A Language to Formalize and to Operationalize Problem-solving Strategies of Structured Knowledge Models

This paper describes a proposal of a language called Link which has been designed to formalize and operationalize problem solving strategies. This language is used within a software environment called KSM (Knowledge Structure Manager) which helps developers in formulating and operationalizing structured knowledge models. The paper presents both its syntax and dynamics, and gives examples of well-known problem-solving strategies of reasoning formulated using this language.

Towards resource usage analysis of miniZinc models

We present a method for the static resource usage analysis of MiniZinc models. The analysis can infer upper bounds on the usage that a MiniZinc model will make of some resources such as the number of constraints of a given type (equality, disequality, global constraints, etc.), the number of variables (search variables or temporary variables), or the size of the expressions before calling the solver. These bounds are obtained from the models independently of the concrete input data (the instance data) and are in general functions of sizes of such data. In our approach, MiniZinc models are translated into Ciao programs which are then analysed by the CiaoPP system. CiaoPP includes a parametric analysis framework for resource usage in which the user can define resources and express the resource usage of library procedures (and certain program construets) by means of a language of assertions. We present the approach and report on a preliminary implementation, which shows the feasibility of the approach, and provides encouraging results.

Tractor PT: A traction prediction software for agricultural tractor

Traction prediction modelling, a key factor in farm tractor design, has been driven by the need to find the answer to this question without having to build physical prototypes. A wide range of theories and their respective algorithms can be used in such predictions. The “Tractors and Tillage” research team at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, which engages, among others, in traction prediction for farm tractors, has developed a series of programs based on the cone index as the parameter representative of the terrain. With the software introduced in the present paper, written in Visual Basic, slip can be predicted in two- and four-wheel drive tractors using any one of four models. It includes databases for tractors, front tyres, rear tyres and working conditions (soil cone index and drawbar pull exerted). The results can be exported in spreadsheet format.

Contribution to the design of waveguide-fed compound-slot arrays by means of equivalent circuit modelling

