The SDL pattern approach – a reuse-driven SDL design methodology

There are several SDL methodologies that offer full system life-cycle support. Only few of them consider software reuse, not to mention high-level reuse of architecture and design. However, software reuse is a proven software engineering paradigm leading to high quality and reduced development effort. Experience made it apparent that – beyond the more traditional reuse of code – especially high-level reuse of architecture and design (as in the case of design patterns or frameworks) has the potential of achieving more systematic and widespread reuse. This paper presents the SDL pattern approach, a design methodology for distributed systems which integrates SDL-based system development with the pattern paradigm. It supports reuse of design knowledge modeled as SDL patterns and concentrates on the design phase of SDL-based system development. In order to get full life-cycle support, the pattern-based design process can be integrated within existing SDL methodologies.     

Interdigitation for effective design space exploration using iSIGHT

Optimization studies for nonlinear constrained problems (i.e. most complex engineering design problems) have repeatedly shown that (i) no single optimization technique performs best for all design problems, and (ii) in most cases, a mix of techniques perform better than a single technique for a given design problem. iSIGHT^TM is a generic software framework for integration, automation, and optimization of design processes that has been developed on the foundation of interdigitation: the strategy of combining multiple optimization algorithms to exploit their desirable aspects for solving complex problems. With the recent paradigm shift from traditional optimization to design space exploration for evaluating “what-if” scenarios and trade-off studies, iSIGHT has grown from an optimization software system to a complete design exploration environment, providing a suite of design exploration tools including a collection of optimization techniques, design of experiments techniques, approximation methods, and probabilistic quality engineering methods. Likewise, the interdigitation design methodology embodied in iSIGHT has grown to support the interdigitation of all design exploration tools for effective design space exploration. In this paper we present an overview of iSIGHT, past and present, of the interdigitation design methodology and its implementation for multiple design exploration tools, and of an industrial case study for which elements of this methodology have been applied. Received December 30, 2000     

Distributed system software design paradigm with application tocomputer networks

A paradigm for the system and software design of distributed systems is presented with application to an actual large-scale computer network involving both local area networks and a wide area network. A number of design principles are offered with particular reference to how they can be applied to the design of distributed systems. The author's major point is an explanation of how to make design decisions about distributed systems in a way which will enhance maintainability and understandability of the software and, at the same time, result in good system performance. The aim is to recognize the implications for software quality of various decisions which must be made in the process of specifying a distributed system     

A framework for an automotive body assembly process design system

This paper describes a framework for an automotive body assembly process design system. It is a computer-aided intelligent system that can automatically generate the optimal joint types and assembly sequences for the best dimensional quality. The backbone of this system is the Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) methodology, which works by searching through a case library created from previous designs whose identifying features resemble the current case. Algorithms for initial solution generation, dimension chain generation, joint design selections, assembly sequence generation, and tolerance analysis and optimization are developed. Based on the framework, a software tool called Body Build Advisor, or BBA, is developed. The software allows process designers to analyze candidate assembly schemes and achieve the best assembly process design prior to having detailed knowledge of geometry of the parts, and thus is ideal for architectural process design. In addition, the system has the advantage of an open structure that can be easily modified and adapted to accommodate existing assemblies and to suggest areas for improvement.     

X-FEDERATE: a policy engineering framework for federated access management

Policy-based management (PBM) has been considered as a promising approach for design and enforcement of access management policies for distributed systems. The increasing shift toward federated information sharing in the organizational landscape, however, calls for revisiting current PBM approaches to satisfy the unique security requirements of the federated paradigm. This presents a twofold challenge for the design of a PBM approach, where, on the one hand, the policy must incorporate the access management needs of the individual systems, while, on the other hand, the policies across multiple systems must be designed in such a manner that they can be uniformly developed, deployed, and integrated within the federated system. In this paper, we analyze the impact of security management challenges on policy design and formulate a policy engineering methodology based on principles of software engineering to develop a PBM solution for federated systems. We present X-FEDERATE, a policy engineering framework for federated access management using an extension of the well-known role-based access control (RBAC) model. Our framework consists of an XML-based policy specification language, its UML-based meta-model, and an enforcement architecture. We provide a comparison of our framework with related approaches and highlight its significance for federated access management. The paper also presents a federation protocol and discusses a prototype of our framework that implements the protocol in a federated digital library environment.     

Iterative design and testing within the software development life cycle

The activity of testing begins during system development and spans all subsequent phases. Some system development lifecycles describe testing which is performed after the coding phase, but this may cause the software to be delivered without sufficient testing. In this paper, we present a software system development lifecycle model, called the Test design Stages Processed model (TSP model), in which we emphasize that iterative test design stages should be incorporated at each phase of the software development lifecycle. When a phase is completed, testing of the phase should also be completed at that time. Within this paper we have added unit, integration and system testing processes into BoochÕs micro–design process to generate a new designs and test model. This shows the process of iterative and incremental software development. Comparing this with our model, we explain how the TSP model can be used for developing and testing an object-oriented software system.     

