How To Touch a Running System

The increasing importance of distributed and decentralized software architectures entails more and more attention for adaptive software. Obtaining adaptiveness, however, is a difficult task as the software design needs to foresee and cope with a variety of situations. Using reconfiguration of components facilitates this task, as the adaptivity is conducted on an architecture level instead of directly in the code. This results in a separation of concerns; the appropriate reconfiguration can be devised on a coarse level, while the implementation of the components can remain largely unaware of reconfiguration scenarios. We study reconfiguration in component frameworks based on formal theory. We first discuss programming with components, exemplified with the development of the cmc model checker. This highly efficient model checker is made of C++ components and serves as an example for component-based software development practice in general, and also provides insights into the principles of adaptivity. However, the component model focuses on high performance and is not geared towards using the structuring principle of components for controlled reconfiguration. We thus complement this highly optimized model by a message passing-based component model which takes reconfigurability to be its central principle. Supporting reconfiguration in a framework is about alleviating the programmer from caring about the peculiarities as much as possible. We utilize the formal description of the component model to provide an algorithm for reconfiguration that retains as much flexibility as possible, while avoiding most problems that arise due to concurrency. This algorithm is embedded in a general four-stage adaptivity model inspired by physical control loops. The reconfiguration is devised to work with stateful components, retaining their data and unprocessed messages. Reconfiguration plans, which are provided with a formal semantics, form the input of the reconfiguration algorithm. We show that the algorithm achieves perceived atomicity of the reconfiguration process for an important class of plans, i.e., the whole process of reconfiguration is perceived as one atomic step, while minimizing the use of blocking of components. We illustrate the applicability of our approach to reconfiguration by providing several examples like fault-tolerance and automated resource control

Market fields structure & dynamics in industrial automation

There is a research tradition in the economics of standards which addresses standards wars, antitrust concerns or positive externalities from standards. Recent research has also dealt with the process characteristics of standardisation, de facto standard-setting consortia and intellectual property concerns in the technology specification or implementation phase. Nonetheless, there are no studies which analyse capabilities, comparative industry dynamics or incentive structures sufficiently in the context of standard-setting. In my study, I address the characteristics of collaborative research and standard-setting as a new mode of deploying assets beyond motivations well-known from R&D consortia or market alliances. On the basis of a case study of a leading user organisation in the market for industrial automation technology, but also a descriptive network analysis of cross-community affiliations, I demonstrate that there must be a paradoxical relationship between cooperation and competition. More precisely, I explain how there can be a dual relationship between value creation and value capture respecting exploration and exploitation. My case study emphasises the dynamics between knowledge stocks (knowledge alignment, narrowing and deepening) produced by collaborative standard setting and innovation; it also sheds light on an evolutional relationship between the exploration of assets and use cases and each firm's exploitation activities in the market. I derive standard-setting capabilities from an empirical analysis of membership structures, policies and incumbent firm characteristics in selected, but leading, user organisations. The results are as follows: the market for industrial automation technology is characterised by collaboration on standards, high technology influences of other industries and network effects on standards. Further, system integrators play a decisive role in value creation in the customer-specific business case. Standard-setting activities appear to be loosely coupled to the products offered on the market. Core leaders in world standards in industrial automation own a variety of assets and they are affiliated to many standard-setting communities rather than exclusively committed to a few standards. Furthermore, their R&D ratios outperform those of peripheral members and experience in standard-setting processes can be assumed. Standard-setting communities specify common core concepts as the basis for the development of each member's proprietary products, complementary technologies and industrial services. From a knowledge-based perspective, the targeted disclosure of certain knowledge can be used to achieve high innovation returns through systemic products which add proprietary features to open standards. Finally, the interplay between exploitation and exploration respecting the deployment of standard-setting capabilities linked to cooperative, pre-competitive processes leads to an evolution in common technology owned and exploited by the standard-setting community as a particular kind of innovation ecosystem. --standard-setting,innovation,industry dynamics and context,industrial automation

