Using the DiaSpec design language and compiler to develop robotics systems

A Sense/Compute/Control (SCC) application is one that interacts with the physical environment. Such applications are pervasive in domains such as building automation, assisted living, and autonomic computing. Developing an SCC application is complex because: (1) the implementation must address both the interaction with the environment and the application logic; (2) any evolution in the environment must be reflected in the implementation of the application; (3) correctness is essential, as effects on the physical environment can have irreversible consequences. The SCC architectural pattern and the DiaSpec domain-specific design language propose a framework to guide the design of such applications. From a design description in DiaSpec, the DiaSpec compiler is capable of generating a programming framework that guides the developer in implementing the design and that provides runtime support. In this paper, we report on an experiment using DiaSpec (both the design language and compiler) to develop a standard robotics application. We discuss the benefits and problems of using DiaSpec in a robotics setting and present some changes that would make DiaSpec a better framework in this setting.Comment: DSLRob'11: Domain-Specific Languages and models for ROBotic systems (2011

Constraining application behaviour by generating languages

Writing a platform for reactive applications which enforces operational constraints is difficult, and has been approached in various ways. In this experience report, we detail an approach using an embedded DSL which can be used to specify the structure and permissions of a program in a given application domain. Once the developer has specified which components an application will consist of, and which permissions each one needs, the specification itself evaluates to a new, tailored, language. The final implementation of the application is then written in this specialised environment where precisely the API calls associated with the permissions which have been granted, are made available. Our prototype platform targets the domain of mobile computing, and is implemented using Racket. It demonstrates resource access control (e.g., camera, address book, etc.) and tries to prevent leaking of private data. Racket is shown to be an extremely effective platform for designing new programming languages and their run-time libraries. We demonstrate that this approach allows reuse of an inter-component communication layer, is convenient for the application developer because it provides high-level building blocks to structure the application, and provides increased control to the platform owner, preventing certain classes of errors by the developer.Comment: 8 pages, 8th European Lisp Symposiu

Architecturing Conflict Handling of Pervasive Computing Resources

International audiencePervasive computing environments are created to support human activities in different domains (e.g., home automation and healthcare). To do so, applications orchestrate deployed services and devices. In a realistic setting, applications are bound to conflict in their usage of shared resources, e.g., controlling doors for security and fire evacuation purposes. These conflicts can have critical effects on the physical world, putting people and assets at risk. This paper presents a domain-specific approach to architecturing conflict handling of pervasive computing resources. This approach covers the software development lifecycle and consists of enriching the description of a pervasive computing system with declarations for resource handling. These declarations are used to automate conflict detection, manage the states of a pervasive computing system, and orchestrate resource accesses accordingly at runtime. In effect, our approach separates the application logic from resource conflict handling. Our approach has been implemented and validated on various building automation applications

DiaSuite: a Tool Suite To Develop Sense/Compute/Control Applications

International audienceWe present DiaSuite, a tool suite that uses a software design approach to drive the development process. DiaSuite focuses on a specific domain, namely Sense/Compute/Control (SCC) applications. It comprises a domain-specific design language, a compiler producing a Java programming framework, a 2D-renderer to simulate an application, and a deployment framework. We have validated our tool suite on a variety of concrete applications in areas including telecommunications, building automation, robotics and avionics

Leveraging software architectures to guide and verify the development of sense–compute–control applications

