AmbiStream: A Middleware for Multimedia Streaming on Heterogeneous Mobile Devices

Part 5: Notification and StreamingInternational audienceMultimedia streaming when smartphones act as both clients and servers is difficult. Indeed, multimedia streaming protocols and associated data formats supported by today's smartphones are highly heterogeneous. At the same time, multimedia processing is resource consuming while smartphones are resource-constrained devices. To overcome this complexity, we present AmbiStream, a lightweight middleware layer solution, which enables applications that run on smartphones to easily handle multimedia streams. Contrarily to existing multimedia-oriented middleware that propose a complete stack for multimedia streaming, our solution leverages the available highly-optimized multimedia software stack of the smartphones' platforms and complements them with additional, yet resource-efficient, layers to enable interoperability. We introduce the challenges, present our approach and discuss the experimental results obtained when executing AmbiStream on both Android and iOS smartphones. Our results show that it is possible to perform adaptation at run time and still obtain streams with satisfactory quality

Dynamic Connector Synthesis: Principles, Methods, Tools and Assessment

CONNECT adopts a revolutionary approach to the seamless networking of digital systems, that is, onthe- fly synthesis of the connectors via which networked systems communicate. Within CONNECT, the role of the WP3 work package is to devise automated and efficient approaches to the synthesis of such emergent connectors, provided the behavioral specification of the components to be connected. Thanks to WP3 scientific and technology development, emergent connectors can be synthesized on the fly as networked systems get discovered, implementing the necessary mediation between networked systems' protocols, from application down to middleware layers. This document being the final report about WP3 achievements, it outlines both: (i) specific contributions over the reporting period, and (ii) overall contributions in the area of automated, on-the-fly protocol mediation, from theory to supporting tool

Experiment scenarios, prototypes and report - Iteration 2

The task of WP6 is to evaluate the CONNECT technologies under realistic situations. To achieve this goal, WP6 concentrated its 3rd year effort on the development of a main scenario in the context of GMES, which requires the connection of highly heterogeneous and independently built systems provided by the industry partners. The resulting scenario allows the consortium to assess the validity of CONNECT claims and to investigate the exploitation of CONNECT technologies in the context of the integration of real systems. Another objective of this report is to provide a first assessment of CONNECT solutions against the project's objectives stated in the DoW. The proposed assessment spans: (i) the project's overall objective of enabling on-the-fly interoperability among heterogeneous networked systems as well as (ii) the project's specific objectives related to the foundations and associated enablers to be elaborated for learning and reasoning about the interaction behaviours of networked systems and for synthesizing mediators so as to make systems interoperate

Final CONNECT Architecture

Interoperability remains a fundamental challenge when connecting heterogeneous systems which encounter and spontaneously communicate with one another in pervasive computing environments. This challenge is exasperated by the highly heterogeneous technologies employed by each of the interacting parties, i.e., in terms of hardware, operating system, middleware protocols, and application protocols. The key aim of the CONNECT project is to drop this heterogeneity barrier and achieve universal interoperability. Here we report on the revised CONNECT architecture, highlighting the integration of the work carried out to integrate the CONNECT enablers developed by the different partners; in particular, we present the progress of this work towards a finalised concrete architecture. In the third year this architecture has been enhanced to: i) produce concrete CONNECTors, ii) match networked systems based upon their goals and intent, and iii) use learning technologies to find the affordance of a system. We also report on the application of the CONNECT approach to streaming based systems, further considering exploitation of CONNECT in the mobile environment

Deliverable D6.4: Assessment report: Experimenting with CONNECT in Systems of Systems, and Mobile Environments

The core objective of WP6 is to evaluate the CONNECT technologies under realistic situations. To achieve this goal, WP6 concentrated a significant amount of its 4th year effort on the finalization of the implementation of the GMES scenario defined during the 3rd year. The GMES scenario allows the consortium to assess the validity of CONNECT claims and to investigate the exploitation of CONNECT technologies to deal with the integration of real systems. In particular, GMES requires the connection of highly heterogeneous and independently built systems provided by the industry partners. WP6 contributed also in providing mobile collaborative applications and case studies showing the exploitation of CONNECTORs on mobile devices

Revised CONNECT Architecture

Interoperability remains a fundamental challenge when connecting heterogeneous systems which encounter and spontaneously communicate with one another in pervasive computing environments. This challenge is exasperated by the highly heterogeneous technologies employed by each of the interacting parties, i.e., in terms of hardware, operating system, middleware protocols, and application protocols. The key aim of the CONNECT project is to drop this heterogeneity barrier and achieve universal interoperability. Here we report on the revised CONNECT architecture, highlighting the integration of the work carried out to integrate the CONNECT enablers developed by the different partners; in particular, we present the progress of this work towards a finalised concrete architecture. In the third year this architecture has been enhanced to: i) produce concrete CONNECTors, ii) match networked systems based upon their goals and intent, and iii) use learning technologies to find the affordance of a system. We also report on the application of the CONNECT approach to streaming based systems, further considering exploitation of CONNECT in the mobile environment

Project Final Report Final Publishable Summary Report

This document is the final publishable summary report, part of the CONNECT final report

Adaptation dynamique de données pour la synthèse et le déploiement de protocoles de médiation

