Design and Programming Tools for Time Critical Applications

The development of time critical applications needs specific tools able to cope with both functional and non-functional requirements. In this paper we describe a design and programming environment to assist the development of hard real-time applications. An interactive graphic interface is provided to facilitate the design of the application according to three hierarchical levels. The development model we propose is based on an iterative process in which the real-time scheduling support is considered from the beginning of the design phases.Our graphic environment integrates several tools to analyze, test, and simulate the real-time application under development. In particular, the tools we have implemented are: a Design Tool, to describe the structure of the application, a Schedulability Analyser Tool (SAT), to verify off-line the feasibility of the schedule of a critical task set, a Scheduling Simulator, to test the average behavior of the application, and a Maximum Execution Time (MET) estimator to bound the worst case duration of each task.     

A unified method for designing interactive systems adaptable to mobile and stationary platforms

The wide variety of devices currently available, which is bound to increase in the coming years, poses a number of issues for the design cycle of interactive software applications. Model-based approaches can provide useful support in addressing this new challenge. In this paper we present and discuss a method for the design of nomadic applications showing how the use of models can support their design. The aim is to enable each interaction device to support the appropriate tasks users expect to perform and designers to develop the various device-specific application modules in a consistent manner.     

FANTASIA: a framework for advanced natural tools and applications in social,interactive approaches

With the recent availability of industry-grade, high-performing engines for video games production, researchers in different fields have been exploiting the advanced technologies offered by these artefacts to improve the quality of the interactive experiences they design. While these engines provide excellent and easy-to-use tools to design interfaces and complex rule-based systems to control the experience, there are some aspects of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research they do not support in the same way because of their original mission and related design patterns pointing at a different primary target audience. In particular, the more research in HCI evolves towards natural, socially engaging approaches, the more there is the need to rapidly design and deploy software architectures to support these new paradigms. Topics such as knowledge representation, probabilistic reasoning and voice synthesis demand space as possible instruments within this new ideal design environment. In this work, we propose a framework, named FANTASIA, designed to integrate a set of chosen modules (a graph database, a dialogue manager, a game engine and a voice synthesis engine) and support rapid design and implementation of interactive applications for HCI studies. We will present a number of different case studies to exemplify how the proposed tools can be deployed to develop very different kinds of interactive applications and we will discuss ongoing and future work to further extend the framework we propose.

     

Emerging standards for component software

Component software benefits include reusability and interoperability, among others. What are the similarities and differences between the competing standards for this new technology, and how will they interoperate? Object-oriented technology is steadily gaining acceptance for commercial and custom application development through programming languages such as C++ and Smalltalk, object oriented CASE tools, databases, and operating systems such as Next Computer's NextStep. Two emerging technologies, called compound documents and component software, will likely accelerate the spread of objectoriented concepts across system-level services, development tools, and application-level behaviours. Tied closely to the popular client/server architecture for distributed computing, compound documents and component software define object-based models that facilitate interactions between independent programs. These new approaches promise to simplify the design and implementation of complex software applications and, equally important, simplify human-computer interactive work models for application end users. Following unfortunate tradition, major software vendors have developed competing standards to support and drive compound document and component software technologies. These incompatible standards specify distinct object models, data storage models, and application interaction protocols. The incompatibilities have generated confusion in the market, as independent software vendors, system integrators, in-house developers, and end users struggle to sort out the standards' relative merits, weaknesses, and chances for commercial success. Let's take a look now at the general technical concepts underlying compound documents and component software. Then we examine the OpenDoc, OLE 2, COM, and CORBA standards being proposed for these two technologies. Finally, we'll review the work being done to extend the standards and to achieve interoperability across them     

An Evaluation of the Potential of Task Analysis in the Evolution of Interactive Work Systems

