A flexible architecture for privacy-aware trust management

In service-oriented systems a constellation of services cooperate, sharing potentially sensitive information and responsibilities. Cooperation is only possible if the different participants trust each other. As trust may depend on many different factors, in a flexible framework for Trust Management (TM) trust must be computed by combining different types of information. In this paper we describe the TAS3 TM framework which integrates independent TM systems into a single trust decision point. The TM framework supports intricate combinations whilst still remaining easily extensible. It also provides a unified trust evaluation interface to the (authorization framework of the) services. We demonstrate the flexibility of the approach by integrating three distinct TM paradigms: reputation-based TM, credential-based TM, and Key Performance Indicator TM. Finally, we discuss privacy concerns in TM systems and the directions to be taken for the definition of a privacy-friendly TM architecture.\u

Architectures for smart end-user services in the power grid

Abstract-The increase of distributed renewable electricity generators, such as solar cells and wind turbines, requires a new energy management system. These distributed generators introduce bidirectional energy flows in the low-voltage power grid, requiring novel coordination mechanisms to balance local supply and demand. Closed solutions exist for energy management on the level of individual homes. However, no service architectures have been defined that allow the growing number of end-users to interact with the other power consumers and generators and to get involved in more rational energy consumption patterns using intuitive applications. We therefore present a common service architecture that allows houses with renewable energy generation and smart energy devices to plug into a distributed energy management system, integrated with the public power grid. Next to the technical details, we focus on the usability aspects of the end-user applications in order to contribute to high service adoption and optimal user involvement. The presented architecture facilitates end-users to reduce net energy consumption, enables power grid providers to better balance supply and demand, and allows new actors to join with new services. We present a novel simulator that allows to evaluate both the power grid and data communication aspects, and illustrate a 22% reduction of the peak load by deploying a central coordinator inside the home gateway of an end-user

Agent and cyber-physical system based self-organizing and self-adaptive intelligent shopfloor

The increasing demand of customized production results in huge challenges to the traditional manufacturing systems. In order to allocate resources timely according to the production requirements and to reduce disturbances, a framework for the future intelligent shopfloor is proposed in this paper. The framework consists of three primary models, namely the model of smart machine agent, the self-organizing model, and the self-adaptive model. A cyber-physical system for manufacturing shopfloor based on the multiagent technology is developed to realize the above-mentioned function models. Gray relational analysis and the hierarchy conflict resolution methods were applied to achieve the self-organizing and self-adaptive capabilities, thereby improving the reconfigurability and responsiveness of the shopfloor. A prototype system is developed, which has the adequate flexibility and robustness to configure resources and to deal with disturbances effectively. This research provides a feasible method for designing an autonomous factory with exception-handling capabilities

Information Technology of Software Architecture Structural Synthesis of Information System

Information technology of information system software architecture structural synthesis is proposed. It is used for evolutionary models of the software lifecycle, which provides configuration and formation of software to control the realization and recovery of computing processes in parallel and distributed computing resources structures. The technology is applied in the framework of the software requirements analysis, design of architecture, design and integration of software. Method of combining vertices for multilevel graph model of software architecture and automata-based method of checking performance limitations to software are based on the advanced graph model of software architecture. These methods are proposed in the framework of information technology and allow forming a rational structure of the program, as well as checking for compliance with the functional and non-functional requirements of the end user.The essence of proposed information technology is in displaying of the customer's requirements in the current version of the graph model of program complex structure and providing a reconfiguration of the system modules. This process is based on the analysis and processing of the graph model, software module specifications, formation of software structure in accordance with the graph model, software verification and its compilation

Using real options to select stable Middleware-induced software architectures

The requirements that force decisions towards building distributed system architectures are usually of a non-functional nature. Scalability, openness, heterogeneity, and fault-tolerance are examples of such non-functional requirements. The current trend is to build distributed systems with middleware, which provide the application developer with primitives for managing the complexity of distribution, system resources, and for realising many of the non-functional requirements. As non-functional requirements evolve, the `coupling' between the middleware and architecture becomes the focal point for understanding the stability of the distributed software system architecture in the face of change. It is hypothesised that the choice of a stable distributed software architecture depends on the choice of the underlying middleware and its flexibility in responding to future changes in non-functional requirements. Drawing on a case study that adequately represents a medium-size component-based distributed architecture, it is reported how a likely future change in scalability could impact the architectural structure of two versions, each induced with a distinct middleware: one with CORBA and the other with J2EE. An option-based model is derived to value the flexibility of the induced-architectures and to guide the selection. The hypothesis is verified to be true for the given change. The paper concludes with some observations that could stimulate future research in the area of relating requirements to software architectures

Design of Home Network Architecture using ACE/TAO Real Time Event Service

This paper proposes a home network design based on publisher/subscriber architecture which is developed using ACE/TAO Real-time Event Service (RTES) as the middleware platform. This design addresses a feature to support a real-time implementation for home network application such as home automation. Home network participants have been classified into several components based on consumer and supplier implementation in the ACE/TAO RTES in order to simplify the design. To optimize the network utilization, events are filtered based on their type and source for each publisher and subscriber. To deal with heterogeneous type of home appliances, event header information has been extended to wrap more information. Each of events can be configured with a specific scheduling and priority setting to meet its quality of service (QoS) according to the requirement. Network performance in handling an increasing number of consumer or supplier has been evaluated and show an acceptable result. Keywords: Home Network, ACE/TAO, RTES, QoS