MOOSAS

Objectives:

The MOOSAS research project main concern is the study and improvement of the software architecture discipline, in the context of software engineering. This project studies the applicability of Model Driven Engineering techniques in the fields of software architecture definition languages, software architecture evolution, software architecture visualization and software architecture evaluation.

 To support our main goal, we propose a set of DSM approaches detailed below:

• Archivol: Archivol is a research project focused on the study of software architecture and its relationship with software development processes. The key problems of Archivol are:
  
  • Software architecture are used only for documenting purposes
  • Software architecture doesn't evolve with software at the same place
  • Visualizing and understanding architecture models is a complex task.

To answer those problems, we propose the Archivol metamodel which is a set of common concepts in the architecture software definition, from different points of view and domain applications. Its aim is to be a deposit, where it can be incorporated the pre-conceived concepts in description, discovery and analysis of different architectural solutions. The Archivol metamodel is presented in the next figure.

• Tartarus: Tartarus is a DSM approach for the analysis of enterprise architectures. For the analysis, we propose the Tartarus Enterprise Architecture Metamodel, that contains an interesting variety of terms that have been classified into five different packages of categories: Enterprise, Architecture, Continuum, Management, and Environment.

• Tarmivol: The goal of Tarmivol is to provide an analysis tool that helps the enterprise architect in the detection of alignment problems between business and IT. One of the biggest challenges the authors face is the heterogeneity and the enormous amount of artefacts that must be taken into account in such analysis. Because of this, the chosen strategy is based on a Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) approach This allows to carry on the analysis in a technology-and-format independent way. Tarmivol metamodel was created, allowing the integration and linking in just one model of the models obtained through the use Millo, Tartarus, and Archivol. Aditionally with the Tarmivol metamodel also the goal is define a graphic language that allows the implementation of queries on a model Tarmivol to detect potential misalignment between the models obtained through the use Millo, Tartarus, and Archivol.

Through the use of Tarmivol metamodel it´s possible to link in just one model the concepts associated to the Millo, Tartarus and Archivol models which were defined using heterogeneous metamodels. The tarmivol metamodel is presented below:

• ArchiNotes: A platform that supports collaborative work in a software architecture project. The main goal of the project is making use of mobile devices in a Global Software Development (GSD). Each SA project will have a space in a repository, this repository saves all the project and user information. The users can define stakeholders, architectural views, quality requirements, business motivators, quality scenarios and share information (via facebook) using a mobile device.

On the other hand, the main server has a Service Oriented Architecture so it orchestrates all the services and allows interoperability between different platforms.

• C3PUA: The goal of this project is to design and implement a Software Architecture for a Command Control Center. The main purpose of the C3 is to track, automatize, analyze and to help the decision making process of an aerospace mission. The rockets and electrical devices are made by students (mechanical engineers and electronic engineers respectively). The architecture is composed by two big components:
-

C3:

Track, analyze and show mission data (real time).

-

Earth Platform:

Captures the data stream from the rockets.

• E-Health - Mobility

  • The main objective of the project was the development of a multiplatform mobile application through the application of product lines. The resulting application allows patients to make inquiries to their doctor through a mobile device and get an answer within two days. The application could attach media files to the consultation in order to give relevant information to the doctor and make it easier to him to give an accurate diagnosis to the patient. For the testing and validation phases of the project, it was launched a service in which a group of students from the university could ask questions and get an answer, about sexual and reproductive health, from the doctors of the Foundation Santa Fe University Hospital.

   

  

  

  • Alimentat is a project for monitoring and controlling the eating habits of a group of patients. Alimentat consists of four elements: a web portal that provides the doctor a full report of his patients; an optimization algorithm that groups the patients with similar nutrient profiles and then suggests the most effective diets for each group, a mobile application in which users can register the food they have consumed throughout the day; and a persistence unit, exposed through Restful web services, responsible for supporting the operation of the three modules. The application was developed with a tool that allows its deployment in various mobile platforms.

Main results: We obtained several results in different areas. For each one, we present the main projects:

• Solution architecture:
  • SOA Architecture.
  • Archivol: Software Architecture Analysis, evaluation and evolution tool
  • Archivol-SA - High-Dependable and Self-Healing Software Architectures
  • Archivol-VI: Software Architecture Visualization Tools

• Software Product Lines:
  • Software Product Line Configuration Quality Evaluation
  • Archivol-MB: Product Line Architecture for Mobile Applications
  • HilesPL: Product Line Architectures for Embedded Software Systems

• Mobile Applications:
  • mHealth: Mobile applications for health, using model-driven architectures and agile methodologies
  • Qualdev Mobile - Software Development Study Group on Mobiles

• Enterprise Architecture:
  • Enterprise Architecture Analysis
  • Enterprise Architecture alienation