High-level Software Architecture Research Articles

Development of a Modular Software Architecture for Underwater Vehicles Using Systems Engineering

This paper addresses the development of a modular software architecture for the design/construction/operation of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), based on systems engineering. First, systems engineering and the Vee model are presented with the objective of defining the interactions of the stakeholders with the software architecture development team and establishing the baselines that must be met in each development phase. In the development stage, the definition of the architecture and its connection with the hardware is presented, taking into account the use of the actor model, which represents the high-level software architecture used to solve concurrency problems. Subsequently, the structure of the classes is defined both at high and low levels in the instruments using the object-oriented programming paradigm. Finally, unit tests are developed for each component in the software architecture, quality assessment tests are implemented for system functions fulfillment, and a field sea trial for testing different modules of the vehicle is described. This approach is well suited for the development of complex systems such as marine vehicles and those systems which require scalability and modularity to add functionalities.

VoRtex Metaverse Platform for Gamified Collaborative Learning

Metaverse platforms are becoming an increasingly popular form of collaboration within virtual worlds. Such platforms provide users with the ability to build virtual worlds that can simulate real-life experiences through different social activities. In the paper, we introduce a novel platform that provides assistive tools for building an educational experience in virtual worlds and overcoming the boundaries caused by pandemic situations. Therefore, the authors developed a high-level software architecture and design for a metaverse platform named VoRtex. VoRtex is primarily designed to support collaborative learning activities with the virtual environment. It is designed to support educational standards and it represents an open-source accessible solution developed using modern technology stack and metaverse concepts. For this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of the implemented VoRtex prototype and some popular virtual world platforms using Mannien’s matrix. Afterwards, based on the comparison, we evaluated the potential of the chosen virtual world platform and the VoRtex platform for online education. After an interactive demonstration of the VoRtex platform, participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire form. The aim was to enable participants to identify the main advantages of online teaching using the VoRtex platform. Finally, the authors analyzed benefits and disadvantages of collaborative learning between the metaverse platform and real-world classroom sessions.

Software architecture for digital game mechanics: A systematic literature review

Game mechanics, the rules that simulate the virtual world inside a game, take a great part in what makes a game unique. For digital games, this uniqueness reduces the opportunity for software reuse. A high-level software architecture for game mechanics, however, can still be reused where a single, specific implementation cannot. Despite that potential, existing research on game development lacks a comprehensive analysis of how game mechanics could benefit from the field of software architecture. This limits the opportunities for developers and researchers alike to benefit from findings on the subject. To help guide future research on game development, we analyzed the state-of-the-art architectures in game mechanics through a systematic literature review. This work carefully documents data from 36 studies, analyzing the reflections and compromises between design requirements, practices, and restrictions, as well as how they contribute to different types of mechanics. The main findings are that researchers favor reduced development complexity, but often tailor their solutions to specific games or genres. We conclude that a valuable avenue for future research in the field is the generalization of architectural solutions around specific types of mechanics and formalizing the use of software engineering for game mechanics.

Transmission and distribution co‐simulation: a review and propositions

With the growing trend of emerging new technologies in distribution networks, such as wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and distributed generations, the passive distribution systems may become ‘active’ which requires more study in the area of integrated transmission and distribution systems (ITDSs) and corresponding bilateral interactions. To solve this problem, most of the studies connect distinct simulators to create a novel co-simulation framework for ITDS. In this study, the authors present a literature survey of existing ITDS co-simulation frameworks along co-optimisation in ITDS. These frameworks are categorised on multiple characteristics, such as simulation tools, synchronisation methods, and research topics. Furthermore, they propose a software platform that is focused on the integrated generation, transmission, distribution, and customer systems (IGTDCSs). The proposed framework also comprises several technological dimensions such as stochastic optimisation, high-performance computing, and high-level design software architecture for planning integrated and flexible power networks and optimising their technological trajectories and operational functioning considering uncertainties. By developing a prototype informed with software engineering and complex system design approaches, they will demonstrate the relevance of a unified vision of IGTDCS simulation in a minute-by-minute horizon, a vision that may later benefit electromagnetic transient simulation or stability co-simulation tools, in horizons from the microsecond to the second.

