An ontology-based support for product conceptual design

The research presented in this paper is a follow-up of our prior work involving the development of a graphical modeling tool to support designers at the conceptual design stage. To close the loop for supporting designers in generating design concepts flexibly, fast, and easily, an ontology-based approach for knowledge management that works along with the graphical modeling tool is discussed. Ontology and databases for the tool are developed to promote the systematic capture of design knowledge and efficient reuse of the design knowledge selection. In order to locate the proper information and query the data from the databases, the relationship between the ontology and databases, the data analysis process, ontology enrichment, and the ontology-based query engine are built to offer users multiple design results according to users’ requirements. A tire design example is presented to demonstrate the proposed approach. The ontology-based method described in this paper can help retrieve and save the complex relations, support the reasoning, integrate heterogeneous data resources and offer users more accurate, proper and comprehensive data.     

Verification of evolving software via component substitutability analysis

This paper presents an automated and compositional procedure to solve the substitutability problem in the context of evolving software systems. Our solution contributes two techniques for checking correctness of software upgrades: (1) a technique based on simultaneous use of over-and under-approximations obtained via existential and universal abstractions; (2) a dynamic assume-guarantee reasoning algorithm—previously generated component assumptions are reused and altered on-the-fly to prove or disprove the global safety properties on the updated system. When upgrades are found to be non-substitutable, our solution generates constructive feedback to developers showing how to improve the components. The substitutability approach has been implemented and validated in the ComFoRT reasoning framework, and we report encouraging results on an industrial benchmark. This is an extended version of a paper, Dynamic Component Substitutability Analysis, published in the Proceedings of the Formal Methods 2005 Conference, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 3582, by the same authors. This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation under grant nos. CNS-0411152, CCF-0429120, CCR-0121547, and CCR-0098072, the Semiconductor Research Corporation under grant no. TJ-1366, the US Army Research Office under grant no. DAAD19-01-1-0485, the Office of Naval Research under grant no. N00014-01-1-0796, the ICAST project and the Predictable Assembly from Certifiable Components (PACC) initiative at the Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of any sponsoring institution, the US government or any other entity.     

Top-down vs bottom-up methodologies in multi-agent system design

Traditionally, two alternative design approaches have been available to engineers: top-down and bottom-up. In the top-down approach, the design process starts with specifying the global system state and assuming that each component has global knowledge of the system, as in a centralized approach. The solution is then decentralized by replacing global knowledge with communication. In the bottom-up approach, on the other hand, the design starts with specifying requirements and capabilities of individual components, and the global behavior is said to emerge out of interactions among constituent components and between components and the environment. In this paper we present a comparative study of both approaches with particular emphasis on applications to multi-agent system engineering and robotics. We outline the generic characteristics of both approaches from the MAS perspective, and identify three elements that we believe should serve as criteria for how and when to apply either of the approaches. We demonstrate our analysis on a specific example of load balancing problem in robotics. We also show that under certain assumptions on the communication and the external environment, both bottom-up and top-down methodologies produce very similar solutions.

Advanced product planning: a comprehensive process for systemic definition of new product requirements

This paper reports results of research into the definition of requirements for new consumer products––specifically, electro-mechanical products. The research dealt with the derivation of design requirements that are demonstrably aligned with stakeholder needs. The paper describes a comprehensive process that can enable product development teams to deal with statements of product requirements, as originally collected through market research activities, in a systematic and traceable manner from the early, fuzzy front end, stages of the design process. The process described has been based on principles of systems engineering. A case study from its application and evaluation drawn from the power sector is described in this paper. The case study demonstrates how the process can significantly improve product quality planning practices through revision of captured product requirements, analysis of stakeholder requirements and derivation of design requirements. The paper discusses benefits and issues from the use of the process by product development teams, and identifies areas for further research. Finally, the conclusions drawn from the reported research are presented.

A case study validation of a knowledge-based approach for the selection of requirements engineering techniques

Requirements engineering (RE) is a critical phase in the software engineering process and plays a vital role in ensuring the overall quality of a software product. Recent research has shown that industry increasingly recognizes the importance of good RE practices and the use of appropriate RE techniques. However, due to the large number of RE techniques, requirements engineers find it challenging to select suitable techniques for a particular project. Unfortunately, technique selection based on personal experience has limitations with regards to the scope, effectiveness and suitability of the RE techniques for the project at hand. In this paper, a Knowledge-based Approach for the Selection of Requirements Engineering Techniques (KASRET) is proposed that helps during RE techniques selection. This approach has three major features. First, a library of requirements techniques was developed which includes detailed knowledge about RE techniques. Second, KASRET integrates advantages of different knowledge representation schemata and reasoning mechanisms. Thus, KASRET provides mechanisms for the management of knowledge about requirements techniques and support for RE process development. Third, as a major decision support mechanism, an objective function evaluates the overall ability and cost of RE techniques, which is helpful for the selection of RE techniques. This paper makes not only a contribution to RE but also to research and application of knowledge management and decision support in process development. A case study using an industrial project shows the support of KASRET for RE techniques selection.

基于DSL的装备保障领域建模

基于领域专用语言构建了装备保障领域的元模型,描述了实体、关系、行为、约束、流程等基本要素,在该模型中,二次开发人员能够方便地对该领域的各类软件系统进行建模,并通过模型精化来自动生成最终的可执行系统。实验证明,该模型是有效的。     

ITIE:一种改进的域间出口选择算法

一般的域间出口选择算法,如经典的热土豆算法只是根据域内事件来调整路由,故少量网络拓扑事件的变化就可导致BGP路由的大量变化;虽然TIE算法改进了对域内事件的敏感性,使其能对域间出口的选择进行调节,减轻路由的动荡性,但未给出阈值参数T的计算方法,且T也不能随负载的变化而变化。域间邻居事件的影响也对域间出口的选择产生重要影响。该文提出一种自适应的可调域间出口选择算法——ITIE算法,能够针对TIE算法的不足,通过对参数的动态自调整来适应当前网络负载和域间通信能力的改变,更好地满足流量工程和网络健壮性要求。模拟实验表明,ITIE算法能够在域间协同性以及随负载变化的流量自适应性上达到合理的折中。     

基于HLA的工程机械分队虚拟训练系统

为了提高工程兵机械分队训练水平,提出开发基于高层体系结构(HLA)的机械分队虚拟训练系统。根据开发分布交互仿真的软件工程方法模型设计并开发联邦概念模型、联邦对象模型和仿真对象模型,基于MÄK RTI和Delta3D实现一个原型系统。运行结果表明,该设计较好地体现了HLA的可重用性和互操作性。     

代码干扰变换在软件保护中的使用

阐述了两种代码干扰变换:基于不透明谓词基础上变换、降级高级控制结构的变换.它们是对软件源代码做保持语义的变换,使得软件的反向工程实现困难,从而保护软件知识产权.     

A solution of multidisciplinary collaborative simulation for complex engineering systems in a distributed heterogeneous environment

This paper presents an integrated approach to multidisciplinary collaborative simulation for complex engineering systems. The formulized paradigm of multidisciplinary collaborative simulation for com- plex engineering systems is principally analyzed. An IEEE HLA and web services based framework is proposed to provide a heterogeneous, distributed and collaborative running environment where multidisciplinary modeling, running management and post-processing of collaborative simulation are undertaken. The mecha...