Open Distributed Processing Research Articles

Architecture Frameworks & Modeling

AbstractArchitecture provides the unifying structure (or roadmap) for exploration of the problem space and for characterization of the solution space such that better decisions can be made. Architecture is an arrangement of feature and function that maximizes some objective. This tutorial will describe fundamental concepts used in architecture modeling that will assist you in developing and using your own architectures.The use of an architecture framework leads to a more model‐driven systems approach and allows you to “discover” the essential attributes of the problem space that must be addressed by the system solution. Architecture models are where these essential attributes are defined and evaluated. This approach to architecting will be described within the context of the DOD Architecture Framework (DODAF) and other frameworks like the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) and the Zachman Framework.There can be a hierarchy of architectures that helps focus the architecture team on the right level of abstraction. One common hierarchy starts at the top with National level architectures and works down to the levels of Department/Federal, Service/Agency, Mission Area/Cross‐Mission Area, Program/Node, and so on. The architecture you develop will have impacts above and below you in the hierarchy. The notion of levels in a hierarchy will be discussed along with how to use this to structure your modeling and simulation activity. The differences between enterprise architectures and system architectures will also be discussedSeveral examples of architecture frameworks will be discussed along with application guidance for each: Zachman, Gartner Group, The Open Group, Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing, Federal Enterprise Architecture (US), and Department of Defense (US). The various modeling constructs within the DOD Architecture Framework will be described so that you can see how a framework can integrate the overall systems architecting and engineering activities.

Architecture Frameworks & Modeling

AbstractArchitecture provides the unifying structure (or roadmap) for exploration of the problem space and for characterization of the solution space such that better decisions can be made. Architecture is an arrangement of feature and function that maximizes some objective. This tutorial will describe fundamental concepts used in architecture modeling that will assist you in developing and using your own architectures.The use of an architecture framework leads to a more model‐driven systems approach and allows you to “discover” the essential attributes of the problem space that must be addressed by the system solution. Architecture models are where these essential attributes are defined and evaluated. This approach to architecting will be described within the context of the DOD Architecture Framework (DODAF) and other frameworks like the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF) and the Zachman Framework.There can be a hierarchy of architectures that helps focus the architecture team on the right level of abstraction. One common hierarchy starts at the top with National level architectures and works down to the levels of Department/Federal, Service/Agency, Mission Area/Cross‐Mission Area, Program/Node, and so on. The architecture you develop will have impacts above and below you in the hierarchy. The notion of levels in a hierarchy will be discussed along with how to use this to structure your modeling and simulation activity. The differences between enterprise architectures and system architectures will also be discussedSeveral examples of architecture frameworks will be discussed along with application guidance for each: Zachman, Gartner Group, The Open Group, Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing, Federal Enterprise Architecture (US), and Department of Defense (US). The various modeling constructs within the DOD Architecture Framework will be described so that you can see how a framework can integrate the overall systems architecting and engineering activities.

Land Monitoring Network Services based on international geospatial standards: SOSI and geoland2/SDI Projects

Spatial Observation Services and Infrastructure is a project to develop and verify innovative infrastructure and services within the context of land monitoring and Earth Observation initiatives at European and Member State (MS) levels. The project's results contribute to the concept definition of the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) emphasising symmetrical online sharing of information as opposed to unidirectional reporting. In a pre-operational set-up, involving the European Environment Agency (EEA), four MS sites and the European Space Agency (ESA), a decentralised information system respecting the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) principles is demonstrated integrating distributed data and processing services as well as interactive multi-lingual access. The geoland2 project is carried out in the context of Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES), a joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA, aiming to build up a European capacity for GMES. The Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) task shall set up operational services for the discovery, viewing, access and delivery of all products generated in the geoland2 project. The paper presents the projects along the five International Standards Organisation (ISO)/Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing viewpoints and concludes with the main recommendation that service provisioning can strongly benefit from a (re-) utilisation of the Service Support Environment (SSE) technology provided sustainably by ESA and from the related rich experience.