A formal approach to managing design processes

To capture market opportunities, competition within the microelectronics industry demands ever-faster product development, which means ever-shorter design cycles. Shorter design cycles can be achieved by carefully managing the design process during rapid prototyping. Careful management is important because the design process must be (1) adjusted to accommodate constraints such as product performance and design time, and (2) frequently updated to take advantage of new design tools and methodologies. Traditionally, designers have used whatever tools seemed convenient to them at the time, which has made it virtually impossible to determine what methodology was used to produce a given design. These problems can be avoided through design methodology management, which ensures that appropriate tools are selected and executed in the appropriate sequence. Effective design management requires an environment equipped with a formal representation of supported design processes and tools, and an execution environment that helps designers select and execute an appropriate design process. We propose a methodology management system that provides this functionality     

Metadesign: Guidelines for Supporting Domain Experts in Software Development

The once-sharp distinction between software users and developers is fading away, and richer ecologies of participation are emerging. In particular, software engineering R&D faces new challenges from the quickly increasing population of software developers who are domain experts but don't have the time or desire to be professional software engineers. The metadesign framework reformulates software development activities as a continuum of different degrees of design and use. It's supported by the "seeding, evolutionary growth, reseeding" model and supports the coevolution of individuals, communities, and systems. Guidelines derived from these models can help software developers produce tools for end-user development. This article is part of a special issue on end-user software engineering.     

Designing e-Coordinator for improved teams collaboration in graduation projects

The work presented in this paper describes the design for Graduation Project eCoordination System in our department. The proposed eCoordinator provides effective team–team, supervisor–team and coordinator–supervisors–teams collaboration. eCoordinator is an attribute based framework that serves evolving an object oriented software system into agent oriented software system. Nowadays, agent-oriented software development technologies have evolved rapidly; it is emerging as a new paradigm for constructing intelligent more autonomous software systems. Therefore, several methodologies are available and it is difficult to determine the most appropriate methodology for specific project within different domains. This is especially occurs when re-engineering current object oriented software system. The case study is going to be rebuilding a virtual graduation project coordinator in Information Technology Department at King Saud University.     

A methodological framework for systemic design and evaluation of computer aids for planning and decision support

This paper discusses methodological design and evaluation frameworks that appear to have general applicability. The design methodology has specific relevance for the design of systemic process aids to planning and decisionmaking and, potentially, to other system design efforts as well. A five-phase iterative methodology is suggested. The paper discusses objectives for systemic process aids, requirements to be accomplished in each of the five phases of the design methodology, and leadership requirement considerations as they affect the design of systemic process aids realized by use of the methodological design framework. A framework for evaluation of systemic aids is also presented. The resulting evaluation methodology may be incorporated into the design methodology or used independently to evaluate existing or proposed aids for planning, forecasting and decision support.     

Cloud-based design and manufacturing: A new paradigm in digital manufacturing and design innovation

Cloud-based design manufacturing (CBDM) refers to a service-oriented networked product development model in which service consumers are enabled to configure, select, and utilize customized product realization resources and services ranging from computer-aided engineering software to reconfigurable manufacturing systems. An ongoing debate on CBDM in the research community revolves around several aspects such as definitions, key characteristics, computing architectures, communication and collaboration processes, crowdsourcing processes, information and communication infrastructure, programming models, data storage, and new business models pertaining to CBDM. One question, in particular, has often been raised: is cloud-based design and manufacturing actually a new paradigm, or is it just “old wine in new bottles”? To answer this question, we discuss and compare the existing definitions for CBDM, identify the essential characteristics of CBDM, define a systematic requirements checklist that an idealized CBDM system should satisfy, and compare CBDM to other relevant but more traditional collaborative design and distributed manufacturing systems such as web- and agent-based design and manufacturing systems. To justify the conclusion that CBDM can be considered as a new paradigm that is anticipated to drive digital manufacturing and design innovation, we present the development of a smart delivery drone as an idealized CBDM example scenario and propose a corresponding CBDM system architecture that incorporates CBDM-based design processes, integrated manufacturing services, information and supply chain management in a holistic sense.     

An object design framework for structural engineering

Object-oriented principles have introduced several useful concepts for developing complex software systems. As a result, several methodologies have been suggested for the overall design of software systems based on these concepts. Methodologies and frameworks for designing objects that are to be part of the software systems are currently lacking. This paper proposes anobject design framework andmethodology, which utilizes the object-oriented concepts, for planning, organizing and designing structural engineering design objects. Design objects in an integrated structural engineering system are complex and often related to each other in various different ways. The paper also identifies several important relationships among structural engineering design objects. These relationships serve as communication channels through wich design objects send messages to and receive responses from each other. Several examples, drawn from reinforced concrete structures, will be presented to demonstrate the object design methodology and to illustrate how the framework is effective in reducing the complexity of design objects in an integrated structural engineering system.     