Los arrays de ranuras son sistemas de antennas conocidos desde los años 40, principalmente destinados a formar parte de sistemas rádar de navíos de combate y grandes estaciones terrenas donde el tamaño y el peso no eran altamente restrictivos. Con el paso de los años y debido sobre todo a importantes avances en materiales y métodos de fabricación, el rango de aplicaciones de este tipo de sistemas radiantes creció en gran medida. Desde nuevas tecnologías biomédicas, sistemas anticolisión en automóviles y navegación en aviones, enlaces de comunicaciones de alta tasa binaria y corta distancia e incluso sistemas embarcados en satélites para la transmisión de señal de televisión. Dentro de esta familia de antennas, existen dos grupos que destacan por ser los más utilizados: las antennas de placas paralelas con las ranuras distribuidas de forma circular o espiral y las agrupaciones de arrays lineales construidos sobre guia de onda. Continuando con las tareas de investigación desarrolladas durante los últimos años en el Instituto de Tecnología de Tokyo y en el Grupo de Radiación de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, la totalidad de esta tesis se centra en este último grupo, aunque como se verá se separa en gran medida de las técnicas de diseño y metodologías convencionales. Los arrays de ranuras rectas y paralelas al eje de la guía rectangular que las alimenta son, sin ninguna duda, los modelos más empleados debido a la fiabilidad que presentan a altas frecuencias, su capacidad para gestionar grandes cantidades de potencia y la sencillez de su diseño y fabricación. Sin embargo, también presentan desventajas como estrecho ancho de banda en pérdidas de retorno y rápida degradación del diagrama de radiación con la frecuencia. Éstas son debidas a la naturaleza resonante de sus elementos radiantes: al perder la resonancia, el sistema global se desajusta y sus prestaciones degeneran. En arrays bidimensionales de slots rectos, el campo eléctrico queda polarizado sobre el plano transversal a las ranuras, correspondiéndose con el plano de altos lóbulos secundarios. Esta tesis tiene como objetivo el desarrollo de un método sistemático de diseño de arrays de ranuras inclinadas y desplazadas del centro (en lo sucesivo “ranuras compuestas”), definido en 1971 como uno de los desafíos a superar dentro del mundo del diseño de antennas. La técnica empleada se basa en el Método de los Momentos, la Teoría de Circuitos y la Teoría de Conexión Aleatoria de Matrices de Dispersión. Al tratarse de un método circuital, la primera parte de la tesis se corresponde con el estudio de la aplicabilidad de las redes equivalentes fundamentales, su capacidad para recrear fenómenos físicos de la ranura, las limitaciones y ventajas que presentan para caracterizar las diferentes configuraciones de slot compuesto. Se profundiza en las diferencias entre las redes en T y en ! y se condiciona la selección de una u otra dependiendo del tipo de elemento radiante. Una vez seleccionado el tipo de red a emplear en el diseño del sistema, se ha desarrollado un algoritmo de cascadeo progresivo desde el puerto alimentador hacia el cortocircuito que termina el modelo. Este algoritmo es independiente del número de elementos, la frecuencia central de funcionamiento, del ángulo de inclinación de las ranuras y de la red equivalente seleccionada (en T o en !). Se basa en definir el diseño del array como un Problema de Satisfacción de Condiciones (en inglés, Constraint Satisfaction Problem) que se resuelve por un método de Búsqueda en Retroceso (Backtracking algorithm). Como resultado devuelve un circuito equivalente del array completo adaptado a su entrada y cuyos elementos consumen una potencia acorde a una distribución de amplitud dada para el array. En toda agrupación de antennas, el acoplo mutuo entre elementos a través del campo radiado representa uno de los principales problemas para el ingeniero y sus efectos perjudican a las prestaciones globales del sistema, tanto en adaptación como en capacidad de radiación. El empleo de circuito equivalente se descartó por la dificultad que suponía la caracterización de estos efectos y su inclusión en la etapa de diseño. En esta tesis doctoral el acoplo también se ha modelado como una red equivalente cuyos elementos son transformadores ideales y admitancias, conectada al conjunto de redes equivalentes que representa el array. Al comparar los resultados estimados en términos de pérdidas de retorno y radiación con aquellos obtenidos a partir de programas comerciales populares como CST Microwave Studio se confirma la validez del método aquí propuesto, el primer método de diseño sistemático de arrays de ranuras compuestos alimentados por guía de onda rectangular. Al tratarse de ranuras no resonantes, el ancho de banda en pérdidas de retorno es mucho mas amplio que el que presentan arrays de slots rectos. Para arrays bidimensionales, el ángulo de inclinación puede ajustarse de manera que el campo quede polarizado en los planos de bajos lóbulos secundarios. Además de simulaciones se han diseñado, construido y medido dos prototipos centrados en la frecuencia de 12GHz, de seis y diez elementos. Las medidas de pérdidas de retorno y diagrama de radiación revelan excelentes resultados, certificando la bondad del método genuino Method of Moments - Forward Matching Procedure desarrollado a lo largo de esta tésis. Abstract The slot antenna arrays are well known systems from the decade of 40s, mainly intended to be part of radar systems of large warships and terrestrial stations where size and weight were not highly restrictive. Over the years, mainly due to significant advances in materials and manufacturing methods, the range of applications of this type of radiating systems grew significantly. From new biomedical technologies, collision avoidance systems in cars and aircraft navigation, short communication links with high bit transfer rate and even embedded systems in satellites for television broadcast. Within this family of antennas, two groups stand out as being the most frequent in the literature: parallel plate antennas with slots placed in a circular or spiral distribution and clusters of waveguide linear arrays. To continue the vast research work carried out during the last decades in the Tokyo Institute of Technology and in the Radiation Group at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, this thesis focuses on the latter group, although it represents a technique that drastically breaks with traditional design methodologies. The arrays of slots straight and parallel to the axis of the feeding rectangular waveguide are without a doubt the most used models because of the reliability that they present at high frequencies, its ability to handle large amounts of power and their simplicity of design and manufacturing. However, there also exist disadvantages as narrow bandwidth in return loss and rapid degradation of the radiation pattern with frequency. These are due to the resonant nature of radiating elements: away from the resonance status, the overall system performance and radiation pattern diminish. For two-dimensional arrays of straight slots, the electric field is polarized transverse to the radiators, corresponding to the plane of high side-lobe level. This thesis aims to develop a systematic method of designing arrays of angled and displaced slots (hereinafter "compound slots"), defined in 1971 as one of the challenges to overcome in the world of antenna design. The used technique is based on the Method of Moments, Circuit Theory and the Theory of Scattering Matrices Connection. Being a circuitry-based method, the first part of this dissertation corresponds to the study of the applicability of the basic equivalent networks, their ability to recreate the slot physical phenomena, their limitations and advantages presented to characterize different compound slot configurations. It delves into the differences of T and ! and determines the selection of the most suitable one depending on the type of radiating element. Once the type of network to be used in the system design is selected, a progressive algorithm called Forward Matching Procedure has been developed to connect the proper equivalent networks from the feeder port to shorted ending. This algorithm is independent of the number of elements, the central operating frequency, the angle of inclination of the slots and selected equivalent network (T or ! networks). It is based on the definition of the array design as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem, solved by means of a Backtracking Algorithm. As a result, the method returns an equivalent circuit of the whole array which is matched at its input port and whose elements consume a power according to a given amplitude distribution for the array. In any group of antennas, the mutual coupling between elements through the radiated field represents one of the biggest problems that the engineer faces and its effects are detrimental to the overall performance of the system, both in radiation capabilities and return loss. The employment of an equivalent circuit for the array design was discarded by some authors because of the difficulty involved in the characterization of the coupling effects and their inclusion in the design stage. In this thesis the coupling has also been modeled as an equivalent network whose elements are ideal transformers and admittances connected to the set of equivalent networks that represent the antennas of the array. By comparing the estimated results in terms of return loss and radiation with those obtained from popular commercial software as CST Microwave Studio, the validity of the proposed method is fully confirmed, representing the first method of systematic design of compound-slot arrays fed by rectangular waveguide. Since these slots do not work under the resonant status, the bandwidth in return loss is much wider than the longitudinal-slot arrays. For the case of two-dimensional arrays, the angle of inclination can be adjusted so that the field is polarized at the low side-lobe level plane. Besides the performed full-wave simulations two prototypes of six and ten elements for the X-band have been designed, built and measured, revealing excellent results and agreement with the expected results. These facts certify that the genuine technique Method of Moments - Matching Forward Procedure developed along this thesis is valid and trustable.