Nombre d'applications ont pour comportement principal l'attente d'un événement venant d'un environnement extérieur, la préparation d'un résultat et l'exécution d'actions sur cet environnement. Les interfaces graphiques et les systèmes avioniques en sont des exemples. Le paradigme SCC, pour sense-compute-control, est particulièrement adapté à la description de ces applications. Le développement d'applications suivant ce paradigme est complexe à cause du manque de cadre conceptuel et d'outils de support.Cette thèse propose un cadre conceptuel dédié au paradigme SCC et se concrétise par un langage de description d'architectures. À partir d'une description dans ce langage, un framework de programmation peut être généré. Il guide l'implémentation d'une application grâce à un support dédié et vérifie que cette implémentation est conforme à l'architecture décrite. Les contributions de cette thèse sont évaluées suivant des critères d'expressivité, d'utilisabilité et de productivité.Numerous applications have, as their main behavior, to wait for information coming from a foreign environment, to prepare a result, and to execute actions on this environment. Graphical user interfaces and avionic systems are two examples. The SCC paradigm, for Sense–Compute–Control, is dedicated to the description of such applications. Developing applications with this paradigm is made difficult by the lack of conceptual framework and tool support.This thesis proposes a conceptual framework dedicated to the SCC paradigm which is materialized by an architecture description language named DiaSpec. This language provides a framework to support the development of an SCC application, assigning roles to the stakeholders and providing separation of concerns. This thesis also proposes dedicated programming support. Indeed, from DiaSpec descriptions a dedicated programming framework is generated in a target language. This programming framework guides the implementation of an SCC application and raises the level of abstraction of this implementation with both high-level and dedicated mechanisms. This programming framework is designed to ensure conformance of the implementation to its architecture described in DiaSpec by leveraging the target language type system. Contributions of this thesis are evaluated through three criteria: expressiveness, usability and productivity

Leveraging software architectures to guide and verify the development of sense–compute–control applications

Nombre d'applications ont pour comportement principal l'attente d'un événement venant d'un environnement extérieur, la préparation d'un résultat et l'exécution d'actions sur cet environnement. Les interfaces graphiques et les systèmes avioniques en sont des exemples. Le paradigme SCC, pour sense-compute-control, est particulièrement adapté à la description de ces applications. Le développement d'applications suivant ce paradigme est complexe à cause du manque de cadre conceptuel et d'outils de support.Cette thèse propose un cadre conceptuel dédié au paradigme SCC et se concrétise par un langage de description d'architectures. À partir d'une description dans ce langage, un framework de programmation peut être généré. Il guide l'implémentation d'une application grâce à un support dédié et vérifie que cette implémentation est conforme à l'architecture décrite. Les contributions de cette thèse sont évaluées suivant des critères d'expressivité, d'utilisabilité et de productivité.Numerous applications have, as their main behavior, to wait for information coming from a foreign environment, to prepare a result, and to execute actions on this environment. Graphical user interfaces and avionic systems are two examples. The SCC paradigm, for Sense–Compute–Control, is dedicated to the description of such applications. Developing applications with this paradigm is made difficult by the lack of conceptual framework and tool support.This thesis proposes a conceptual framework dedicated to the SCC paradigm which is materialized by an architecture description language named DiaSpec. This language provides a framework to support the development of an SCC application, assigning roles to the stakeholders and providing separation of concerns. This thesis also proposes dedicated programming support. Indeed, from DiaSpec descriptions a dedicated programming framework is generated in a target language. This programming framework guides the implementation of an SCC application and raises the level of abstraction of this implementation with both high-level and dedicated mechanisms. This programming framework is designed to ensure conformance of the implementation to its architecture described in DiaSpec by leveraging the target language type system. Contributions of this thesis are evaluated through three criteria: expressiveness, usability and productivity

Empowering Caregivers To Customizing The Assistive Computing Support of Older Adults - An End-User Domain-Specific Approach

International audienceSmart homes are a promising infrastructure to support assistive services that can prolong independent living of older adults. However, smart homes are mostly developed using a technology-centered approach, raising challenges for users to comprehend the purpose of smart home services and anticipate their behavior. These challenges are more acute when services are to be deployed in homes of older adults, preventing the expert knowledge of their caregivers to be leveraged. This paper presents a user study that assesses the comprehensibility of an end-user language, named Maloya, dedicated to developing assistive services. Participants (9 professional caregivers) are presented with services written in Maloya and must determine whether they detect scenarios of daily living. Our results show that Maloya is well-understood by participants; they successfully determine whether a service detects a scenario (success rate of 94%) and substantiate their answers with consistent explanations. As such, Maloya should be effective in empowering caregivers to select appropriate services for their care-receivers and to accurately anticipate the service behavior