Reactive Distributed System Modeling Supported by Complex Event Processing

Significant trend in software development is oriented mainly on distributed systems. One of the main problems in the current world of information technologies is the ever-increasing amount of digital data and complexity of problems that are being solved. In such conditions, developing a distributed system that needs to response promptly, can be very difficult and without proper techniques can lead to failure. Processing of potentially large volumes of incoming messages or events from various sources is also specific to the reactive computing. It can be assumed that the number of resources and their diversity will only grow. For that reason we have analyzed common approaches in distributed systems development. In this paper we introduce complex event processing. We try to evaluate its assets concerning design, implementation, modifiability, and flexibility of reactive distributed systems. For this purpose, we have implemented a functional model of an electronic toll collection system, based on system specifications for Slovak conditions. Significant flexibility is achieved in comparison with existing solutions. We also present the possibilities of complex event processing application in reactive distributed system design. Based on gained knowledge even implemented a functional model we have evaluated complex event processing impact on system's functionality, modifiability, performance and other characteristics.