Joan Fons

Autonomic Computing through Reuse of Variability Models at Runtime: The Case of Smart Homes

Our research shows that autonomic behavior can be achieved by leveraging variability models at runtime. In this way, the modeling effort made at design time is not only useful for producing the system but also provides a richer semantic base for autonomic behavior during execution. The use of variability models at runtime brings new opportunities for autonomic capabilities by reutilizing the efforts invested at design time. Our proposed approach has two aspects: reuse of design knowledge to achieve AC and reuse of existing model-management technologies at runtime. We developed the Model-Based Reconfiguration Engine (MoRE) to implement model-management operations. Our research demonstrates the approachs feasibility for smart homes, especially for self-healing and -configuring capabilities.

Development of Web Applications from Web Enhanced Conceptual Schemas

This work presents an OO software production method that defines a systematic process for conceptual modelling of web applications. The paper discusses a set of minimum primitives to capture the essentials of dynamic web applications and it discusses how to introduce them in a classical model-centered OO method that provides systematic code generation. Finally, the paper presents some ideas to extend this generation process for developing web solutions taking as an input these web enhanced conceptual schemas.

An Object-Oriented Approach to Automate Web Applications Development

This paper presents the Object-OrientedWeb-Solutions Modeling approach (OOWS), which provides mechanisms to deal with the development of hypermedia information systems and e-commerce applications in web environments. It is proposed as an extension of an object-oriented method for automatic code generation based on conceptual models (OO-Method). The main contribution of this work is the introduction of a navigational model that is completely embedded in the process of conceptual modeling, to specify navigational features as a main part of what is conventionally specified during the conceptual modeling process. This navigational model provides abstraction primitives that allow to capture and represent navigational semantics in a precise way. We show how to put into practice the OOWS approach through a successful practical example developed within the context of e-commerce applications.

Conceptual Modelling of Web Applications: The OOWS Approach

This chapter introduces a method that integrates navigational and presentational designs to object-oriented conceptual modelling, and also provides systematic code generation. The essential expressiveness is provided using graphical schemas that specify navigation and presentation features, and use high-level abstraction primitives. Using conceptual schemas as input, a methodology is defined to systematically take a problem space to the solution space by defining a set of correspondences between conceptual modelling abstractions and the final software components. We also provide a case study that details the application of the proposed methodology.

Developing Mobile Business Processes for the Internet of Things

En la presente comunicación se describen publicación del artículo “Developing Mobile Workflow support in The Internet of Things” en la revista IEEE Pervasive Computing en 2010.

Implementing UML association, aggregation, and composition: a particular interpretation based on a multidimensional framework

This work presents a code generation process that systematically obtains the implementation of the UML association, aggregation and composition concepts in the context of the OO-Method (an OO automated software production method). A multidimensional framework, which identifies a set of basic properties, allows us to characterize association relationships in the OO conceptual modelling. By applying this framework, we provide a particular interpretation of the UML association, aggregation and composition concepts for the OO-Method. Once we have defined a clear semantics for these concepts, we introduce a code generation strategy that obtains the implementation of these abstractions depending on the value of the framework dimensions. This strategy can be applied to current OO development methods in order to systematize the software production process in model-driven approaches.

Using Feature Models for Developing Self-Configuring Smart Homes

Increasingly, Smart Homes should dynamically reconfigure their services at run-time in response to changing conditions in the user actions, and in the surrounding physical environment. Considering the high heterogeneity of technologies and user requirements involved in Smart Homes, these systems become difficult to adjust to the specific user needs. This paper introduces an approach to build selfconfiguring Smart Homes using Features models. We apply Feature modelling to specify the different ways in which the system can evolve from an abstract perspective. We show an infrastructure for transforming these Feature Models to an executable Reconfiguration Plan. In this way, the entire development process is taken into account. Since the models forming the basis for reconfiguration are available at design time, we are able to check the validity of configurations according to context conditions.

Designing and prototyping dynamic software product lines: techniques and guidelines

Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPL) encompass systems that are capable of modifying their own configuration with respect to changes in their operating environment by using run-time reconfigurations. A failure in these reconfigurations can directly impact the user experience since the reconfigurations are performed when the system is already under the users control. Prototyping DSPLs at an early development stage can help to pinpoint potential issues and optimize design. In this work, we identify and addresses two challenges associated with the involvement of human subjects in DSPL prototyping: enabling DSPL users to (1) trigger the run-time reconfigurations and to (2) understand the effects of the reconfigurations. These techniques have been applied with the participation of human subjects by means of a Smart Hotel case study which was deployed with real devices. The application of these techniques reveals DSPL-design issues with recovering from a failed reconfiguration or a reconfiguration triggered by mistake. To address these issues, we discuss some guidelines learned in the Smart Hotel case study.

From web requirements to navigational design – a transformational approach

Although MDA defines each stage for building software from models, it does not specify any concrete technique. In this sense, in the Web applications development, little methodological support is provided to both define and apply model to model transformations. In this work, we present a strategy based on graph transformations in order to define and to automatically apply model to model transformations. This strategy has been used to automate the OOWS CIM to PIM transformation.

Towards the design of a metrics cataloging system by exploiting conceptual and semantic web approaches

In this article we thoroughly discuss conceptual and navigational modeling and query issues for repositories of metrics and their cataloging system by exploiting as well the power of the semantic web approach. This environment can finally allow tools, evaluators and other stakeholders to have service and consultation mechanisms starting from a sound specification of the entity type, the attribute definition and motivation, the metric definition as well as the measure type, unit, scale type, data collection instruments, protocols, among other metadata.