Developed forms of task analysis allow designers to focus on both utility and usability issues in the development of interactive work systems. The models they generate represent aspects of the human, computer and domain elements of an interactive work system. Many interactive work systems are embedded in an organisational context. Pressure for changes are present in this context and provide impetus to stakeholders to change work tasks and the supporting tools. Interactive work systems also provide evolutionary pressures of their own, changing the very task they were designed to support. One approach to coping with change has been to evolve interactive work systems. Currently none of these techniques place focus on the performance of tasks as central, and consideration of usability is minimal. However, an evolutionary design approach forces an evolutionary experience upon users, and we cannot be sure whether this approach enhances the user’s experience or degrades their performance. Given the strength of task analysis it is likely that it will be applied within evolutionary contexts. Yet, little work has been undertaken to examine whether its role will, or could be different. We ask how we can move task analysis towards being used in a principled manner in the evolution of interactive work systems. This paper examines a number of features of the approach called task knowledge structures that may be useful in evolving interactive work systems. We look at tasks and their representativeness, roles, goals, objects (their attributes, relationships, typicality and centrality) and actions. We present a developing framework for examining other task analysis approaches for their utility in supporting interactive work systems evolution. Finally, we discuss future work within the area of applying task analysis in the evolution of interactive work systems.     

HCI and business practices in a collaborative method for augmented reality systems

ContextEvery interactive system is composed of a functional core and a user interface. However, the software engineering (SE) and human–computer interaction (HCI) communities do not share the same methods, models or tools. This usually induces a large work overhead when specialists from the two domains try to connect their applicative studies, especially when developing augmented reality systems that feature complex interaction cores.ObjectiveWe present in this paper the essential activities and concepts of a development method integrating the SE and HCI development practices, from the specifications down to the design, as well as their application on a case study.MethodThe efficiency of the method was tested in a qualitative study involving four pairs of SE and HCI experts in the design of an application for which an augmented reality interaction would provide better user performance than a classic interactive system. The effectivity of the method was evaluated in a qualitative study comparing the quality of three implementations of the same application fragment (based on the same analysis model), using software engineering metrics.ResultsThe first evaluation confirmed the ease of use of our method and the relevance of our tools for guiding the design process, but raised concerns on the handling of conflicting collaborative activities. The second evaluation gave indications that the structure of the analysis model facilitates the implementation of quality software (in terms of coupling, stability and complexity).ConclusionIt is concluded that our method enables design teams with different backgrounds in application development to collaborate for integrating augmented reality applications with information systems. Areas of improvement are also described.     

Models and strategies for efficiently determining an optimal vertical alignment of roads

Selecting an optimal vertical alignment while satisfying safety and design constraints is an important task during road construction. The amount of earthwork operations depends on the design of the vertical alignment, so a good vertical alignment can have a profound impact on final construction costs. In this research, we improve the performance of a previous mixed-integer linear programming model, and we propose a new quasi-network flow model. Both models use a piecewise quadratic curve to compute the minimum cost vertical alignment and take earthwork operations into account. The models consider several features such as side-slopes, and physical blocks in the terrain. In addition to improving the precision, we propose several techniques that speed up the search for a solution, so that it is possible to make interactive design tools. We report numerical tests that validate the accuracy of the models, and reduce the calculation time.     

An educational tool for interactive parallel and distributed processing

In this article we try to describe how the modular interactive tiles system (MITS) can be a valuable tool for introducing students to interactive parallel and distributed processing programming. This is done by providing a handson educational tool that allows a change in the representation of abstract problems related to designing interactive parallel and distributed systems. Indeed, the MITS seems to bring a series of goals into education, such as parallel programming, distributedness, communication protocols, master dependency, software behavioral models, adaptive interactivity, feedback, connectivity, topology, island modeling, and user and multi-user interaction which can rarely be found in other tools. Finally, we introduce the system of modular interactive tiles as a tool for easy, fast, and flexible hands-on exploration of these issues, and through examples we show how to implement interactive parallel and distributed processing with different behavioral software models such as open loop, randomness-based, rule-based, user interaction-based, and AI- and ALife-based software.     

A VERSATILE DEVELOPMENT TOOL FOR KNOWLEDGE-BASED COMPUTER VISION

Knowledge-based computer vision creates a large variety of different design tasks including low-level image processing tasks, components for symbol manipulation, and complex cognitive processes. The diversity of requirements of these tasks calls for radically new concepts in terms of hardware and software structures. Classical design tools, such as image processing systems, support only small portions of this large task set. In this paper we report on an interactive and homogeneous software environment termed the Vision Kernel System (VKS) that aims at supporting the entire spectrum of problems encountered in knowledge-based computer vision.     

