ContactDr. Siobhán Clarke |
ChiselCHISEL - A Policy-Driven, Dynamic Adaption Framework for Context-Aware Middleware Start Date: 1999 End Date: 2004 Research Areas: Chisel, Reflection, Mobile computing, Policy based dynamic adaptation, Middleware Sponsors: Microsoft Reseach Limited People: John Keeney, Vinny Cahill Abstract: The Chisel project has investigated the use of reflective techniques as a vehicle for the development of a framework for dynamic adaptation, using middleware as a case study. The approach allows different application-specific and user-specific policies to control the dynamic adaptation of component behaviours defined as new Iguana metatypes. Chisel provides a framework to allow an application service object be adapted at run time in a context aware manner, driven by a human-readable declarative adaptation policy script. As the execution environment, user context and application context change, the service object will be adapted to use different behaviours. The key contibution of the Chisel framework is its support for "completely unanticipated dynamic adaptation", whereby the adaptation's location, the timing of its application, the logic that controls the application of the adaptation, and what the adaptation itself actually does, can all be specified after the target application has started executing. This allows the Chisel framework to be used as a general-purpose unanticpated dynamic adaptation framework. This project builds on the experience of the Iguana project, which by using reflective code techniques, provides a mechanism to associate or snap-on non-functional behaviours or "metatypes" to base-level objects and classes. This adaptation process can be performed at run-time without any requirement to interrupt, change or access the object’s source code. To demonstrate Chisel, a context aware dynamically adaptable middleware for mobile computing based on the ALICE project has been developed. The Chisel framework allows users and applications to make mobile-aware dynamic changes to the behaviour of various services of the middleware, and allow the addition of new unanticipated behaviours at run-time, without changing or stopping the middleware or an application that may be using it. This project has now completed. (November 2004)
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