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Aspect-oriented design and implementation of context-aware pervasive applications

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Abstract

Pervasive applications must be aware of the contexts where they are executed. These contexts may vary greatly and change quickly. Two main problems are associated with this issue: (1) context-awareness is a crosscutting concern that cannot be well-encapsulated in a single module using traditional technologies, thus hindering software maintenance and reusability; and (2) reasoning about application design correctness can be complex due to the number and diversity of potential contexts where a pervasive application could be executed. In order to overcome these problems, we present a process for the design and implementation of context-aware pervasive applications that uses aspect-orientation and executable modelling in order to overcome these shortcomings. Aspect-oriented techniques contribute to the encapsulation of crosscutting concerns, such as context-awareness, into well-localized modules. Executable modelling helps engineers to reason about application design by executing the design models in different contexts and situations. Pervasive applications are modelled using the aspect-oriented executable modelling UML 2.0 profile, executed at the modelling level for testing purposes, and then mapped into an aspect-oriented middleware platform for pervasive applications. This process is illustrated using a location-aware intelligent transportation system consisting of a set of cooperating sentient vehicles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, 29071, Málaga, Spain

    Lidia Fuentes, Nadia Gámez & Pablo Sánchez

Authors
  1. Lidia Fuentes
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  2. Nadia Gámez
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  3. Pablo Sánchez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nadia Gámez.

Additional information

This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologa (MCYT) Project TIN2005-09405-C02-01 and the European Commission Grant IST-2-004349-NOE AOSD-Europe and the European Commission STREP Project AMPLE IST-033710.

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Fuentes, L., Gámez, N. & Sánchez, P. Aspect-oriented design and implementation of context-aware pervasive applications. Innovations Syst Softw Eng 5, 79–93 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11334-009-0081-8

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