Deriving software architectural models from requirements models for adaptive systems: the STREAM-A approach

• DOI: 10.1007/s00766-011-0126-z
• Publication Date: 2011-06-22T02:46:46Z
• Authors: João Pimentel; Márcia Lucena; Jaelson Castro; Carla Silva; Emanuel Santos; Fernanda Alencar
• Keywords: 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology

Some quality attributes are known to have an impact on the overall architecture of a system, so that they are required to be properly handled from the early beginning of the software development. For example, adaptability is a key concern for autonomic and adaptive systems, which brings to them the capability to alter their behavior in response to changes on their surrounding environments. In this paper, we propose a Strategy for Transition between Requirements and Architectural Models for Adaptive systems (STREAM-A). In particular, we use goal models based on the i* (i-Star) framework to support the design and evolution of systems that require adaptability. To obtain software architectures for such systems, the STREAM-A approach uses model transformations from i* models to architectural models expressed in Acme. Both the requirements and the architectural model are refined to accomplish the adaptability requirement.