Experiences developing architectures for realizing thin‐client diagram editing tools

Diagram‐centric applications such as software design tools, project planning tools and business process modelling tools are usually ‘thick‐client’ applications running as stand‐alone desktop applications. There are several advantages to providing such design tools as Web‐based or even PDA‐ and mobile‐phone‐based applications. These include ease of access and upgrade, provision of collaborative work support and Web‐based integration with other applications. However, building such thin‐client diagram editing tools is very challenging. We have developed several thin‐client diagram editing applications realized as a set of plug‐in extensions to a meta‐tool for visual design environment development. In this paper, we discuss key user interaction and software architecture issues, illustrate examples of interacting with our thin‐client diagram editing tools, describe our design and implementation approaches, and present the results of several different evaluations of the resultant applications. Our experiences will be useful for those interested in developing their own thin‐client diagram editing architectures and applications. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Qualitative design support for engineering and architecture

Conventional design support software tools cannot effectively manage the complex, heterogeneous information used in engineering and architecture (EA) tasks. Crucially, despite uncertainty being an inherent quality of EA information particularly in the early stages of a design project, current tools solely rely on numerical approaches which do not support such incomplete and vague information. In this paper, we establish a complete framework for developing qualitative support tools that directly address these shortcomings. Our framework is application oriented and addresses the broader issues surrounding the actual use of qualitative methods. It provides design principles and strategies that allow a software engineer to develop custom qualitative software tools according to their specific EA task specifications. Our framework also provides the engineer with practical theory and guidelines for implementing their custom qualitative model and validating their system using context specific test data. We demonstrate the validity of our framework by presenting a case study in architectural lighting in which a prototype qualitative reasoning engine successfully automates qualitative logic about the subjective impressions of a lighting installation.     

Design evaluation and modification of mechanical systems in virtual environments

Design is one of the most important stages in the manufacturing cycle and influences all the subsequent stages of product development. In the context of today’s iterative design methodology, the modification of any design is a process involving many evaluations and improvements to the solutions chosen in earlier stages. For this purpose, in the most recent decade, 3D computer simulations have become common tools used within industry. Whilst virtual reality (VR) technology is seen as the interaction technology of the future, much of the current research in this area is carried out to explore the potential benefits and added value brought by the integration of this into standard software technologies currently used at various stages in manufacturing life cycle. A lot of attention has been given to exploring the usability and benefits of interactive VR for assembly planning, knowledge elicitation and design and simulation. However, little research has focussed on the analytical aspects of the design process, for example in the use of VR as an interface for simulation software in finite element methods and multi-body systems. This paper introduces research focussing on applications of virtual environments (VEs) for interactive design evaluation and modification adapted and used with standard simulation software. The use of such interactive visualisation offers the engineer more realistic real-time representations of the design and advanced facilities to interact with the model during the design process. While design evaluation is based mainly on visualisation; design modification requires interactive changes of the model during the simulation, and the interfaces described here highlights such applications. In this work, two software prototypes have been developed using VR technology. First, a software tool called design evaluation in virtual environments is presented together with an application in civil engineering to illustrate the mode of operation and added value of the use of an interactive visualisation environment. Linking the simulation software with the VE provides real time bi-directional communication of graphical information which can be successfully achieved even within the limits of current computer technology. The tool includes a suite of software modules and a user interface to facilitate the link between the simulation results and the VE. The second tool facilitates the design modification in virtual environments system by providing real time dynamic simulation. Two dynamic approaches are investigated in order to study the real time simulation issues in the context of design modification and system performance: the classic approach based on rigid interconnected bodies, and a new and novel approach developed by the authors based on particles dynamics. Both implementations have been tested and compared on a mechanism application under the same computing conditions. The research applications presented demonstrate the practicality, flexibility and versatility of the visualisation in virtual environment in design evaluation and modification. However, the computer efficiency whilst carrying out real time dynamic simulation is limiting the range of applications to models of moderate size; however, this is an improvement on previous similar applications.     

Computer vision for artists and designers: pedagogic tools and techniques for novice programmers

This article attempts to demystify computer vision for novice programmers through a survey of new applications in the arts, system design considerations, and contemporary tools. It introduces the concept and gives a brief history of computer vision within interactive art from Myron Kruger to the present. Basic techniques of computer vision such as detecting motion and object tracking are discussed in addition to various software applications created for exploring the topic. As an example, the results of a one-week machine vision workshop are presented to show how designers are able to apply their skills toward creating novel uses of these technologies. The article concludes with a listing of code for basic computer vision techniques.     