Outsourcing and acquisition models comparison related to IT supplier selection decision analysis

This paper presents a comparison of acquisition models related to decision analysis of IT supplier selection. The main standards are: Capability Maturity Model Integration for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ), ISO / IEC 12207 Information Technology / Software Life Cycle Processes, IEEE 1062 Recommended Practice for Software Acquisition, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. The objective of this paper is to compare the previous models to find the advantages and disadvantages of them for the future development of a decision model for IT supplier selection.

Advanced predictive quality control strategy involving different facilities

There are many industries that use highly technological solutions to improve quality in all of their products. The steel industry is one example. Several automatic surface-inspection systems are used in the steel industry to identify various types of defects and to help operators decide whether to accept, reroute, or downgrade the material, subject to the assessment process. This paper focuses on promoting a strategy that considers all defects in an integrated fashion. It does this by managing the uncertainty about the exact position of a defect due to different process conditions by means of Gaussian additive influence functions. The relevance of the approach is in making possible consistency and reliability between surface inspection systems. The results obtained are an increase in confidence in the automatic inspection system and an ability to introduce improved prediction and advanced routing models. The prediction is provided to technical operators to help them in their decision-making process. It shows the increase in improvement gained by reducing the 40 % of coils that are downgraded at the hot strip mill because of specific defects. In addition, this technology facilitates an increase of 50 % in the accuracy of the estimate of defect survival after the cleaning facility in comparison to the former approach. The proposed technology is implemented by means of software-based, multi-agent solutions. It makes possible the independent treatment of information, presentation, quality analysis, and other relevant functions.

