Variability Management in Reference Architectures

• Grant number: 18/20882-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date until: January 14, 2019
• End date until: January 13, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science
• Principal Investigator: Elisa Yumi Nakagawa
• Grantee: Ana Paula Allian
• Supervisor: Dieter Rombach
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação (ICMC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/05919-0 - Variability management in reference architectures, BP.DR

Abstract

Reference architectures refer to a special type of software architecture that captures the essence of the architectures of a collection of similar systems in a given domain, being an important support to the development, standardization, and evolution of software systems. In another perspective, variability makes it possible to easily change and adapt software systems for specific contexts in a preplanned manner. It has been considered in several research topics, including self-adaptive systems, large-scale enterprise systems, and system-of-systems, and was mainly consolidated by the Software Product Line area. Instead of advantages of handling variability, most reference architectures are built without containing such information and, consequently, considerable rework and costs have been necessary when systems built from these architectures need to be adapted. In this scenario, the main objective of this doctoral project is to establish a means to incorporate and manage variabilities in reference architectures. More specifically, a framework will be proposed containing methods to identify, represent, and validate variabilities in reference architectures, as well a method to instantiate these architectures. To evaluate this framework, case studies will be conducted by applying it a reference architecture built by the research group, in which this project take part. Moreover, surveys with specialists in reference architecture will complement this evaluation. As main results, we intend to contribute to become reference architectures more effective to instantiate new software systems.

Scientific publications

(5)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ALLIAN, ANA PAULA; OLIVEIRAJR, EDSON; CAPILLA, RAFAEL; NAKAGAWA, ELISA YUMI. Have Variability Tools Fulfilled the Needs of the Software Industry?. JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE, v. 26, n. 10, p. 1282-1311, 2020. (17/06195-9, 18/20882-1, 19/19730-5, 16/05919-0)

ALLIAN, ANA PAULA; SCHNICKE, FRANK; ANTONINO, PABLO OLIVEIRA; ROMBACH, DIETER; NAKAGAWA, ELISA YUMI. rchitecture Drivers for Trustworthy Interoperability in Industry 4.. IEEE SYSTEMS JOURNAL, v. 15, n. 4, p. 5454-5463, DEC 2021. (18/20882-1, 16/05919-0, 17/06195-9, 19/19730-5)

ALLIAN, ANA P.; SILVA, LEANDRO F.; OLIVEIRA, EDSON; NAKAGAWA, ELISA Y.. VMTools-RA: a Reference Architecture for Software Variability Tools. JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE, v. 29, n. 7, p. 42-pg., 2023-01-01. (16/05919-0, 15/24144-7, 18/20882-1)

ALLIAN, ANA PAULA; SENA, BRUNO; NAKAGAWA, ELISA YUMI; ASSOC COMP MACHINERY. Evaluating variability at the software architecture level: An Overview. SAC '19: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 34TH ACM/SIGAPP SYMPOSIUM ON APPLIED COMPUTING, v. N/A, p. 8-pg., 2019-01-01. (16/15634-3, 17/22237-3, 18/20882-1, 16/05919-0, 17/06195-9)

ALLIAN, ANA PAULA; DUCHIEN, L; KOZIOLEK, A; MIRANDOLA, R; MARTINEZ, EMN; QUINTON, C; SCANDARIATO, R; SCANDURRA, P; TRUBIANI, C; WEYNS, D. Promoting Trust in Interoperability of Systems-of-Systems. 13TH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE (ECSA 2019), VOL 2, v. N/A, p. 4-pg., 2019-01-01. (17/22237-3, 18/20882-1, 18/21517-5, 16/05919-0, 17/06195-9)