Formální komponentový model pro mobilní architektury

Disertační práce se zabývá modelováním komponentových systémů a formálním popisem jejich chování. Řešení je založeno na vlastním komponentovém modelu, který je popsán meta-modelem, z logického pohledu, a popisem v pi-kalkulu, z procesního pohledu. Je ukázáno, že komponentový model pokrývá dynamické aspekty softwarových architektur včetně mobility jejich komponent. Dále je popsán způsob modelování chování v architekturách orientovaných na služby a přechod ke komponentovým systémům. Chování konkrétní architektury orientované na služby lze pak vyjádřit jako jediný proces v pi-kalkulu. V závěru práce je navržené řešení ověřeno na případové studii prostředí pro testování kritických aplikací. Přínosem disertační práce je zejména zmíněná podpora dynamických architektur a integrace s architekturami orientovanými na služby.In the thesis, we propose an approach to modelling of component-based systems and formal description of their behaviour. The approach is based on a novel component model defined by a metamodel in a logical view and by description in the pi-calculus in a process view. We show that the component model addresses the dynamic aspects of software architectures including the component mobility. Furthermore, we propose a method of behavioural modelling of service-oriented architectures to pass smoothly from service level to component level and to describe behaviour of a whole system, services and components, as a single pi-calculus process. Finally, we illustrate an application of our approach on a case study of an environment for functional testing of complex safety-critical systems. The support of dynamic architecture and the integration with service-oriented architecture compromise the main advantages of our approach.Katedra softwarového inženýrstvíDepartment of Software EngineeringFaculty of Mathematics and PhysicsMatematicko-fyzikální fakult

Evaluation and analysis of realizing broker-based content routing protocols in SDN

Publish/subscribe provides a valuable communication model to the future Internet due to the decoupling of end-users from each other. One of the stubborn challenges that face recent content-based publish/subscribe systems is the trade-off between the usage of the network bandwidth and the end-to-end delay of published events. This trade-off is imposed by the fact that most implementations depend on software brokers to filter incoming messages towards received requests from subscribers. Although this approach for filtering may present the most bandwidth efficient solutions, the use of brokers adds to the network end-to-end delay. The installed brokers are implemented at the application layer and hence the original path between publishers and subscribers is extended which adds to the delay in which messages are forwarded from publishers to subscribers. Along with the delay imposed by the extended path, another processing delay is added to the system based on the time needed for filtering incoming messages at the brokers. As the time factor is crucial to the real-world applications that depend on the content-based publish/subscribe paradigm, recent implementations try to tackle this problem by exploiting the deployed hardware in the underlying infrastructure for filtering operations. In-network filtering is enabled with the help of Software Defined Networking (SDN) technology as it allows the installment of content filters directly to the network switches/routers. Even though this approach significantly reduces the end-to-end delay, it suffers when the bandwidth efficiency is evaluated. Caused by the inherited hardware limitations, installing content filters on hardware network elements limits their expressiveness. This increases the number of published messages from publishers to subscribers on different network links which requires more bandwidth. As an intermediate solution between the two filtering approaches, the work of this thesis is the realization of a hybrid content-based publish/subscribe middleware that allows filtering operations in both network and application layers

Operating system fault tolerance support for real-time embedded applications

Tese de doutoramento em Electrónica Industrial (ramo de conhecimento em Informática Industrial)Fault tolerance is a means of achieving high dependability for critical and highavailability systems. Despite the efforts to prevent and remove faults during the development of these systems, the application of fault tolerance is usually required because the hardware may fail during system operation and software faults are very hard to eliminate completely. One of the difficulties in implementing fault tolerance techniques is the lack of support from operating systems and middleware. In most fault tolerant projects, the programmer has to develop a fault tolerance implementation for each application. This strong customization makes the fault-tolerant software costly and difficult to implement and maintain. In particular, for small-scale embedded systems, the introduction of fault tolerance techniques may also have impact on their restricted resources, such as processing power and memory size. The purpose of this research is to provide fault tolerance support for real-time applications in small-scale embedded systems. The main approach of this thesis is to develop and integrate a customizable and extendable fault tolerance framework into a real-time operating system, in order to fulfill the needs of a large range of dependable applications. Special attention is taken to allow the coexistence of fault tolerance with real-time constraints. The utilization of the proposed framework features several advantages over ad-hoc implementations, such as simplifying application-level programming and improving the system configurability and maintainability. In addition, this thesis also investigates the application of aspect-oriented techniques to the development of real-time embedded fault-tolerant software. Aspect- Oriented Programming (AOP) is employed to modularize all fault tolerant source code, following the principle of separation of concerns, and to integrate the proposed framework into the operating system. Two case studies are used to evaluate the proposed implementation in terms of performance and resource costs. The results show that the overheads related to the framework application are acceptable and the ones related to the AOP implementation are negligible.Tolerância a falhas é um meio de obter-se alta confiabilidade para sistemas críticos e de elevada disponibilidade. Apesar dos esforços para prevenir e remover falhas durante o desenvolvimento destes sistemas, a aplicação de tolerância a falhas é normalmente necessária, já que o hardware pode falhar durante a operação do sistema e falhas de software são muito difíceis de eliminar completamente. Uma das dificuldades na implementação de técnicas de tolerância a falhas é a falta de suporte por parte dos sistemas operativos e middleware. Na maioria dos projectos tolerantes a falhas, o programador deve desenvolver uma implementação de tolerância a falhas para cada aplicação. Esta elevada adaptação torna o software tolerante a falhas dispendioso e difícil de implementar e manter. Em particular, para sistemas embebidos de pequena escala, a introdução de técnicas de tolerância a falhas pode também ter impacto nos seus restritos recursos, tais como capacidade de processamento e tamanho da memória. O propósito desta tese é prover suporte à tolerância a falhas para aplicações de tempo real em sistemas embebidos de pequena escala. A principal abordagem utilizada nesta tese foi desenvolver e integrar uma framework tolerante a falhas, customizável e extensível, a um sistema operativo de tempo real, a fim de satisfazer às necessidades de uma larga gama de aplicações confiáveis. Especial atenção foi dada para permitir a coexistência de tolerância a falhas com restrições de tempo real. A utilização da framework proposta apresenta diversas vantagens sobre implementações ad-hoc, tais como simplificar a programação a nível da aplicação e melhorar a configurabilidade e a facilidade de manutenção do sistema. Além disto, esta tese também investiga a aplicação de técnicas orientadas a aspectos no desenvolvimento de software tolerante a falhas, embebido e de tempo real. A Programação Orientada a Aspectos (POA) é empregada para segregar em módulos isolados todo o código fonte tolerante a falhas, seguindo o princípio da separação de interesses, e para integrar a framework proposta com o sistema operativo. Dois casos de estudo são utilizados para avaliar a implementação proposta em termos de desempenho e utilização de recursos. Os resultados mostram que os acréscimos de recursos relativos à aplicação da framework são aceitáveis e os relativos à implementação POA são insignificantes