Tool support for the design and management of context models

A central task in the development of context-aware applications is the modeling and management of complex context information. In this paper, we present the NexusEditor, which can ease this task by providing a graphical user interface to design schemas for spatial and technical context models, interactively create queries, send them to a server and visualize the results. One main contribution is to show how schema awareness can improve such a tool: The NexusEditor dynamically parses the underlying data model and provides additional syntactic checks, semantic checks, and short-cuts based on the schema information. Furthermore, the tool helps to design new schema definitions based on the existing ones, which is crucial for an iterative and user-centric development of context-aware applications. Finally, it provides interfaces to existing information spaces and visualization tools for spatial data like GoogleEarth.     

Model-Driven Interactive System Design for Therapy Robots

Physiotherapy using intelligent robots is emerging as a new approach to recovery for many stroke patients. Although therapy robots have a strong potential in dealing with therapeutic and other medical applications, they have not been fully utilized in everyday therapy activities due to concerns over safety and the lack of friendly robot user/patient interaction models. From the viewpoint of software engineering, a user-centred design based on UML (Unified Modelling Language) has been known to be one of the best solutions to satisfy usability since the design process relies heavily on the analysis of users and their tasks to reach their goals. Therefore, a model-driven approach to interactive system design via UML for therapy robots is needed to make them usable in the real world. This paper proposes such approach and introduces a new graphical notation that describes user interface elements and the methods of connection with hardware/software objects. With the proposed abstract interaction models, prototyping interactive systems can be made faster and allows for their evaluation by users and system developers before implementation in order to improve usability from the perspectives of users and system developers.     

Executable formal specifications of complex distributed systems with CoreASM

Formal specifications play a crucial role in the design of reliable complex software systems. Executable formal specifications allow the designer to attain early validation and verification of design using static analysis techniques and accurate simulation of the runtime behavior of the system-to-be. With increasing complexity of software-intensive computer-based systems and the challenges of validation and verification of abstract software models prior to coding, the need for interactive software tools supporting executable formal specifications is even more evident. In this paper, we discuss how CoreASM, an environment for writing and running executable specifications according to the ASM method, provides flexibility and manages the complexity by using an innovative extensible language architecture.     

A Visual and Formal Glue between Application and Interaction

The construction of interactive software is known to be a difficult task. As far as the non-interactive part of the application is concerned, designers can find support in the field of software engineering, using object-oriented design methods for example. With regard to the user interface per se, a number of interactive tools (interface builders) are available, that allows creating interactively the look and feel of the interface. However, relating an object-oriented design with a proper user-interface design is still a matter of craft and experience, and few techniques permit the seamless integration of the two.The work presented here aims at bridging this gap. The paper proposes a visual language, based on Petri nets, for the design of the dialogue of interactive systems. This language allows specifying both activation and rendering on the one hand, and provides a seamless integration with an object-oriented design on the other.     

An instrumentation system to measure user performance in interactive systems

Many software tools are interactive in nature and require a close match between the user's knowledge of how a task is to be performed and the capabilities the tool provides. This paper describes the current status of an instrumentation and analysis package to measure user performance in an interactive system. A prototype measurement system is considered to evaluate a screen editor and to develop models of user behavior.     

Supporting simultaneous versions for software evolution assessment

When reengineering software systems, maintainers should be able to assess and compare multiple change scenarios for a given goal, so as to choose the most pertinent one. Because they implicitly consider one single working copy, revision control systems do not scale up well to perform simultaneous analyses of multiple versions of systems. We designed Orion, an interactive prototyping tool for reengineering, to simulate changes and compare their impact on multiple versions of software source code models. Our approach offers an interactive simulation of changes, reuses existing assessment tools, and has the ability to hold multiple and branching versions simultaneously in memory. Specifically, we devise an infrastructure which optimizes memory usage of multiple versions for large models. This infrastructure uses an extension of the FAMIX source code meta-model but it is not limited to source code analysis tools since it can be applied to models in general. In this paper, we validate our approach by running benchmarks on memory usage and computation time of model queries on large models. Our benchmarks show that the Orion approach scales up well in terms of memory usage, while the current implementation could be optimized to lower its computation time. We also report on two large case studies on which we applied Orion.