A software development framework for context-aware systems

The beginning of the new century has been characterised by the miniaturisation and accessibility of electronics, which has enabled its widespread usage around the world. This technological background is progressively materialising the future of the remainder of the century, where industry-based societies have been moving towards information-based societies. Information from users and their environment is now pervasively available, and many new research areas have born in order to shape the potential of such advancements. Particularly, context-aware computing is at the core of many areas such as Intelligent Environments, Ambient Intelligence, Ambient Assisted Living or Pervasive Computing. Embedding contextual awareness into computers promises a fundamental enhancement in the interaction between computers and humans. While traditional computers require explicit commands in order to operate, contextually aware computers could also use information from the background and the users to provide services according to the situation. But embedding this contextual awareness has many unresolved challenges. The area of context-aware computing has attracted the interest of many researchers that have presented different approaches to solve particular aspects on the implementation of this technology. The great corpus of research in this direction indicates that context-aware systems have different requirements than those of traditional computing. Approaches for developing context-aware systems are typically scattered or do not present compatibility with other approaches. Existing techniques for creating context-aware systems also do not focus on covering all the different stages of a typical software development life-cycle. The contribution of this thesis is towards the foundation layers of a more holistic approach, that tries to facilitate further research on the best techniques for developing these kinds of systems. The approach presents a framework to support the development not only with methodologies, but with open-source tools that facilitate the implementation of context-aware systems in mobile and stationary platforms

A Case Study in Formal System Engineering with SysML

International audienceIn the development of complex critical systems, an important source of errors is the misinterpretation of system requirements allocated to the software, due to inadequate communication between system engineering teams and software teams. In response, organizations that develop such systems are searching for solutions allowing formal system engineering and system to software bridging, based on standard languages like SysML. As part of this effort, we have defined a formal profile for SysML (OMEGA SysML) and we have built a simulation and verification toolbox for this profile (IFx). This paper reports on the experience of modelling and validating an industry-grade system, the Solar Generation System (SGS) of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) built by Astrium, using IFx-OMEGA. The experience reveals what can currently be expected from such an approach and what are the weak points that should be addressed by future research and development

Méthodes de diagnostic avancées dans la validation formelle des modèles

Malgré l'existence d'un nombre important d'approches et outils de vérification à base de modèles, leur utilisation dans l'industrie reste très limitée. Parmi les raisons qui expliquent ce décalage il y a l'exploitation, aujourd'hui difficile, des résultats du processus de vérification. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions l'utilisation des outils de vérification dans les processus actuels de modélisation de systèmes qui utilisent intensivement la validation à base de modèles. Nous établissons ensuite les limites des approches existantes, surtout en termes d'utilisabilité. A partir de cette étude, nous analysons les causes de l'état actuel des pratiques. Nous proposons une approche complète et outillée d'aide au diagnostic d'erreur qui améliore l'exploitation des résultats de vérification, en introduisant des techniques mettant à profit la visualisation d'information et l'ergonomie cognitive. En particulier, nous proposons un ensemble de recommandations pour la conception d'outils de diagnostic, un processus générique adaptable aux processus de validation intégrant une activité de diagnostic, ainsi qu'un framework basé sur les techniques de l'Ingénierie Dirigée par les Modèles (IDM) permettant une implémentation et une personnalisation rapide de visualisations. Notre approche a été appliquée à une chaîne d'outils existante, qui intègre la validation de modèles UML et SysML de systèmes temps réel critiques. Une validation empirique des résultats a démontré une amélioration significative de l'utilisabilité de l'outil de diagnostic, après la prise en compte de nos préconisations.A plethora of theoretical results are available which make possible the use of dynamic analysis and model-checking for software and system models expressed in high-level modeling languages like UML, SDL or AADL. Their usage is hindered by the complexity of information processing demanded from the modeller in order to apply them and to effectively exploit their results. Our thesis is that by improving the visual presentation of the analysis results, their exploitation can be highly improved. To support this thesis, we define a diagnostic trace analysis approach based on information visualisation and human factors techniques. This approach offers the basis for new types of scenario visualizations, improving diagnostic trace understanding. Our contribution was implemented in an existing UML/SysML analyzer and was validated in a controlled experiment that shows a significant increase in the usability of our tool, both in terms of task performance speed and in terms of user satisfaction. The pertinence of our approach is assessed through an evaluation, based on well-established evaluation mechanisms. In order to perform such an evaluation, we needed to adapt the notion of usability to the context of formal methods usability, and to adapt the evaluation process to our setting. The goal of this experiment was to see whether extending analysis tools with a well-designed event-based visualization would significantly improve analysis results exploitation and the results are meeting our expectations

Formal transformation methods for automated fault tree generation from UML diagrams

With a growing complexity in safety critical systems, engaging Systems Engineering with System Safety Engineering as early as possible in the system life cycle becomes ever more important to ensure system safety during system development. Assessing the safety and reliability of system architectural design at the early stage of the system life cycle can bring value to system design by identifying safety issues earlier and maintaining safety traceability throughout the design phase. However, this is not a trivial task and can require upfront investment. Automated transformation from system architecture models to system safety and reliability models offers a potential solution. However, existing methods lack of formal basis. This can potentially lead to unreliable results. Without a formal basis, Fault Tree Analysis of a system, for example, even if performed concurrently with system design may not ensure all safety critical aspects of the design. [Continues.]</div

Dagstuhl-Workshop MBEES:

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Animation-Based Service Specification, Verification and Validation

[Context] With the expansion of services and service science, service systems have become an important abstraction for the service revolution. Service is defined as the application of resources (including competences, skills, and knowledge) to make changes that have value for another (system). The service system is a configuration of people, technologies, and other resources that interact with other service systems to create mutual value. Many systems can be viewed as service systems, including families, cities, and companies, among many others. Therefore, services became very important for unifying concepts from various disciplines. Service specifications are used to represent service systems on different levels of abstraction: from business down to IT. [Motivation and Problem] Traditionally, high-level service specifications are used only for communication among different participants, to catalyze the discussions between them; but only the specifications modeling IT systems have enough details to be simulated and executed. As a consequence, it becomes difficult to create precise high-level specifications and make sure that the implemented services are those that correspond to the business needs, potentially leading to severe project problems. Therefore, the challenge is to create abstract, yet precise service specifications, while keeping the relation between specifications at different levels of abstraction. [Idea and Results] In this work, we use formal methods and code generation techniques to create service-prototypes from service specifications at any level of abstraction, keeping the relations between different specifications. Stakeholders can try out the prototypes and give feedback regarding services that are being provided. This way, prototypes are used to validate the specifications and detect inconsistencies and unexpected behavior. [Contribution] The contributions of our work are threefold. First, we provide the visual formalism for service specification and simulation, by adding the necessary concepts to the existing method SEAM. Second, we define two design spirals: for service specification and for service validation and verification. The service specification spiral enables us to keep the relation between several service specifications. It includes steps with explicit design decisions on how to refine high-level specifications in order to include all the details necessary for providing the identified services. The validation and verification spiral is used to validate and verify specifications at any level of abstraction. Finally, it provides an environment that enables the simulation and prototyping of service specifications that are then used for their validation and verification. [Relevance] In addition to the theoretical contribution to the knowledge base of service design, we also provide the tools and guidelines that help business and IT analysts create and validate the service model, as confirmed by a survey conducted with practitioners. We illustrate the application of this work with a case study based on a consulting project we conducted at EPFL

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

computer software maintenance; computer software selection and evaluation; formal logic; formal methods; formal specification; programming languages; semantics; software engineering; specifications; verificatio