A middleware platform for the dynamic evolution of distributed component-based systems

In this paper, we present a middleware platform that supports the dynamic evolution of distributed component-based systems. It leverages the concept of ontologies to model the context of a system and an intrinsic mechanism is integrated to causally connect the dynamic architecture specification to the running system implementation. The ontological modeling covers both the environmental and the architectural knowledge using semantic data modeling. The intrinsic mechanism can automatically derive a run-time polymorphic architecture object to coordinate the involved components. The ontology based contextual representation and the polymorphic architecture-driven dynamic evolution are the two underpinnings of the platform. A scenario application—including the two primitive evolution actions—with the performance analysis is discussed to illustrate the feasibility.