Oliver Creighton

Augmented maintenance of powerplants: a prototyping case study of a mobile AR system

Augmented reality (AR) research has progressed in great strides over the past few years. Most current demonstrations focus on providing robust tracking solutions since this is the most critical issue when demonstrating AR systems. An issue that is typically neglected concerns the online access, analysis and visualization of information. The information required by AR demonstration systems is kept to a minimum, is prepared ahead of time, and is stored locally in the form of three-dimensional geometric descriptions. In complex mobile settings, these simplifying assumptions do not work. The authors report on recent efforts at the TU Munich to analyze the information generation, retrieval, transmission, and visualization process in the context of maintenance procedures that are performed in nuclear power plants. The use of AR to present such information online has significant implications for the way information must be acquired, stored, and transmitted. The paper focuses on pointing out open questions, discussing options for addressing them, and evaluating them in prototypical implementations.

Ambiguity Detection: Towards a Tool Explaining Ambiguity Sources

[Context and motivation] Natural language is the main representation means of industrial requirements documents, which implies that requirements documents are inherently ambiguous. There exist guidelines for ambiguity detection, such as the Ambiguity Handbook [1]. In order to detect ambiguities according to the existing guidelines, it is necessary to train analysts.

Software Cinema-Video-based Requirements Engineering

The dialogue between end-user and developer presents several challenges in requirements development. One issue is the gap between the conceptual models of end-users and formal specification/analysis models of developers. This paper presents a novel technique for the video analysis of scenarios, relating the use of video-based requirements to process models of software development. It uses a knowledge model-an RDF graph-based on a semiotic interpretation of film language, which allows mapping conceptual into formal models. It can be queried with RDQL, a query language for RDF. The technique has been implemented with a tool which lets the analyst annotate objects as well as spatial or temporal relationships in the video, to represent the conceptual model. The video can be arranged in a scenario graph effectively representing a multi-path video. It can be viewed in linear time order to facilitate the review of individual scenarios by end-users. Each multi-path scene from the conceptual model is mapped to a UML use case in the formal model. A UML sequence diagram can also be generated from the annotations, which shows the direct mapping of film language to UML. This sequence diagram can be edited by the analyst, refining the conceptual model to reflect deeper understanding of the application domain. The use of the software cinema technique is demonstrated with several prototypical applications. One example is a loan application scenario for a financial services consulting firm which acted as an end-user

From pixels to bytes: evolutionary scenario based design with video

Change and user involvement are two major challenges in agile software projects. As change and user involvement usually arise spontaneously, reaction to change, validation and communication are thereby expected to happen in a continuous way in the project lifecycle. We propose Evolutionary Scenario Based Design, which employs video in fulfilling this goal, and present a new idea that supports video production using SecondLife-like virtual world technology.

Who leads our future leaders?: on the rising relevance of social competence in software development

Siemens is currently developing a curriculum for several software engineering roles. Our first step was the role of Senior Software Architect. As social competence becomes increasingly important for all software professionals, we argue that reflection is the key to improve a persons skill profile. We believe that a standard component of software development education should be the ability to realistically self-assess ones own effectiveness.

Requirements engineering process improvement: an industrial case study

[Context and motivation] This paper reports the results and lessons learned of a requirements engineering improvement project conducted in a Siemens business unit. [Question/problem] In particular, the project addressed the following major problems: (i) communication gap between marketing and development, resulting in misbalance between technology-driven and market-driven requirements; (ii) limited value of monolithic requirements specifications, resulting in inconsistencies across product versions; (iii) requirements overloading, resulting in cumbersome and time consuming descoping; (iv) insufficient traceability, resulting in poor or missing impact analysis, regression testing and other traceability errors; (v) intransparent mapping between a nonhierarchical topology of problem space artifacts to hierarchically structured solution space artifacts; (vi) missing support for platform variant management and reuse, resulting in long release cycles; (vii) waterfall process, resulting in inability to effectively handle change in requirements or design. [Principal ideas/results] The paper describes the situation at the business unit before the process improvement project, gives a short overview on how the project was implemented and the techniques applied to solve the various problems the organization was facing. The paper wraps up with a comparison between the initial and the final state of the requirements engineering process in the organization and finally, a lessons learned section discusses some of the highlights and pitfalls encountered during the project. [Contribution] The paper can be used as an initial point of reference to other practitioners and organizations facing similar problems and/or involved in similar improvement projects.

Applying a Video-based Requirements Engineering Technique to an Airport Scenario

In the development of software-intensive systems, the interaction between customer and supplier is usually text-based. We argue that with agile project management gaining momentum, the inclusion of end-user feedback and a better mutual understanding between customer and supplier on hardware and software design goals becomes increasingly important. We propose the use of video techniques, video-based requirements engineering (VBRE), to support the communication between all stakeholders. The key ingredients of VBRE are user-centric videos and an exploratory environment for creating multi-path scenarios. In this workshop session, the participants will get hands-on experience with VBRE techniques and tools while working on a fictitious airport baggage handling system.

User model and system model: the yin and yang in user-centered software development

Software systems can be viewed from both external and internal perspectives. They are called user model and system model respectively in the human-computer interaction community. In this paper, we employ the yin-yang principle as an analytical tool for reviewing the relationship between the user model and the system model. In the traditional system-centered approach, the engineer is more concerned with the system model and does not pay much attention to the user model. However, as the user-centered approach has gained increasing acceptance in a number of projects, we claim that the user model and system model are the yin and yang in user-centered software development and, following the yin-yang principle, call for equal emphasis on both models. Particularly, we propose using video-based scenarios as the representation of user models and reveal the benefits of the use of video in software development. As a case study, we describe how we have employed scenario videos in a project course and share best practices that we have identified for the creation of demo scenario videos.

Presenting a day in the life of video-based requirements engineering

In todays global economy, innovation through technology is a key driver for a sustainable economic growth and competitiveness. Siemens as a global player possesses a tremendous portfolio of innovative technologies. In an effort to highlight some of these technologies, Siemens has organized an Internet-based event for selected industrial partners. The event comprised a virtual world showcasing five technological innovation areas, including video-based requirements engineering (VBRE). Attendees were connected to the virtual tradeshow and could visit manned booths, choose which technology presentation to attend, and even follow a guided tour. The film we present shows VBRE immersed in a virtual world where the avatars of participants are guided in a tour, can interact with the technology, and experience the effects in real-time. A presenter first gives an introductory talk along with animated slides explaining key technology elements. During the tour, questions are asked by participants and answered by the presenter akin to following a tour guide in a museum. The avatars then interact with the virtual objects from the demonstrated VBRE technology. The film shows all of these aspects and in particular demonstrates how several different technologies are harmoniously brought together.

Virtual world tools for Requirements Engineering

Virtual environments are digital scenes which are now widely familiar to home game players and movie goers. The power of conveying ideas and experiences through realistic 3D presentations is well established, and interactivity with objects and other digital participants is the basis for success in achieving common goals and increasing outcomes such as scores. This experience builds on analogues from military war rooms and childhood role playing with plastic toys and board games.