Pablo Oliveira Antonino

Reference architecture and product line architecture: a subtle but critical difference

Currently, the size and complexity of software systems, as well as critical time to market, demand new approaches from Software Engineering discipline for building such systems. In this context, the use of reference architectures and product line architectures is becoming a common practice. However, both of these concepts are sometimes mistakenly seen as the same thing; it is also not clearly established how they can be explored in a complementary way in order to contribute to software development. The main contribution of this paper is to make a clear differentiation between these architectures, by investigating and establishing definitions for each of them. Based on this, we also propose the use of reference architectures as a basis for product line architectures. As a result, a better understanding of both reference architectures and product line architectures, as well as an understanding of how to explore them jointly, can contribute to promoting more effective reuse in the development of software systems.

Evaluation of AAL platforms according to architecture-based quality attributes

In the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) domain, specific systems have been developed and applied to enable people with specific needs, such as elderly or disabled people, to live longer independently in their familiar residential environments. In order to support the development of such systems, a range of AAL platforms have been developed in recent years. However, there are considerable differences among these AAL platforms, particularly with respect to the treatment of important non-functional properties. This makes the selection of a suitable platform for a given AAL project very difficult. In order to support developers in this difficult task, we present an evaluation of relevant AAL platforms based on a selection of quality attributes that are important for AAL systems.

Relevance and perspectives of AAL in Brazil

Population aging has been taking place in many countries across the globe and more recently in emerging countries. In this context, Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) has become one focus of attention, including methods, products, services, and AAL software systems that support the everyday lives of elderly people, promoting mainly their independence and dignity. From the perspective of computer science, efforts are already being dedicated to adequately developing AAL systems. However, in spite of its relevance, AAL has not been properly investigated in emerging countries, including Brazil. Thus, the contribution of this paper is to present the main perspectives of research in AAL, in particular in the area of software engineering, considering that the Brazilian population is also subject to the aging process. The main intention of this paper is to raise the interest of Brazilian researchers, as well as government and industry, for this important area.

An investigation into agile methods in embedded systems development

Embedded systems are widely used in diverse areas, such as avionics, consumer electronics, and medical equipments, causing a considerable impact on modern society. Since these systems sometimes deal directly with human lives, and require a considerable level of quality, their development should be subject to a rigorous process. In another perspective, agile methods (or agile processes) have been adopted by the software industry as a lightweight, iterative, and collaborative approach for developing software systems. Although agile methods do not seem to be suitable to embedded systems, they have been successfully used for building such systems. However, there exists no detailed and analytical overview of the use of such methods in the embedded systems domain. The main objective of this paper is to present a detailed view of how agile methods have been used in the development of embedded systems, and to describe their benefits, challenges, and limitations. For this, we have applied Systematic Review, a technique for systematically exploring, organizing, summarizing, and assessing potentially all works conducted in a specific research area. As the main result, we have observed that agile methods have brought advantages to embedded systems development; however, more studies should be conducted. Furthermore, this work is also intended to contribute to the identification of important new research lines.

Indicator-based architecture-level security evaluation in a service-oriented environment

The Service-Oriented Architecture paradigm (SOA) is commonly applied for the implementation of complex, distributed business processes. The service-oriented approach promises higher flexibility, interoperability and reusability of the IT infrastructure. However, evaluating the quality attribute security of large and complex SOA configurations is not sufficiently mastered yet. To tackle this complex problem, we developed a method for evaluating the security of existing service-oriented systems on the architectural level. The method is based on recovering security-relevant facts about the system by using reverse engineering techniques and subsequently providing automated support for further interactive security analysis at the structural level. By using generic, system-independent indicators and a knowledge base, the method is not limited to a specific programming language or technology. Therefore, we are able to apply the method to various systems and adapt it to specific evaluation needs. The paper describes the general structure of the method, and presents an instantiation aligned to the Service Component Architecture (SCA) specification.

Exploring the use of reference architectures in the development of product line artifacts

Software Product Line (SPL) has arisen as an approach for developing a family of software-intensive systems at lower costs, within shorter time, and with higher quality. In particular, SPL is supported by a product line architecture (sometimes also referred to as reference architecture) that captures the architectures of a product family. In another context, a special type of architecture that contains knowledge about a specific domain has been increasingly investigated, resulting in the Reference Architecture research area. In spite of the positive impact of this type of architecture on reuse and productivity, the use of existing domain-specific reference architectures as basis of SPL has not been widely explored. The main contribution of this paper is to present how and when elements contained in existing reference architectures could contribute to the building of SPL artifacts during development of an SPL. We have observed that, in fact, reference architectures could make an important contribution to improving reuse and productivity, which are also important concerns in SPL.

Embedded-Software Architects: It's Not Only about the Software

Owing to the increasing amount of computation in electromechanical devices, the role of software architect is often found in embedded-systems development. However, because computer scientists usually have limited knowledge of embedded-systems concepts such as controllers, actuators, and buses, embedded-software architects are often engineers with no education in software architecture basics, which is normally a topic in computer science courses. In these environments, serious architectural problems can occur, such as contradictory architecture decisions and inconsistencies between the architecture design and the architecture drivers. This article discusses the current profile of embedded-software architects, characteristics of embedded architectures designed by architects with no computer science background, and the shortcomings of architects whose knowledge is limited to information systems. The authors also discuss how to overcome these challenges.

Industrie 4.0 virtual automation bus

A main goal of the fourth industrial revolution is changeability of production processes, which is the ability to react efficiently to unplanned production changes. Existing automation system architectures limit this changeability. PLC programs used for automation include low-level behavior of actuators, strategies, management functions without information hiding. This yields unmaintainable, and therefore hard to change systems. In this paper, we document our Virtual Automation Bus that enables changeable production.

Modeling embedded systems using a tailored view framework and architecture modeling constraints

Due to the increasing amount of computation in embedded devices, there is a need for software and systems architecture approaches specifically tailored for the needs of the domain. We present in this paper a view framework for the design of embedded systems that has evolved during various projects with industry customers. Our approach is complemented by architecture modeling constraints that can be used to automatically check the completeness and consistency of the created architecture models. In this article, we present our approach together with a preliminary experience report of the application of our approach in different domains.

Lightweight Traceability for the Agile Architect

Although traceability information is vital to many software engineering activities, agile development approaches rarely use it because of the extra effort required. In this industry case study, the authors report the results of applying their lightweight semiautomated method that integrates traceability into software architecture developed with an agile process like Scrum.