaluation by improving decision making and providing a systematic guidelines for handling issue in purchasing viable COTS software

System framework for autonomous data processing onboard next generation of nanosatellite

Progress within nanosatellite systems development makes niche commercial Earth observing missions feasible; however, despite advances in demonstrated data rates, these systems will remain downlink limited able to capture more data than can be returned to the ground cost-effectively in traditional raw or near-raw forms. The embedding of existing ground-based image processing algorithms into onboard systems is non-trivial especially in limited resource nanosatellites, necessitating new approaches. In addition, mission opportunities for systems beyond Earth orbit present additional challenges around relay availability and bandwidth, and delay-tolerance, leading to more autonomous approaches. This paper describes a framework for implementing autonomous data processing onboard resource-constrained nanosatellites, covering data selection, reduction, prioritization and distribution. The framework is based on high level requirements and aligned to existing off-the-shelf software and international standards. It is intended to target low-resource algorithms developed in other sectors including autonomous vehicles and commercial machine learning. Techniques such as deep learning and heuristic code optimization have been identified as both value-adding to the use cases studied and technically feasible. With the framework in place, work is now progressing within the consortium under UKSA Centre for Earth Observation and Instrument funding to deliver an initial prototype data chain implemented within a representative FPGA-based flight computer system

Semantic web services for simulation component reuse and interoperability: An ontology approach

Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Simulation Packages (CSPs) are widely used in industry primarily due to economic factors associated with developing proprietary software platforms. Regardless of their widespread use, CSPs have yet to operate across organizational boundaries. The limited reuse and interoperability of CSPs are affected by the same semantic issues that restrict the inter-organizational use of software components and web services. The current representations of Web components are predominantly syntactic in nature lacking the fundamental semantic underpinning required to support discovery on the emerging Semantic Web. The authors present new research that partially alleviates the problem of limited semantic reuse and interoperability of simulation components in CSPs. Semantic models, in the form of ontologies, utilized by the authors’ Web service discovery and deployment architecture provide one approach to support simulation model reuse. Semantic interoperation is achieved through a simulation component ontology that is used to identify required components at varying levels of granularity (i.e. including both abstract and specialized components). Selected simulation components are loaded into a CSP, modified according to the requirements of the new model and executed. The research presented here is based on the development of an ontology, connector software, and a Web service discovery architecture. The ontology is extracted from simulation scenarios involving airport, restaurant and kitchen service suppliers. The ontology engineering framework and discovery architecture provide a novel approach to inter-organizational simulation, by adopting a less intrusive interface between participants Although specific to CSPs this work has wider implications for the simulation community. The reason being that the community as a whole stands to benefit through from an increased awareness of the state-of-the-art in Software Engineering (for example, ontology-supported component discovery and reuse, and service-oriented computing), and it is expected that this will eventually lead to the development of a unique Software Engineering-inspired methodology to build simulations in future