Outsource the software process improvement consulting service: An alternative solution for small-settings

The focus of this paper is to outline the main structure of an alternative solution to implement a Software Process Improvement program in Small-Settings using the outsourcing infrastructure. This solution takes the advantages of the traditional outsourcing models and applies its structure to propose an alternative solution to make available a Software Process Improvement program for Small-Settings. With this outsourcing solution it is possible share the resources between several Small-Settings.

Improving the capacity of software acquisition management: An Alternative methodology

The acquisition of the information system technologies using the services of an external supplier could be the the best options to reduce the implementation and maintenance cost of software solutions, and allows a company to improve the efficient use of its resources. The focus of this paper is to outline a methodology structure for the software acquisition management. The methodology proposed in this paper is the result of the study and the convergence of the weakness and strengths of some models (CMMI, SA-CMM, ISO/IEC TR 15504, COBIT, and ITIL) that include the software acquisition process.

Hybrid Contribution of JPEG200 Video Files for Professional Production Centers Reliability and Non-Reliability Transmission File Based in Image Quality Needed

ATM, SDH or satellite have been used in the last century as the contribution network of Broadcasters. However the attractive price of IP networks is changing the infrastructure of these networks in the last decade. Nowadays, IP networks are widely used, but their characteristics do not offer the level of performance required to carry high quality video under certain circumstances. Data transmission is always subject to errors on line. In the case of streaming, correction is attempted at destination, while on transfer of files, retransmissions of information are conducted and a reliable copy of the file is obtained. In the latter case, reception time is penalized because of the low priority this type of traffic on the networks usually has. While in streaming, image quality is adapted to line speed, and line errors result in a decrease of quality at destination, in the file copy the difference between coding speed vs line speed and errors in transmission are reflected in an increase of transmission time. The way news or audiovisual programs are transferred from a remote office to the production centre depends on the time window and the type of line available; in many cases, it must be done in real time (streaming), with the resulting image degradation. The main purpose of this work is the workflow optimization and the image quality maximization, for that reason a transmission model for multimedia files adapted to JPEG2000, is described based on the combination of advantages of file transmission and those of streaming transmission, putting aside the disadvantages that these models have. The method is based on two patents and consists of the safe transfer of the headers and data considered to be vital for reproduction. Aside, the rest of the data is sent by streaming, being able to carry out recuperation operations and error concealment. Using this model, image quality is maximized according to the time window. In this paper, we will first give a briefest overview of the broadcasters requirements and the solutions with IP networks. We will then focus on a different solution for video file transfer. We will take the example of a broadcast center with mobile units (unidirectional video link) and regional headends (bidirectional link), and we will also present a video file transfer file method that satisfies the broadcaster requirements.

Estudio de la fiabilidad software, según defectos, en controladores de velocidad para robots autónomos móviles