In most systems available today interoperability is provided as a static capability that is the result of manually designed and hand coded integration. In consequence, a substantial number of functionally-compatible systems are not conceived to be interoperable. The focus of this thesis is to enable automated protocol interoperability for systems, services and applications through the means of dynamically synthesized protocol mediators. Protocol mediators represent concrete software components which can coordinate interactions between two or more functionally-compatible systems, relying on various means of communication (IP networks, personal area networks, inter-process communication, shared memory, etc.). Dynamically synthesised mediators should allow applications to seamlessly adapt to a priori unknown protocols, support the evolution of such protocols while circumventing real-world system constraints, such as those introduced by device mobility and operating system differences. In this thesis we focus on the research problems related to automating the process of data adaptation in the context of protocol mediation. Data adaptation is a key phase in protocol mediation that cannot be solved independently. This strong dependence becomes visible when systems relying on multilayer protocol stacks have to be made interoperable, despite cross-layer dependencies inside the exchanged data. There is the need of a frame- work that synthesises mediators while taking into account cross-layer data adaptation.Dans la plupart des systèmes disponibles aujourd'hui l'interopérabilité est fournie comme une capacité statique qui est le résultat d'une intégration conçue manuellement. En conséquence, un nombre important de systèmes fonctionnellement compatibles ne sont pas conçues pour être interopérables. L'objectif de cette thèse est de permettre l'interopérabilité automatisée des protocoles pour les systèmes, services et applications à travers des médiateurs de protocoles synthétisés dynamiquement. Les médiateurs représentent des composants logiciels qui peuvent coordonner les interactions entre deux ou plusieurs systèmes fonctionnellement compatibles, en utilisant les différents moyens de communication (réseaux IP, IPC, la mémoire partagée, etc.). Les médiateurs synthétisés dynamiquement devraient permettre aux applications de s'adapter sans difficulté aux protocoles a priori inconnus, soutiennent l'évolution de ces protocoles tout en contournant les contraintes des systèmes du monde réel, comme celles introduites par la mobilité de l'appareil et des systèmes d'exploitation. Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur les problèmes de recherche liés à l'automatisation du processus d'adaptation de données dans le cadre de la médiation de protocoles. L'adaptation des données est une étape clé dans la médiation de protocoles qui ne peut pas être résolu indépendamment. Cette dépendance devient visible lorsque les systèmes reposant sur des piles de protocoles complexes doivent être rendus interopérables, malgré les dépendances inter-couche à l'intérieur des données échangées. Il y a la nécessité d'un cadre qui synthétise les médiateurs, tout en tenant compte de l’adaptation de données

Dynamic Data Adaptation for the Synthesis and Deployment of Protocol Mediators

Dans la plupart des systèmes disponibles aujourd'hui l'interopérabilité est fournie comme une capacité statique qui est le résultat d'une intégration conçue manuellement. En conséquence, un nombre important de systèmes fonctionnellement compatibles ne sont pas conçues pour être interopérables. L'objectif de cette thèse est de permettre l'interopérabilité automatisée des protocoles pour les systèmes, services et applications à travers des médiateurs de protocoles synthétisés dynamiquement. Les médiateurs représentent des composants logiciels qui peuvent coordonner les interactions entre deux ou plusieurs systèmes fonctionnellement compatibles, en utilisant les différents moyens de communication (réseaux IP, IPC, la mémoire partagée, etc.). Les médiateurs synthétisés dynamiquement devraient permettre aux applications de s'adapter sans difficulté aux protocoles a priori inconnus, soutiennent l'évolution de ces protocoles tout en contournant les contraintes des systèmes du monde réel, comme celles introduites par la mobilité de l'appareil et des systèmes d'exploitation. Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur les problèmes de recherche liés à l'automatisation du processus d'adaptation de données dans le cadre de la médiation de protocoles. L'adaptation des données est une étape clé dans la médiation de protocoles qui ne peut pas être résolu indépendamment. Cette dépendance devient visible lorsque les systèmes reposant sur des piles de protocoles complexes doivent être rendus interopérables, malgré les dépendances inter-couche à l'intérieur des données échangées. Il y a la nécessité d'un cadre qui synthétise les médiateurs, tout en tenant compte de l’adaptation de données.In most systems available today interoperability is provided as a static capability that is the result of manually designed and hand coded integration. In consequence, a substantial number of functionally-compatible systems are not conceived to be interoperable. The focus of this thesis is to enable automated protocol interoperability for systems, services and applications through the means of dynamically synthesized protocol mediators. Protocol mediators represent concrete software components which can coordinate interactions between two or more functionally-compatible systems, relying on various means of communication (IP networks, personal area networks, inter-process communication, shared memory, etc.). Dynamically synthesised mediators should allow applications to seamlessly adapt to a priori unknown protocols, support the evolution of such protocols while circumventing real-world system constraints, such as those introduced by device mobility and operating system differences. In this thesis we focus on the research problems related to automating the process of data adaptation in the context of protocol mediation. Data adaptation is a key phase in protocol mediation that cannot be solved independently. This strong dependence becomes visible when systems relying on multilayer protocol stacks have to be made interoperable, despite cross-layer dependencies inside the exchanged data. There is the need of a frame- work that synthesises mediators while taking into account cross-layer data adaptation

Composing Message Translators and Inferring their Data Types using Tree Automata

International audienceModern distributed systems and Systems of Systems (SoS) are built as a composition of existing components and services. As a result, systems communicate (either internally, locally or over networks) using protocol stacks of ever-increasing complexity whose messages need to be translated (i.e., interpreted, generated, analyzed and transformed) by third-party systems such as services dedicated to security or interoperability. We observe that current approaches in software engineering are unable to provide an efficient solution towards reusing message translators associated with the message formats composed in protocol stacks. Instead, developers must write ad hoc “glue-code” whenever composing two or more message translators. In addition, the data structures of the output must be integrated/harmonized with the target system.In this paper we propose a solution to the above that enables the composition of message translators according to a high-level user-provided query. While the composition scheme we propose is simple, the inference of the resulting data structures is a problem that has not been solved up to present. This leads us to contribute with a novel data type inference mechanism, which generates a data-schema using tree automata, based on the aforementioned user query