VORTEX ENTERPRISE: DECENTRALIZED VIRTUAL REALITY BLOCKCHAIN-BASED PLATFORM

Virtual Reality (VR) has been used in industries since the 1960s. However, the recent development of hardware and software has made it possible for VR technologies to become widely adopted by the mass market with the highest level of immersion and affordable price. However, building platforms for VR technologies will require many active users and their engagement in project development. Those activities will include platform activities, content creation, social media marketing, processing power, and storage. For that purpose, we introduce VoRtex enterprise high-level software architecture and decentralized blockchain solution. Introduced VoRtex enterprise high-level software architecture will be used to develop blockchain-based virtual world (VW) platform with VR support. The goal of the VW platform is to support the development of education, certification and massive open online courses (MOOC). A blockchain component inside the VW platform will be used for engaging users in project development through collaboration and content sharing. Active users that promote platform content will get rewards for contributions using cryptocurrency. Also, we will showcase this feature on the VoRtex platform prototype where the user earns cryptocurrencies for activity inside the VW. In the end, we will evaluate the proposed solution

Enabling IoT interoperability through opportunistic smartphone-based mobile gateways

In the near future, all our everyday things and objects will be both connected to the Internet and equipped with enough sensing, acting and processing capabilities to exploit the full potential benefits of the so called Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Even the simplest objects will become “smart” because they will be interconnected to other objects to share and collect data from the environments in which they are placed thus paving the way to novel application services, computing and communication scenarios.In this context, interoperability among different standards and communication technologies is still a significant challenge that we have started to address by proposing a smartphone-based mobile gateway acting as a flexible and transparent interface between different IoT devices and the Internet. The presented unified, high-level and extendible software architecture supports opportunistic IoT devices discovery, control and management coupled with data processing, collection and diffusion functionalities.A specific testbed on common smartphones with different hardware and software capabilities was deployed to evaluate the real feasibility of the designed solution measuring the system performance in terms of energy consumption, memory and CPU usage in high and low load scenarios. According to the obtained results, the implemented software architecture for multi-standard and multi-technology interoperation presents a reduced use of hardware resources in front of a relatively high energy consumption value, mostly due to the simultaneously active radio interfaces combined with a small battery capacity, that limits the smartphone lifetime. Nevertheless, the presented general approach is still remarkable because this latter aspect will most likely be exceeded, in a short time, thanks to daily technological advancements in both batteries and radio interfaces.

Tele-rehabilitation using in-house wearable ankle rehabilitation robot

This article explores wide-ranging potential of the wearable ankle robot for in-house rehabilitation. The presented robot has been conceptualized following a brief analysis of the existing technologies, systems, and solutions for in-house physical ankle rehabilitation. Configuration design analysis and component selection for ankle robot have been discussed as part of the conceptual design. The complexities of human robot interaction are closely encountered while maneuvering a rehabilitation robot. We present a fuzzy logic-based controller to perform the required robot-assisted ankle rehabilitation treatment. Designs of visual haptic interfaces have also been discussed, which will make the treatment interesting, and the subject will be motivated to exert more and regain lost functions rapidly. The complex nature of web-based communication between user and remotely sitting physiotherapy staff has also been discussed. A high-level software architecture appended with robot ensures user-friendly operations. This software is made up of three important components: patient-related database, graphical user interface (GUI), and a library of exercises creating virtual reality—specifically developed for ankle rehabilitation.