Tanto los robots autónomos móviles como los robots móviles remotamente operados se utilizan con éxito actualmente en un gran número de ámbitos, algunos de los cuales son tan dispares como la limpieza en el hogar, movimiento de productos en almacenes o la exploración espacial. Sin embargo, es difícil garantizar la ausencia de defectos en los programas que controlan dichos dispositivos, al igual que ocurre en otros sectores informáticos. Existen diferentes alternativas para medir la calidad de un sistema en el desempeño de las funciones para las que fue diseñado, siendo una de ellas la fiabilidad. En el caso de la mayoría de los sistemas físicos se detecta una degradación en la fiabilidad a medida que el sistema envejece. Esto es debido generalmente a efectos de desgaste. En el caso de los sistemas software esto no suele ocurrir, ya que los defectos que existen en ellos generalmente no han sido adquiridos con el paso del tiempo, sino que han sido insertados en el proceso de desarrollo de los mismos. Si dentro del proceso de generación de un sistema software se focaliza la atención en la etapa de codificación, podría plantearse un estudio que tratara de determinar la fiabilidad de distintos algoritmos, válidos para desempeñar el mismo cometido, según los posibles defectos que pudieran introducir los programadores. Este estudio básico podría tener diferentes aplicaciones, como por ejemplo elegir el algoritmo menos sensible a los defectos, para el desarrollo de un sistema crítico o establecer procedimientos de verificación y validación, más exigentes, si existe la necesidad de utilizar un algoritmo que tenga una alta sensibilidad a los defectos. En el presente trabajo de investigación se ha estudiado la influencia que tienen determinados tipos de defectos software en la fiabilidad de tres controladores de velocidad multivariable (PID, Fuzzy y LQR) al actuar en un robot móvil específico. La hipótesis planteada es que los controladores estudiados ofrecen distinta fiabilidad al verse afectados por similares patrones de defectos, lo cual ha sido confirmado por los resultados obtenidos. Desde el punto de vista de la planificación experimental, en primer lugar se realizaron los ensayos necesarios para determinar si los controladores de una misma familia (PID, Fuzzy o LQR) ofrecían una fiabilidad similar, bajo las mismas condiciones experimentales. Una vez confirmado este extremo, se eligió de forma aleatoria un representante de clase de cada familia de controladores, para efectuar una batería de pruebas más exhaustiva, con el objeto de obtener datos que permitieran comparar de una forma más completa la fiabilidad de los controladores bajo estudio. Ante la imposibilidad de realizar un elevado número de pruebas con un robot real, así como para evitar daños en un dispositivo que generalmente tiene un coste significativo, ha sido necesario construir un simulador multicomputador del robot. Dicho simulador ha sido utilizado tanto en las actividades de obtención de controladores bien ajustados, como en la realización de los diferentes ensayos necesarios para el experimento de fiabilidad. ABSTRACT Autonomous mobile robots and remotely operated robots are used successfully in very diverse scenarios, such as home cleaning, movement of goods in warehouses or space exploration. However, it is difficult to ensure the absence of defects in programs controlling these devices, as it happens in most computer sectors. There exist different quality measures of a system when performing the functions for which it was designed, among them, reliability. For most physical systems, a degradation occurs as the system ages. This is generally due to the wear effect. In software systems, this does not usually happen, and defects often come from system development and not from use. Let us assume that we focus on the coding stage in the software development pro¬cess. We could consider a study to find out the reliability of different and equally valid algorithms, taking into account any flaws that programmers may introduce. This basic study may have several applications, such as choosing the algorithm less sensitive to pro¬gramming defects for the development of a critical system. We could also establish more demanding procedures for verification and validation if we need an algorithm with high sensitivity to programming defects. In this thesis, we studied the influence of certain types of software defects in the reliability of three multivariable speed controllers (PID, Fuzzy and LQR) designed to work in a specific mobile robot. The hypothesis is that similar defect patterns affect differently the reliability of controllers, and it has been confirmed by the results. From the viewpoint of experimental planning, we followed these steps. First, we conducted the necessary test to determine if controllers of the same family (PID, Fuzzy or LQR) offered a similar reliability under the same experimental conditions. Then, a class representative was chosen at ramdom within each controller family to perform a more comprehensive test set, with the purpose of getting data to compare more extensively the reliability of the controllers under study. The impossibility of performing a large number of tests with a real robot and the need to prevent the damage of a device with a significant cost, lead us to construct a multicomputer robot simulator. This simulator has been used to obtain well adjusted controllers and to carry out the required reliability experiments.

