Abstract

Abstract
The interactive and ubiquitous nature of future distributed services (e.g. digital libraries, learning systems, etc.) will make them more architectural and resource demanding. Consequently, next generation middleware frameworks should support both shorter and longer-term adaptation (i.e. a priori and a posteriori reconfiguration). In fact, current component standards leverage software reusability and diminish development costs. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that existing middleware, which succeeded in meeting the goals of heterogeneity and interoperability, is not open enough for tackling the problem of dynamic evolution. This paper presents FORMAware, a framework that combines a novel component-based programming model enhanced by a reflective design, the former capturing the knowledge about software architecture abstractions (e.g. components, connectors, style managers, style rules) while the latter offering architecture awareness by explicitly opening the content and structure of both atomic and composite components (via introspection and adaptation meta-objects). In addition, FORMAware provides a set of tools and services for automating software development and adaptation (i.e. support for the generation, assembly, deployment and dynamic reconfiguration processes).

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract
The Safe Home Care project focuses on assembling safe home assisted-living environments built on autonomous Off-The-Shelf systems. We argue that these smart spaces will contribute to relieve the pressure on health systems by providing the means for ambulatory and daily life assistance. However, the integration of disparate sovereign systems will not be easy to accomplish since the number of interaction scenarios will be impossible to predict and evaluate a priori. Therefore, we propose the SHC reflective middleware framework, conceived with two goals in mind: i) manage the safe integration of off-the-shelf systems (cf. interference-free) by exploiting reflection and 3D virtual world simulation; ii) provide non-intrusive pervasive interface mechanisms for home assisted-living actors. In this paper, we focus specifically on the first goal by providing the means for generating 3D simulations; the states generated during simulation are then analyzed by a graph-pruning algorithm to perceive feature interactions in pre-deployment phases. We evaluate our approach on specific home care use cases.

Abstract
Off-the-shelf smart devices and applications are expected to be pivotal in the coming need for massive home care. Deployment and integration of these systems in the same household may result in unplanned interactions involving users and entertainment, communication, and health-related devices. These unplanned interactions are a major concern when, for example, communication or entertainment applications interfere with the behavior of health-related devices. This paper presents a novel graph-based approach for representing the expected behavior of off-the-shelf smart devices and applications, their interactions, and for detecting interference in home care settings. A set of home care scenarios is used to assess the applicability of our approach. Our graph-based interference detection approach is integrated in the Safe Home Care reflective platform, which allows reifying the state of off-the-shelf systems and simulating home care scenarios. © 2012 IEEE.