PRISMA: Model-driven development of aspect-oriented software architectures

This summary presents a methodology for supporting the development of AOSAs following the MDD paradigm. This new methodology is called PRISMA and allows the code generation from models which specify functional and non-functional requirements.

A framework to identify primitives that represent usability within model-driven development methods

Nowadays, there are sound methods and tools which implement the Model-Driven Development approach (MDD) satisfactorily. However, MDD approaches focus on representing and generating code that represents functionality, behaviour and persistence, putting the interaction, and more specifically the usability, in a second place. If we aim to include usability features in a system developed with a MDD tool, we need to extend manually the generated code

A model driven framework for geographic knowledge discovery

Geographic knowledge discovery (GKD) is the process of extracting information and knowledge from massive georeferenced databases. Usually the process is accomplished by two different systems, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the data mining engines. However, the development of those systems is a complex task due to it does not follow a systematic, integrated and standard methodology. To overcome these pitfalls, in this paper, we propose a modeling framework that addresses the development of the different parts of a multilayer GKD process. The main advantages of our framework are that: (i) it reduces the design effort, (ii) it improves quality systems obtained, (iii) it is independent of platforms, (iv) it facilitates the use of data mining techniques on geo-referenced data, and finally, (v) it ameliorates the communication between different users.

Incremental model transformation for the evolution of model-driven systems

Model transformations are an integral part of model-driven development. Incremental updates are a key execution scenario for transformations in model-based systems, and are especially important for the evolution of such systems. This paper presents a strategy for the incremental maintenance of declarative, rule-based transformation executions. The strategy involves recording dependencies of the transformation execution on information from source models and from the transformation definition. Changes to the source models or the transformation itself can then be directly mapped to their effects on transformation execution, allowing changes to target models to be computed efficiently. This particular approach has many benefits. It supports changes to both source models and transformation definitions, it can be applied to incomplete transformation executions, and a priori knowledge of volatility can be used to further increase the efficiency of change propagation.

Model driven distribution of collaborative business processes

In this paper, we present a top down approach for integrated process modelling and distributed process execution. The integrated process model can be utilized for global monitoring and visualization and distributed process models for local execution. Our main focus in this paper is the presentation of the approach to support automatic generation and linking of distributed process models from an integrated process definition.

Methodology for the model-driven development of self-managing systems

Based on recent advances in autonomic computing, we propose a methodology for the cost-effective development of self-managing systems starting from a model of the resources to be managed and using a general-purpose autonomic architecture.

Model-driven software adaptation:report on the workshop M-ADAPT at ECOOP 2007

This first edition of the workshop Model-driven Software Adaptation (M-ADAPT'07) took place in the Technische Universität Berlin with the International Conference ECOOP'07 in the beautiful and buzzing city of Berlin, on the 30th of July, 2007. The workshop was organized by Gordon Blair, Nelly Bencomo, and Robert France. Participants explored how to develop appropriate model-driven approaches to model, analyze, and validate the volatile properties of the behaviour of adaptive systems and its environments. This report gives an overview of the presentations as well as an account of the fruitful discussions that took place at M-ADAPT'07. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Model-driven development of sensor network applications with optimization of non-functional constraints

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) differ from conventional distributed systems in many aspects. The resource limitation of sensor nodes, the ad-hoc communication and topology of the network, coupled with an unpredictable deployment environment are difficult non-functional constraints that must be carefully taken into account when developing software systems for a WSN. Thus, more research needs to be done on designing, implementing and maintaining software for WSNs. This thesis aims to contribute to research being done in this area by presenting an approach to WSN application development that will improve the reusability, flexibility, and maintainability of the software. Firstly, we present a programming model and software architecture aimed at describing WSN applications, independently of the underlying operating system and hardware. The proposed architecture is described and realized using the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) standard in order to achieve satisfactory levels of encapsulation and abstraction when programming sensor nodes. Besides, we study different non-functional constrains of WSN application and propose two approaches to optimize the application to satisfy these constrains. A real prototype framework was built to demonstrate the developed solutions in the thesis. The framework implemented the programming model and the multi-layered software architecture as components. A graphical interface, code generation components and supporting tools were also included to help developers design, implement, optimize, and test the WSN software. Finally, we evaluate and critically assess the proposed concepts. Two case studies are provided to support the evaluation. The first case study, a framework evaluation, is designed to assess the ease at which novice and intermediate users can develop correct and power efficient WSN applications, the portability level achieved by developing applications at a high-level of abstraction, and the estimated overhead due to usage of the framework in terms of the footprint and executable code size of the application. In the second case study, we discuss the design, implementation and optimization of a real-world application named TempSense, where a sensor network is used to monitor the temperature within an area.

Collaborative Networked Organizations as System of Systems: A Model-Based Engineering Approach

Part 6: Engineering and Implementation of Collaborative Networks

Towards Distributed Model Transformations with LinTra

Performance and scalability of model transformations are becoming prominent topics in Model-Driven Engineering. In previous works we introduced LinTra, a platform for executing model transformations in parallel. LinTra is based on the Linda model of a coordination language and is intended to be used as a middleware where high-level model transformation languages are compiled. In this paper we present the initial results of our analyses on the scalability of out-place model-to-model transformation executions in LinTra when the models and the processing elements are distributed over a set of machines.

Towards flexible parsing of structured textual model representations

Existing parsers for textual model representation formats such as XMI and HUTN are unforgiving and fail upon even the smallest inconsistency between the structure and naming of metamodel elements and the contents of serialised models. In this paper, we demonstrate how a fuzzy parsing approach can transparently and automatically resolve a number of these inconsistencies, and how it can eventually turn XML into a human-readable and editable textual model representation format for particular classes of models.

Integration of a graph-based model indexer in commercial modelling tools

Softeam has over 20 years of experience providing UML-based modelling solutions, such as its Modelio modelling tool, and its Constellation enterprise model management and collaboration environment. Due to the increasing number and size of the models used by Softeam’s clients, Softeam joined the MONDO FP7 EU research project, which worked on solutions for these scalability challenges and produced the Hawk model indexer among other results. This paper presents the technical details and several case studies on the integration of Hawk into Softeam’s toolset. The first case study measured the performance of Hawk’s Modelio support using varying amounts of memory for the Neo4j backend. In another case study, Hawk was integrated into Constellation to provide scalable global querying of model repositories. Finally, the combination of Hawk and the Epsilon Generation Language was compared against Modelio for document generation: for the largest model, Hawk was two orders of magnitude faster.

Stress-testing centralised model stores

One of the current challenges in model-driven engineering is enabling effective collaborative modelling. Two common approaches are either storing the models in a central repository, or keeping them under a traditional file-based version control system and build a centralized index for model-wide queries. Either way, special attention must be paid to the nature of these repositories and indexes as networked services: they should remain responsive even with an increasing number of concurrent clients. This paper presents an empirical study on the impact of certain key decisions on the scalability of concurrent model queries, using an Eclipse Connected Data Objects model repository and a Hawk model index. The study evaluates the impact of the network protocol, the API design and the internal caching mechanisms and analyzes the reasons for their varying performance.

Building a USDL repository as a service using MDE

The decision to represent the USDL abstract syntax as a metamodel, shown as a set of UML diagrams, has two main benefits: the ability to show a well- understood standard graphical representation of the concepts and their relation- ships to one another, and the ability to use object-oriented frameworks such as Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) to assist in the automated generation of tool support for USDL service descriptions.