5.3.2 A Generic Method for Defining Viewpoints in SysML

AbstractIt is important for system engineers to present the information on the systems that they are developing in a precise way so that the information can be understood by as many people as possible. The OMG Systems Modeling Language (SysML) (OMG 2008) was developed to meet that kind of needs of system engineers. It is a common practice to present descriptions of large systems using multiple views, each of which addresses one or more of the concerns of the system stakeholders. SysML has the concepts of view and viewpoint and it requires that a view conform to a viewpoint, which specifies conventions and rules for constructing and using the view, but it does not specify any method for specifying viewpoints.One of the examples of specifying viewpoints in a particular problem domain is an ISO/IEC standard called the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM‐ODP). This standard specifies five viewpoints to describe distributed processing systems, but it does not provide generic rules on how to construct viewpoints.This paper proposes a generic method for defining viewpoints in SysML by generalizing the concepts used in defining viewpoints in RM‐ODP. By using this method, viewpoints to be used in different problem domains can be defined in a systematic way, and reuse and/or sharing of viewpoints across different problem domains can also be facilitated.

An initial formal model for spatial data infrastructures

The Commission on Spatial Data Standards of the International Cartographic Association is working to define formal models and technical characteristics of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). To date, this work has been restricted to the Enterprise and Information Viewpoints from the ISO Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing standard. The Commission has developed models for these two viewpoints. These models describe how the different parts of an SDI fit together in the viewpoints in question. These models should be seen as a contribution towards the overall model of the SDI and its technical characteristics. During the model development process, the roles of the different Actors in an SDI in the Enterprise and Information Viewpoints have also been identified in Use Case diagrams of an SDI. All the models have been developed using the Unified Modeling Language. ✠ This author passed away in September 2007.

Modeling ODP Computational Specifications Using UML

The open distributed processing (ODP) computational viewpoint describes the functionality of a system and its environment in terms of a configuration of objects interacting at interfaces, independently of their distribution. Quality of service (QoS) contracts and service level agreements are an integral part of any computational specification, which are specified in ODP in terms of environment contracts. Up until unified modeling language (UML) version 2, both the lack of precision in the UML definition and the semantic gap between the ODP concepts and the UML constructs hindered its application for ODP computational viewpoint modeling. With the advent of UML 2 the situation has changed, because its semantics have been more precisely defined and it now incorporates a whole new set of concepts more apt for modeling the structure and behavior of distributed systems. In this paper, we explore the benefits provided by the new extension mechanisms of UML for modeling the ODP computational specifications and, in particular, we show how ODP environment contracts can be modeled with this approach.

Extended Cartographic Interfaces for Open Distributed Processing

In recent years, cartographic Web applications have evolved from closed monolithic applications to open distributed systems in which real-time map rendering components and services play an important role. This progress has required new and flexible ways of defining map symbolization. The development of cartographic interfaces needed to describe the desired map output offers the means to extend current symbolization approaches and adapt the portrayal of data to the most demanding requirements in the area of distributed thematic mapping. This article analyses, in the context of open distributed processing, some of the existing cartographic interfaces that can be used for various cartographic applications and services. At the same time, the article offers a look at the most recent research efforts in this area.

Enterprise modeling using the foundation concepts of the RM-ODP ISO/ITU standard

Enterprise architecture (EA) projects require analyzing and designing across the whole enterprise and its environment. Enterprise architects, therefore, frequently develop enterprise models that span from the markets in which the organization operates down to the implementation of the IT systems that support its operations. In this paper, we present SEAM for EA: a method for defining an enterprise model in which all the systems are systematically represented with the same modeling ontology. We base our modeling ontology on the foundation modeling concepts defined in Part 2 of ISO/ITU Standard “Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing” (RM-ODP). This work has two contributions to enterprise architecture: the SEAM for EA method itself and the use of Part 2 of the RM-ODP standard as a modeling ontology.

Writing and executing ODP computational viewpoint specifications using Maude

The Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) is a joint standardization effort by ITU-T and ISO/IEC for the specification of large open distributed systems. RM-ODP is becoming increasingly relevant now because the size and complexity of large distributed systems is challenging current software engineering methods and tools, and because international standards have become key to achieve the required interoperability between the different parties and organizations involved in the design and development of complex systems. RM-ODP defines five viewpoints for decomposing the design activity into separate areas of concern. One of the RM-ODP viewpoints, the computational viewpoint, focuses on the basic functionality of the system and its environment, independently of its distribution. Although several notations have been proposed to model the ODP computational viewpoint, either they are not expressive enough to faithfully represent all its concepts, or they tend to suffer from a lack of formal support. In this paper we introduce the use of Maude as a formal notation for writing and executing ODP computational viewpoint specifications. Maude is an executable rewriting logic language specially well suited for the specification of object-oriented open and distributed systems. We show how Maude offers a simple, natural, and accurate way of modeling the ODP computational viewpoint concepts, allows the execution of the specifications produced, and offers good tool support for reasoning about them.