Scale model research for room acoustics purposes

In the field of Room Acoustics it is common using scale models to study a room. Through this method it is possible to predict its behavior, which may be very useful to detect and correct any problem prior to build it, saving many resources. Nowadays this method has been relegated to a secondary position due to the peak of simulation software, which makes possible studying rooms in a cheap, flexible and simple way, as well as it is potentially less time consuming. Nevertheless, the scale model method is still under study, as it may give some additional information. This project intends to focus in pedagogic possibilities of the scale model method. This method offers the student the opportunity of study and grasp some of the most important phenomena in Room Acoustics, in a more intuitive way than just a software simulation. Furthermore most of the existing software in this field is aimed to the technician working in the lab, as efficiently as possible, not to the student trying to understand and learn something. Here, the facilities and resources of Syddansk Universitet regarding this matter will be studied and evaluated, as well as the procedure for the experiments, paying special attention not only to its reliability and accuracy, but also to its didactic possibilities. Besides, if possible, any improvement that could help to enhance any of the listed aspects will be suggested. En el ámbito de la Acústica Arquitectónica es común el uso de modelos a escala para estudiar un recinto determinado. Mediante esta técnica es posible por ejemplo predecir el comportamiento del recinto y detectar problemas antes de su construcción, con el consecuente ahorro de recursos. Actualmente el uso de modelos a escala está desplazado a un segundo plano por el uso de software simulación, debido a la sencillez y flexibilidad que puede aportar la simulación por ordenador, así como a la economía de tiempo y recursos que supone. Sin embargo sigue siendo objeto de estudio, dado que puede aportar información muy valiosa para el ingeniero. Este proyecto se centra en las posibilidades pedagógicas de dicho método. El uso de modelos a escala brinda la oportunidad a los estudiantes de estudiar y comprender algunos de los fenómenos más importantes en la Acústica Arquitectónica de una forma más directa e intuitiva que una simulación por ordenador. Se pretende estudiar y evaluar los medios al alcance de los estudiantes en la Syddansk Universitet, así como los métodos usados, atendiendo no sólo a su precisión y fiabilidad, si no a su potencial pedagógico. Así mismo, si es posible, se propondrán cambios que puedan suponer una mejora en cualquiera de estos aspectos. Así el proyecto se divide en varias secciones claramente diferenciadas. En el apartado Background and Theoretical Basis se introduce el tema del estudio y simulación de recintos acústicos. Se explica su importancia y utilidad, y se comenta la situación actual de estas técnicas, abordando diferentes métodos usados así como sus bases teóricas y principales ventajas e inconvenientes. Bajo el apartado de Project se analizan diferentes factores relacionados con el problema. Se estudian los recursos a disposición del alumno, desde el software y hardware implicados hasta el equipo de medida y otros recursos necesarios para la realización de las prácticas. Es en esta parte donde se centra la parte más importante del trabajo, consistente en la medición y comprobación de las características más relevantes del equipo implicado. Haciendo posible así confirmar su validez y precisión, tanto desde el punto de vista técnico como pedagógico, así como estableciendo los límites dentro de los que se puede considerar fiable el modelo. Al final de este apartado se aborda la influencia de la absorción del aire en altas frecuencias, y la variación en los coeficientes de absorción y dispersión de los materiales respecto de la frecuencia. Por último se realiza una verificación subjetiva del sistema completo, debido a que por limitaciones técnicas no ha sido posible evaluar el montaje en el rango equivalente a toda la banda audible, y que los métodos estudiados tienen como meta última asegurar una buena percepción por parte del oyente en el recinto dado. Dentro del apartado Conclusions se hace un breve resumen de las conclusiones extraídas anteriormente, y se valora el rendimiento y utilidad general del modelo, que a pesar de algunos problemas de precisión y repetibilidad lógicos debido a los medios usados, es válido para ilustrar los fenómenos físicos que se quieren enseñar al alumno. En la sección de Future Work se proponen diferentes vías de trabajo para futuros proyectos en la Syddansk Universitet que podrían ser útiles confirmar el trabajo realizado en este proyecto, mejorar la precisión y fiabilidad del montaje o enriquecer las posibilidades pedagógicas de las prácticas relacionadas. Por último se encuentra, tras el apartado de referencias, los anexos con tablas y gráficas relativas a las medidas realizadas en diferentes partes del trabajo. También se puede encontrar información y material relacionado con el proyecto en el CD adjunto.