The manufacturing domain ontology for simplifying interoperability of systems for contact lens manufacture

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThe advances in manufacturing systems and automation in recent years has been vast. The mechatronic age is apparent in any highly automated manufacturing facility. There is however, an emerging need to improve the domain model to keep pace. Much has been written regarding “big data” and the interoperability of systems, the detrimental effects of dirty data. This research sets out to review the current state of manufacturing domain data, the options for manipulating data while an organisation grows through natural growth and acquisitions. The research adopted a design science methodology to guide through an iterative process, adding more data and creating a higher level of understanding through each cycle. This research follows using a 4D foundation ontology to model the products and processes of a test case manufacturing organisation creating a minimum viable ontology. The accomplishments of this thesis are designing, building a foundation grounded ontological domain model for contact lenses and contact lens manufacturing process. In the final cycles of the evaluation, to empirically demonstrate the use of a philosophical foundational ontology within a legacy data conversion process enhancing the interoperability of systems by identifying and cleaning erroneous data. This research demonstrates the use of data representation, modelling using space time maps to explain both simple and complex domain data interactions within products and manufacturing processes

Capacidades dinâmicas para a inovação aberta: análise com base no capital intelectual

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia e Gestão do Conhecimento, Florianópolis, 2016.A inovação é uma força motriz para a prosperidade de organizações, regiões e nações, entretanto, inovar no atual contexto de rápida transformação tecnológica traz desafios: o ciclo de vida de produtos e serviços é cada vez menor, enquanto a crescente integração tecnológica torna mais caros os investimentos em inovação e mais incerto o retorno. Com isso, muitas organizações entendem as vantagens de abrir seus processos de inovação buscando inovar por meio de colaboração com agentes externos, sob o modelo de Inovação Aberta. Capacidades Dinâmicas são ativos intangíveis que permitem a orquestração de recursos de dentro e fora da organização necessária à Inovação Aberta, bem como a adaptação das organizações ao ambiente complexo contemporâneo. A Inovação Aberta depende de Capacidades Dinâmicas, assim, se faz necessário identificar Capacidades Dinâmicas relevantes para o processo de Inovação Aberta com critério e rigor metodológico. O Capital Intelectual representa os intangíveis de uma organização. Um modelo de Capital Intelectual, no caso, um modelo consolidado como o Modelo Intellectus® ofereceu uma base sólida para a análise das Capacidades Dinâmicas relacionadas à Inovação Aberta. Esta pesquisa de natureza qualitativa teve como objetivo geral propor um framework conceitual para a identificação e compreensão de Capacidades Dinâmicas relacionadas à Inovação Aberta. O tipo de Inovação Aberta, escopo deste trabalho é o P&D colaborativo envolvendo transação monetária com benefícios para os parceiros envolvidos. O tipo de inovação foco da pesquisa é a inovação tecnológica. O trabalho confirma que Capacidades Dinâmicas desempenham um papel central nos processos de Inovação Aberta. Identifica, define e representa quarenta Capacidades Dinâmicas para a Inovação Aberta em um framework solidamente fundamentado em teorias consolidadas: inovação (e Inovação Aberta); Capacidades Dinâmicas e suas três classes segundo Teece (2007); e no Capital Intelectual. Apresenta e explica a inter-relação entre as três teorias. Ao relacionar Capacidades Dinâmicas e Inovação Aberta contribui para preencher uma lacuna de conhecimento identificado na literatura da área, além de avançar o conhecimento sobre Inovação, Capacidades Dinâmicas e sobre Capital Intelectual. Comoresultado prático a pesquisa contribui com organizações em geral e Sistemas de Inovação com interesse em participar de processos de inovação colaborativa, a partir tanto das discussões da tese, quanto do framework "Orchestrating Innovation" resultado da pesquisa. O trabalho apresentado