Toward Management of Uncertainty in Self-Adaptive Software Systems: IoT Case Study

Abstract

Adaptivity is the ability of the system to change its behavior whenever it does not achieve the system requirements. Self-adaptive software systems (SASS) are considered a milestone in software development in many modern complex scientific and engineering fields. Employing self-adaptation into a system can accomplish better functionality or performance; however, it may lead to unexpected system behavior and consequently to uncertainty. The uncertainty that results from using SASS needs to be tackled from different perspectives. The Internet of Things (IoT) that utilizes the attributes of SASS presents great development opportunities. Because IoT is a relatively new domain, it carries a high level of uncertainty. The goal of this work is to highlight more details about self-adaptivity in software systems, describe all possible sources of uncertainty, and illustrate its effect on the ability of the system to fulfill its objectives. We provide a survey of state-of-the-art approaches coping with uncertainty in SASS and discuss their performance. We classify the different sources of uncertainty based on their location and nature in SASS. Moreover, we present IoT as a case study to define uncertainty at different layers of the IoT stack. We use this case study to identify the sources of uncertainty, categorize the sources according to IoT stack layers, demonstrate the effect of uncertainty on the ability of the system to fulfill its objectives, and discuss the state-of-the-art approaches to mitigate the sources of uncertainty. We conclude with a set of challenges that provide a guide for future study.

A Systematic Review on Security and Safety of Self-Adaptive Systems

“…Section 5.3.1). This is very significant for self-adaptive systems because they are considered hazardous technology and are prone to both security and safety aspects (Ismail et al, 2021). In the past, the problem of differentiating between security and safety could be addressed by establishing the difference between a criminal offense and an accident (Bieder and Pettersen Gould, 2020).…”

Adaptive Test Suits Generation for Self-Adaptive Systems Using SPEA2 Algorithm

“…When software systems are subjected to changing environments, the open-loop structure that traditionally guides software development necessitates human monitoring [1]. Software systems are designed with feedback loops so they may adjust on their own to changing environments, reducing the need for human supervision.…”

“…Software systems are designed with feedback loops so they may adjust on their own to changing environments, reducing the need for human supervision. These closed-loop systems are known as self-adaptive software systems [2] and they are frequently divided into two components: an adaptation engine that realizes the feedback loops and controls the adaptable software [1]. Such systems will be crucial for safety-critical applications, where they must meet stringent criteria, as mentioned by Calinescu [3].…”