High-level management of computation history for the design and implementation of a prolog system

We present the implementation of a Prolog system composed of interpreter and compiler. The originality of our work consists in the adoption of a new framework to realize the main components of the system. The framework relies on new mechanisms, called sleepers. With their help we have developed a complete Prolog interpreter in which all the control activities, from backtracking up to last-call optimization, are performed by the sleeper mechanism. We have also produced a Prolog compiler by using a philosophy and tactics that are completely independent of hardware constraints; it exploits an incremental and abstract implementation technique, based on a delayed non-local execution protocol. Our approach to Prolog system implementation has been extremely useful both in terms of software design and overall performance.     

CCAD: A paradigm for human-computer cooperation in design

Cooperative computer-aided design (CCAD) is a paradigm for combining the strengths of manual and automated design activity. The goal of CCAD is to support exploratory design, while keeping the user central to the design activity. In the CCAD paradigm, the user expresses initial design decisions in the form of a partial design and a set of properties that the final design must have. The system then generates alternative partial developments of the initial design subject to a “language” of valid designs. It structures the results in a spatial framework through which the user moves to explore the alternatives. The user selects the most promising partial design, refines it manually, and then requests further automatic development. This process continues until the design is complete. Thus, CCAD supports the exploratory nature of creative design activity. The user makes critical decisions, while the system generates alternatives and presents them to the user for browsing     

Ontology-based assembly design and information sharing for collaborative product development

To realize a truly collaborative product design and development process, effective communication among design collaborators is a must. In other words, the design intent that is imposed in a product design should be seized and interpreted properly; heterogeneous modeling terms should be semantically processed both by design collaborators and intelligent systems. Ontologies in the Semantic Web can explicitly represent semantics and promote integrated and consistent access to data and services. Thus, if an ontology is used in a heterogeneous and distributed design collaboration, it will explicitly and persistently represent engineering relations that are imposed in an assembly design. Design intent can be captured by reasoning, and, in turn, as reasoned facts, it can be propagated and shared with design collaborators. This paper presents a new paradigm of ontology-based assembly design. In the framework, an assembly design (AsD) ontology serves as a formal, explicit specification of assembly design so that it makes assembly knowledge both machine-interpretable and to be shared. An Assembly Relation Model (ARM) is enhanced using ontologies that represent engineering, spatial, assembly, and joining relations of assembly in a way that promotes collaborative assembly information-sharing environments. In the developed AsD ontology, implicit AsD constraints are explicitly represented using OWL (Web Ontology Language) and SWRL (Semantic Web Rule Language). This paper shows that the ability of the AsD ontology to be reasoned can capture both assembly and joining intents by a demonstration with a realistic mechanical assembly. Finally, this paper presents a new assembly design information-sharing framework and an assembly design browser for a collaborative product development.     

A tool for design pattern detection and software architecture reconstruction

It is well known that software maintenance and evolution are expensive activities, both in terms of invested time and money. Reverse engineering activities support the obtainment of abstractions and views from a target system that should help the engineers to maintain, evolve and eventually re-engineer it. Two important tasks pursued by reverse engineering are design pattern detection and software architecture reconstruction, whose main objectives are the identification of the design patterns that have been used in the implementation of a system as well as the generation of views placed at different levels of abstractions, which let the practitioners focus on the overall architecture of the system without worrying about the programming details it has been implemented with.In this context we propose an Eclipse plug-in called MARPLE (Metrics and Architecture Reconstruction Plug-in for Eclipse), which supports both the detection of design patterns and software architecture reconstruction activities through the use of basic elements and metrics that are mechanically extracted from the source code. The development of this platform is mainly based on the exploitation of the Eclipse framework and plug-ins as well as of different Java libraries for data access and graph management and visualization. In this paper we focus our attention on the design pattern detection process.     

Platform-based design and software design methodology for embeddedsystems

Embedded products have become so complex and must be developed so quickly that current design methodologies are no longer adequate. The authors' vision for the future of embedded-system design involves two essential components: a rigorous methodology for embedded software development and platform-based design     

'Soft' systems thinking and information systems: a framework for client-led design

Abstract. Since the mid-1980s there has been a growing interest in the application of soft systems methodology (SSM) to the information systems design process. This interest has resulted from attempts to overcome the recognized deficiencies of conventional computer systems analysis methods and techniques. A particular problem which has received attention over the past 5 years is the epistemological and operational differences between the investigative process of the pre-design stage and the technological specification. We suggest that this argument is somewhat unproductive and advocate a necessary rethinking about the nature of information systems and the use of technology to support their activities. A re-evaluation of the way that we set about designing computer-based information systems suggests that many of the problems of conventional systems analysis methods may be alleviated by an approach that allows the 'client', or 'user', to have a greater control over the identification, specification and development of their information system(s). The authors' belief in this course of action has led to the development of client-led design as an underpinning philosophy for user participation in the design of computer-based information systems. Client-led design draws upon and develops concepts and tools from 'interpretive', or 'soft', systems thinking and, in particular, can be seen as providing a framework for the type of subjective inquiry that Checkland & Scholes (1990) referred to as 'ideal-type' mode 2 SSM. This paper is related to the papers published in the Journal of Information Systems (Vol. 3, No. 3), which was a special edition to illustrate the influence of 'soft' systems thinking upon information systems design and development.