atingiu os objetivos propostos: identificou Capacidades Dinâmicas relevantes para a Inovação Aberta; analisar no modelo de Capital Intelectual Intellectus as Capacidades Dinâmicas identificadas; relacionou conceitualmente Capacidades Dinâmicas, Inovação Aberta e Capital Intelectual; confirmou a adequação dos elementos identificados na pesquisa à realidade prática da Inovação Aberta; criou o framework conceitual com a identificação e compreensão de Capacidades Dinâmicas relevantes para a Inovação Aberta. O framework denominado "Orchestrating Innovation" relacionou em uma estrutura conceitual os achados da pesquisa e as teorias que a embasaram.Abstract : Innovation is a driving force for the prosperity of organizations, regions and nations. However, innovating in today's context of rapid technological change poses challenges: the life cycle of products and services is becoming shorter and shorter while increasing technological integration leads to higher cost of investments in innovation and more uncertain return. Thus, many organizations understand the benefits of opening their innovation processes, seeking to innovate through collaboration with external agents, under the Open Innovation model. Dynamic capabilities are intangible assets that allow resource orchestration inside and outside the organization, which is needed for Open Innovation and adaptation of organizations to the contemporary complex environment. Open Innovation depends on Dynamic Capabilities, hence one needs to identify Dynamic Capabilities that are relevant to the process of Open Innovation with particular criteria and methodological rigor. Intellectual capital represents the intangible assets of an organization. An intellectual capital model, in this case, a consolidated model such as the Intellectus® model, offers a solid basis for the analysis of Dynamic Capabilities relative to Open Innovation. This qualitative research aimed to propose a conceptual framework for the identification and understanding of Dynamic Capabilities for Open Innovation. The type of Open Innovation, which is the scope of this work, is collaborative R&D involving monetary transaction with benefits for the partners involved. The type of innovation addressed by this research is technological innovation. This research has confirmed that Dynamic Capabilities play a central role in open innovation processes. It identifies, defines and represents forty Dynamic Capabilities for Open Innovation in a framework soundly based on consolidated theories: innovation (and Open Innovation); Dynamic Capabilities and their three classes according to Teece (2007); and intellectual capital. It presents and explains the interrelationship between the three theories. By linking Dynamic Capabilities and Open Innovation, it helps to fill a knowledge gap identified in the literature, and advance knowledge of Innovation, Dynamic Capabilities and Intellectual Capital. As a practical result, this research contributes to organizations in general and Innovation Systems with interest in participating in collaborative innovation processes, based bothon discussions in the dissertation, and the "Orchestrating Innovation" framework resulting from the research. The present work achieved its objectives: it identified relevant Dynamic Capabilities for Open Innovation; analyzed Dynamic Capabilities identified in the Intellectus® intellectual capital model; discussed the relationship between the concepts Dynamic Capabilities, Open Innovation and Intellectual Capital; confirmed the suitability of the elements identified in the research to the practical reality of Open Innovation; created the conceptual framework by identifying and understanding the relevant Dynamic Capabilities for Open Innovation. The framework called "Orchestrating Innovation" was used to establish the relationship between the research findings and the underlying theories into a conceptual framework

Satellite Services Workshop, Volume 1

Key issues associated with the orbital servicing of satellites are examined including servicing spacecraft and equipment, servicing operations, economics, satellite design, docking and berthing, and fluid management

Queensland University of Technology: Handbook 2008

The Queensland University of Technology handbook gives an outline of the faculties and subject offerings available that were offered by QUT