PAC-MEN: personal autonomic computing monitoring environment

The overall goal of this research is to improve the 'environment awareness' aspect of personal autonomic computing. Personal computing offers unique challenges for self-management due to its multiequipment, multisituation, and multiuser nature. The aim is to develop a support architecture for multiplatform working, based on autonomic computing concepts and techniques. Of particular interest is collaboration among personal systems to take a shared responsibility for environment awareness. Concepts mirroring human mechanisms, such as 'reflex reactions' and the use of 'vital signs' to assess operational health, are used in designing and implementing the personal computing architecture. A proof of concept self-healing tool is considered and lessons learned used for the requirements specification of the community-based environment awareness prototype environment - PAC-MEN (personal autonomic computing monitor environment).