Demographic management in a federated healthcare environment

Objective The purpose of this paper is to provide a further step toward the decentralization of identification and demographic information about persons by solving issues related to the integration of demographic agents in a federated healthcare environment. The aim is to identify a particular person in every system of a federation and to obtain a unified view of his/her demographic information stored in different locations. Method This work is based on semantic models and techniques, and pursues the reconciliation of several current standardization works including ITU-T's Open Distributed Processing, CEN's prEN 12967, OpenEHR's dual and reference models, CEN's General Purpose Information Components and CORBAmed's PID service. Results We propose a new paradigm for the management of person identification and demographic data, based on the development of an open architecture of specialized distributed components together with the incorporation of techniques for the efficient management of domain ontologies, in order to have a federated demographic service. This new service enhances previous correlation solutions sharing ideas with different standards and domains like semantic techniques and database systems. The federation philosophy enforces us to devise solutions to the semantic, functional and instance incompatibilities in our approach. Conclusion Although this work is based on several models and standards, we have improved them by combining their contributions and developing a federated architecture that does not require the centralization of demographic information. The solution is thus a good approach to face integration problems and the applied methodology can be easily extended to other tasks involved in the healthcare organization.

Advanced EHR Architectures–Promises or Reality

Forming the informational reflection of the patients and their care, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) is the core application of any complex health information system or health network. Such an ideally lifelong history file must be reliable, flexible, adaptable to new concepts and technologies, and robust, to allow for sharing knowledge over its lifetime. A sophisticated architecture must be chosen for meeting this challenge. An advanced EHR architecture for designing and implementing future-proof EHR systems must be a model of generic properties required for any Electronic Patient Record to provide communicable, comprehensive, useful, effective, and legally binding records that preserve their integrity over the time, independent of platforms and systems as well as of national specialties. the resulting approach is based on the ISO Reference Model-Open Distributed Processing. Based on advanced architectural principles introduced in the paper, a new generation of HER systems has been designed and implemented for demonstrating the feasibility of the approach. This result is presented and evaluated regarding the achievements and problems using the component-based paradigm of model-driven health information system architectures. The future-proof EHR approach that has been established has been shortly evaluated. Advantages regarding flexibility, reliability, and portability of policy-driven, highly secure, role-dependent applications have to be considered in the light of performance as well as of the availability of network and application services.

An integrated identity verification system for mobile terminals

PurposeTo report the work on the design of an integrated identity verification system architecture aimed at approaching high verification accuracy, continuous security, and user‐friendliness.Design/methodology/approachThe reported research corresponds to the building process in the design science research paradigm. The requirements to an identity verification system are defined and used in the selection of architecture components. Furthermore, various issues affecting the suitability of component distribution between a terminal and a remote server are considered.FindingsIn order to meet the stated requirements, in the proposed architecture static and dynamic identity verification is combined. The use of the dynamic part enables continuous and user‐friendly verification, while the static part is responsible for accurate verification. A suitable distribution of architecture components between the terminal and the remote server is proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed architecture represents a specification that corresponds to the computational viewpoint of the reference model for open distributed processing. Other specifications, such as engineering or technological specifications, which are needed for successful implementation of the system, are not provided in the paper.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a specification of the integrated identify verification system architecture that can be utilised during further design and subsequent implementation of the system.Originality/valueWhile available approaches to identity verification in a mobile environment concentrate mainly on connectivity identity verification (employed in accessing communication services), the proposed architecture focuses on application‐level identity verification needed to access application‐level resources, remotely or locally on the terminal.

Figures de transformation pour des architectures logicielles

Reasoning about software architecture helps to improve design of applications. According to most of the software architects, architecture design has to be separated in different viewpoints. Nonetheless the transition between two viewpoints is not easy. In the DASIBAO methodology based on RM-ODP (Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing), there is a gap in the process to turn a functional architecture into a technical one. This paper presents a new concept, called architectural figure, which describes how to add technical concerns in a functional architecture and the mechanism to perform this transformation.

Using Maude to write and execute ODP information viewpoint specifications

The aim of the open distributed processing (ODP) information viewpoint is to describe the semantics of the information and of the information processing in a system, from a global point of view, without having to worry about other considerations, such as how the information will be finally distributed or implemented or the technology used to achieve such implementation. Although several notations have been proposed to model this ODP viewpoint, they are not expressive enough to faithfully represent all the information concepts, or they tend to suffer from a lack of (formal) support, or both. In this paper, we explore the use of Maude as a formal notation for writing ODP information specifications. Maude is an executable rewriting logic language especially well suited for the specification of object-oriented open and distributed systems. We show how Maude offers a simple, natural, and accurate way of modeling the ODP information viewpoint concepts, allows the execution of the specifications produced, and offers good tool support for reasoning about them.