The NeOn Ontology Models

Interoperability on multiple levels, concerning both the ontologies themselves and their engineering activities, is a key requirement for ontology networks to be efficient, with minimal redundancy and high reuse. This requirement has a strict binding for software tools that can support some interoperability levels, yet they can be hindered by a lack of shared models and vocabularies describing the resources to be handled, as well as the ways of handling them. Here, three examples of metalevel vocabularies are proposed, each covering at least one peculiar interoperability aspect: OMV for modeling the artifacts themselves, LIR for managing a multilingual layer on top of them, and C-ODO Light for modeling collaboration-supportive life cycle management tasks and processes. All of these models lend themselves to handling by dedicated software tools and are all being employed within NeOn products.

Guidance for the development of accessibility evaluation tools following the Unified Software Development Process

Automated and semi-automated accessibility evaluation tools are key to streamline the process of accessibility assessment, and ultimately ensure that software products, contents, and services meet accessibility requirements. Different evaluation tools may better fit different needs and concerns, accounting for a variety of corporate and external policies, content types, invocation methods, deployment contexts, exploitation models, intended audiences and goals; and the specific overall process where they are introduced. This has led to the proliferation of many evaluation tools tailored to specific contexts. However, tool creators, who may be not familiar with the realm of accessibility and may be part of a larger project, lack any systematic guidance when facing the implementation of accessibility evaluation functionalities. Herein we present a systematic approach to the development of accessibility evaluation tools, leveraging the different artifacts and activities of a standardized development process model (the Unified Software Development Process), and providing templates of these artifacts tailored to accessibility evaluation tools. The work presented specially considers the work in progress in this area by the W3C/WAI Evaluation and Report Working Group (ERT WG)

Model-to-Code transformation from product-line architecture models to aspectJ

Software Product Line Engineering has significant advantages in family-based software development. The common and variable structure for all products of a family is defined through a Product-Line Architecture (PLA) that consists of a common set of reusable components and connectors which can be configured to build the different products. The design of PLA requires solutions for capturing such configuration (variability). The Flexible-PLA Model is a solution that supports the specification of external variability of the PLA configuration, as well as internal variability of components. However, a complete support for product-line development requires translating architecture specifications into code. This complex task needs automation to avoid human error. Since Model-Driven Development allows automatic code generation from models, this paper presents a solution to automatically generate AspectJ code from Flexible-PLA models previously configured to derive specific products. This solution is supported by a modeling framework and validated in a software factory.

FPLA: a modeling framework for describing flexible software product line architecture

Nowadays, Software Product Line (SPL) engineering [1] has been widely-adopted in software development due to the significant improvements that has provided, such as reducing cost and time-to-market and providing flexibility to respond to planned changes [2]. SPL takes advantage of common features among the products of a family through the systematic reuse of the core-assets and the effective management of variabilities across the products. SPL features are realized at the architectural level in product-line architecture (PLA) models. Therefore, suitable modeling and specification techniques are required to model variability. In fact, architectural variability modeling has become a challenge for SPLE due to the fact that PLA modeling requires not only modeling variability at the level of the external architecture configuration (see [3,4] literature reviews), but also at the level of internal specification of components [5]. In addition, PLA modeling requires preserving the traceability between features and PLAs. Finally, it is important to take into account that PLA modeling should guide architects in modeling the PLA core assets and variability, and in deriving the customized products. To deal with these needs, we present in this demonstration the FPLA Modeling Framework.