Reconstructing Software High-Level Architecture by Clustering Weighted Directed Class Graph

Software architecture reconstruction plays an important role in software reuse, evolution and maintenance. Clustering is a promising technique for software architecture reconstruction. However, the representation of software, which serves as clustering input, and the clustering algorithm need to be improved in real applications. The representation should contain appropriate and adequate information of software. Furthermore, the clustering algorithm should be adapted to the particular demands of software architecture reconstruction well. In this paper, we first extract Weighted Directed Class Graph (WDCG) to represent object-oriented software. WDCG is a structural and quantitative representation of software, which contains not only the static information of software source code but also the dynamic information of software execution. Then we propose a WDCG-based Clustering Algorithm (WDCG-CA) to reconstruct high-level software architecture. WDCG-CA makes full use of the structural and quantitative information of WDCG, and avoids wrong compositions and arbitrary partitions successfully in the process of reconstructing software architecture. We introduce four metrics to evaluate the performance of WDCG-CA. The results of the comparative experiments show that WDCG-CA outperforms the comparative approaches in most cases in terms of the four metrics.

Managing Software Architectural Evolution at Multiple Levels of Abstraction

Software development is a dynamic process where engineers constantly modify and refine systems. As a consequence, system architecture evolves over time. Software architectural evolution has been managed at different abstraction levels: the meta level, the architectural level, the application level, and the implementation level. However, management supports for architectural evolution are limited to evolution mechanisms in architectural description languages such as subtyping, inheritance, interface, and genericity. This paper presents a model-oriented version and configuration control approach to managing the evolution of architectural entities and relationships among them in configurations at different levels of abstraction. This paper also illustrates our approach in building an architectural configuration management system, MolhadoArch, that is capable of managing configurations and versions of software architecture across multiple levels of abstraction in a uniform and tightly connected manner. In MolhadoArch, consistent configurations are maintained not only among source code but also with the high-level software architecture. MolhadoArch supports the management of both planned and unplanned evolution of software architecture. We have conducted an experimental study to show that MolhadoArch can handle large and real-world systems. By evaluation, we learned that the benefits outweigh the extra space needed to represent architectural entities.

Feature-driven requirement dependency analysis and high-level software design

In this paper, we introduce four kinds of dependency between features, namely refinement, constraint, influence and interaction, partly based on the observation of feature operationalization and assignment of responsibilities. Then, we explore three kinds of connection between these dependencies, that is, connections between refinement and constraint, between constraint and interaction, and between influence and interaction. We further show how to use the constraint dependencies to facilitate the customization-based reuse of requirements, and how to employ the result of feature dependency analysis to design high-level software architecture. A simple document editor and an email-client are used as running examples to illustrate the ideas introduced in this paper.

SoftArch/MTE: Generating Distributed System Test-Beds from High-Level Software Architecture Descriptions

Most distributed system specifications have performance benchmark requirements, for example the number of particular kinds of transactions per second required to be supported by the system. However, determining the likely eventual performance of complex distributed system architectures during their development is very challenging. We describe SoftArch/MTE, a software tool that allows software architects to sketch an outline of their proposed system architecture at a high level of abstraction. These descriptions include client requests, servers, server objects and object services, database servers and tables, and particular choices of middleware and database technologies. A fully-working implementation of this system is then automatically generated from this high-level architectural description. This implementation is deployed on multiple client and server machines and performance tests are then automatically run for this generated code. Performance test results are recorded, sent back to the SoftArch/MTE environment and are then displayed to the architect using graphs or by annotating the original high-level architectural diagrams. Architects may change performance parameters and architecture characteristics, comparing multiple test run results to determine the most suitable abstractions to refine to detailed designs for actual system implementation. Further tests may be run on refined architecture descriptions at any stage during system development. We demonstrate the utility of our approach and prototype tool, and the accuracy of our generated performance test-beds, for validating architectural choices during early system development.

Architecture for a massively multiplayer online role playing game engine

Faster networks, faster processors and 3D accelerator cards have contributed to the push for a new genre of online games, the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, MMORPG. This paper presents a high-level software architecture for building a MMORPG engine. Six goals for the architecture are set, the architecture is presented and then examined to determine how well the goals have been met. The architecture blends in a unique way several classical software architecture patterns, using the strength of each to achieve the goals for the system.