20,825 research outputs found
Whitepaper: The Value of Improving the Separation of Concerns
Microsoft's enterprise customers are demanding better ways to modularize their software systems. They look to the Java community, where these needs are being met with language enhancements, improved developer tools and middleware, and better runtime support. We present a business case for why Microsoft should give priority to supporting better modularization techniques, also known as advanced separation of concerns (ASOC), for the .NET platform, and we provide a roadmap for how to do so
Requirements of a middleware for managing a large, heterogeneous programmable network
Programmable networking is an increasingly popular area of research in both industry and academia. Although most programmable network research projects seem to focus on the router architecture rather than on issues relating to the management of programmable networks, there are numerous research groups that have incorporated management middleware into the programmable network router software. However, none seem to be concerned with the effective management of a large heterogeneous programmable network. The requirements of such a middleware are outlined in this paper. There are a number of fundamental middleware principles that are addressed in this paper; these include management paradigms, configuration delivery, scalability and transactions. Security, fault tolerance and usability are also examinedâalthough these are not essential parts of the middleware, they must be addressed if the programmable network management middleware is to be accepted by industry and adopted by other research projects
Design and Implementation of a Distributed Middleware for Parallel Execution of Legacy Enterprise Applications
A typical enterprise uses a local area network of computers to perform its
business. During the off-working hours, the computational capacities of these
networked computers are underused or unused. In order to utilize this
computational capacity an application has to be recoded to exploit concurrency
inherent in a computation which is clearly not possible for legacy applications
without any source code. This thesis presents the design an implementation of a
distributed middleware which can automatically execute a legacy application on
multiple networked computers by parallelizing it. This middleware runs multiple
copies of the binary executable code in parallel on different hosts in the
network. It wraps up the binary executable code of the legacy application in
order to capture the kernel level data access system calls and perform them
distributively over multiple computers in a safe and conflict free manner. The
middleware also incorporates a dynamic scheduling technique to execute the
target application in minimum time by scavenging the available CPU cycles of
the hosts in the network. This dynamic scheduling also supports the CPU
availability of the hosts to change over time and properly reschedule the
replicas performing the computation to minimize the execution time. A prototype
implementation of this middleware has been developed as a proof of concept of
the design. This implementation has been evaluated with a few typical case
studies and the test results confirm that the middleware works as expected
Middleware Technologies: Towards User-Determined News Curation in Social Media
News distribution and consumption now largely occur within, and are subject to dynamics dictated by, social media platforms. Platforms create audiences, facilitate matching, provide basic services, and set interaction standards. But these networks are structured to maximize engagement and benefit the platformsâ main businesses, leaving individuals with little to no ability to tailor news consumption according to their preferences.
To re-orient platform-dictated dynamics towards user-determined exchanges, middleware technologiesâsoftware services appended to social media platforms to curate information flowsâare touted as a promising solution. Still, not enough literature articulates middlewareâs virtues and hurdles, especially in the context of online news. This work fills such gaps.
Surveying literature and existing middleware solutions, four choice-enhancing virtues are observed, in that such technologies: equip users with more information about online news choices, enable careful deliberation in consumption, improve user agency, and can effect lasting behavioral changes among users. Overall, such merits allow for more meaningful use of and participation in social media platforms. This work also discusses the European Unionâs novel Digital Services Act, particularly how this legislation will enable the development of a robust middleware industry.
Finally, this work identifies challenges and further research areas. Scholars have expressed concerns about middlewareâs technological feasibility, profitability, curation costs, and privacy concerns. Yet, a fundamental hurdle remains: in the first place, why should users adopt middleware? As is, platforms deliver tremendous benefits; also, not all users might be interested in a deliberative online exchange. Ideally, a critical mass of users must adopt middleware to reshape online discourse
Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks: An Outlook
In modern distributed computing, applications are rarely built directly atop operating system facilities, e.g., sockets. Higher-level middleware abstractions and systems are often employed to simplify the programmerâs chore or to achieve interoperability. In contrast, real-world wireless sensor network (WSN) applications are almost always developed by relying directly on the operating system.
Why is this the case? Does it make sense to include a middleware layer in the design of WSNs? And, if so, is it the same kind of software system as in traditional distributed computing? What are the fundamental concepts, reasonable assumptions, and key criteria guiding its design? What are the main open research challenges, and the potential pitfalls? Most importantly, is it worth pursuing research in this field?
This paper provides a (biased) answer to these and other research questions, preceded by a brief account on the state of the art in the field
Middleware for the Internet of Things, Design Goals and Challenges
As the number of wireless devices increases and their size becomes smaller, there can be more interaction between everyday objects of our life. With advances in RFID chips and the introduction of new generations of these devices that are smaller and cheaper, it is possible to put a wireless interface on almost all everyday objects: vehicles, clothes, foodstuffs, etc. This concept is called the \textit{Internet of Things}. Interaction with thousands of wireless devices leads to a continuous and massive flow of events which are generated spontaneously. The question of how to deal with this enormous number of events is challenging and introduces new design goals for a communication mechanism. In this paper we argue that a middleware together with suitable linguistic abstractions is a proper solution. We also point out the challenges in developing this middleware. Moreover, we give an overview of recent related work and describe why they fail to address these challenges
Heterogeneous component interactions: Sensors integration into multimedia applications
Resource-constrained embedded and mobile devices are becoming increasingly
common. Since few years, some mobile and ubiquitous devices such as wireless
sensor, able to be aware of their physical environment, appeared. Such devices
enable proposing applications which adapt to user's need according the context
evolution. It implies the collaboration of sensors and software components
which differ on their nature and their communication mechanisms. This paper
proposes a unified component model in order to easily design applications based
on software components and sensors without taking care of their nature. Then it
presents a state of the art of communication problems linked to heterogeneous
components and proposes an interaction mechanism which ensures information
exchanges between wireless sensors and software components
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Investigating distributed simulation with COTS simulation packages: Experiences with Simul8 and the HLA
Commercial-off-the-shelf simulation packages (CSPs) are used widely in industry. Several research groups are currently working towards the creation of distributed simulation with these CSPs. The motivations to do this are various and are largely unproven as there are very few good examples of this kind of distributed simulation in practice. Our goal is therefore to create a distributed simulation environment using CSPs that will allow end users to make their own decisions as to whether this technology will be useful. This paper presents continuing research in creating such an environment using the CSP Simul8 and the High Level Architecture, the IEEE 1516 standard for distributed simulation. The scope of this paper is limited to the CSPI-PDG Type I Interoperability Reference Model
Towards a mobile computing middleware: a synergy of reflection and mobile code techniques
The increasing popularity of wireless devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, watches and the like. is enabling new classes of applications that present challenging problems to designers. Applications have to be aware of, and adapt to, frequent variations in the context of execution, such as fluctuating network bandwidth, decreasing batten, power, changes in location or device capabilities, and so on. In this paper, we argue that middleware solutions for wired distributed systems cannot be used in a mobile setting, as the principle of transparency that has driven their design runs counter to the new degrees of awareness imposed by mobility: We propose a synergy of reflection and code mobility as a means for middleware to give applications the desired level of flexibility to react to changes happening in the environment, including those that have not necessarily been foreseen by middleware designers. We ruse the sharing and processing of images as an application scenario to highlight the advantages of our approach
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