Alexandre Alvaro

Smart cities software architectures: a survey

The smart cities concept arises from the need to manage, automate, optimize and explore all aspects of a city that could be improved. For this purpose it is necessary to build a robust architecture that satisfies a minimal number of requirements such as distributed sensing, integrated management and flexibility. Several architectures have been proposed with different goals, but none of them met satisfactorily the needs that permeate smart cities. In this work various architectures are discussed, highlighting the main requirements that they aim to fulfill. Furthermore, based on different architectures with the most varied purposes, a set of requirements for the implementation of a smart city is presented and discussed.

A survey on software reuse processes

Software reuse processes have been under continuous attention in the software engineering and software reuse research communities during past years. Although several processes have been investigated to develop reusable software, there are not available studies that compare them. In this way, this paper presents a detailed survey on software reuse processes.

RiSE project: towards a robust framework for software reuse

Software reuse is a critical aspect for companies interested in the improvement of software development quality and productivity, and in costs reduction. However, achieving it is a nontrivial task. In this paper, we present a robust framework for software reuse, based on previous success factors, in order to guide organizations in the effective reuse. Nontechnical and technical aspects compose the framework.

The domain analysis concept revisited: a practical approach

Domain analysis has been identified as a key factor in the development of reusable software. However, for domain analysis to become a practical approach we need to understand the conceptual foundations of the process and to produce a unambiguous definition in the form of specific techniques. This paper presents a practical approach for domain analysis based on a well defined set of guidelines and metrics. A preliminary industrial case study was performed in order to identify the viability of the approach.

Towards Efficient Software Component Evaluation: An Examination of Component Selection and Certification

When software systems incorporate existing software components, there is a need to evaluate these components. Component evaluation is of two kinds according to literature: component certification is performed by an independent actor to provide a trustworthy assessment of the component¿s properties in general, and component selection is performed by a system development organization. While this principle is in general understood, in practice the certification process is neither established nor well defined. This paper outlines the relationship between the evaluations performed during certification and selection. We start from the current state of practice and research and (a) propose a component-based life cycle for COTS-based development and software product line development, (b) identify a number of differences in process characteristics between the two types of evaluation, and (c) classify concrete quality properties based on their suitability to be evaluated during certification (when there is no system context) and/or during system development.