A QoS management framework for distributed multimedia systems

AbstractThis paper proposes a high‐performance connection management architecture to design a common QoS framework applied to an ATM network based on the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) concept. We design the QoS framework in accordance from the RM‐ODP information and computational viewpoints. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An application of the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing to electronic brokerage

This paper presents the design of an Architecture for Electronic Brokerage Systems (AEBS). This architecture is based on the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) model. It specifies a brokerage system from five RM-ODP viewpoints. AEBS include a generic model of electronic brokerage. It defines protocols and interfaces between actors. It enables communication between actors via an advanced object-oriented interface (defined in terms of the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) technology) as well as using traditional trading protocols. These interfaces allow a broker to operate in both the rapidly developing object-oriented CORBA environment and the electronic markets based on customary protocols. CORBA was also used for the design of the internal object model and internal interfaces of a brokerage system. This paper focuses primarily on the specification of the AEBS architecture from the enterprise and computational viewpoints of the RM-ODP model.

ODAC: An Agent-Oriented Methodology Based on ODP

The ODAC methodology (Open Distributed Applications Construction) aims to provide a designer of agent-based systems with a set of methods and tools to allow him/her to control the construction process complexity of such systems. It enables software engineers to specify agent-based systems that will be implemented within an execution environment, for example a mobile agent platform. Our work is based on the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) standards and the agent paradigm.

Policy 2003: Workshop on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks

Policy-based systems are the subject of a wide range of activities in universities, standardization bodies and within industry [1]. They have a wide spectrum of applications ranging from quality-of-service management within networks to security and enterprise modeling. Within the Internet community there is considerable interest in Policy Based Networking. A number of companies have announced tools to support the specification and deployment of policies. Much of this work is focused on policies for quality-of-service management within networks and the Internet Engineering and Distributed Management Task Forces (IETF/DMTF) are actively working on standards [2] related to this area. The Security community has focused on the specification and analysis of access control policy, which has evolved into the work on Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) [3]. There had been work over a number of years in the academic community on specification and analysis of policies for Distributed Systems [4], mostly concentrating on authorization polices. Although there are strong similarities in the concepts and techniques used by the different communities there is no commonly accepted terminology or notation for specifying policy. Several research groups are looking at high-level aspects of policy related to Enterprise Modelling. An ISO Open Distributed Processing (ODP) working group is defining Policy and Role concepts within the Enterprise Viewpoint [5]. Enterprise goals or Service Level Agreements can be considered as high-level abstract policies, which must be progressively refined into implementable policies. The work on the specification and analysis of Business Rule is also relevant.

Internet Network Resource Information Model

The foundation of any network management systems is a database that contains information about the network resources relevant to the management tasks. A network information model is an abstraction of network resources, including both managed resources and managing resources. In the SNMP-based management framework, management information is defined almost exclusively from a "device" viewpoint, namely, managing a network is equivalent to managing a collection of individual nodes. Aiming at, making use of recent advances in distributed computing and in object-oriented analysis and design, the Internet management architecture can also be based on the Open Distributed Processing Reference Model (RM-ODP). The purpose of this article is to provide an Internet Network Resource Information Model. First, a layered management information architecture will be discussed. Then the Internet network resource information model is presented. The information model is specified using Object-Z.

A Formal Framework for Viewpoint Consistency

Multiple Viewpoint models of system development are becoming increasingly important. Each viewpoint offers a different perspective on the target system and system development involves parallel refinement of the multiple views. Viewpoints related approaches have been considered in a number of different guises by a spectrum of researchers. Our work particularly focuses on the use of viewpoints in Open Distributed Processing (ODP) which is an ISO/ITU standardisation framework. The requirements of viewpoints modelling in ODP are very broad and, hence, demanding. Multiple viewpoints, though, prompt the issue of consistency between viewpoints. This paper describes a very general interpretation of consistency which we argue is broad enough to meet the requirements of consistency in ODP. We present a formal framework for this general interpretations highlight basic properties of the interpretation and locate restricted classes of consistency. Strategies for checking consistency are also investigated. Throughout we illustrate our theory using the formal description technique LOTOS. Thus, the paper also characterises the nature of and options for consistency checking in LOTOS.