Architecture-based semantic evolution: a study of remotely controlled embedded systems

Evolution of a software system is a natural process. In many systems evolution occurs during the working phase of their lifecycles. Such systems need to be designed to evolve, i.e., adaptable. Semantically adaptable systems are of particular interest to industry as such systems adapt themselves to environmental change with little or no intervention from their developers. Research in embedded systems is now becoming widespread but developing semantically adaptable embedded systems presents challenges of its own. Embedded systems usually have a restricted hardware configuration, hence techniques developed for other types of systems cannot be directly applied to embedded systems. This paper briefly presents the work done in semantic adaptation of embedded systems, using remotely controlled embedded systems as an application. In this domain, an embedded system is connected to an external controller via a communication link such as ethernet, serial, radio frequency, etc., and receives commands from, and sends responses to, the external controller. Techniques for semantic evolution in this application domain give a glimpse of the complexity involved in tackling the problem of semantic evolution in embedded systems. The techniques developed in this paper were validated by applying them in a real embedded system - a test instrument used for testing cell phones.