Measurements for Adaptation Level and Efficiency of Adaptive Software Systems

It is a great challenge to evaluate self-adaptive software rigorously. This paper first discusses the key aspects of adaptation of software and points out that the adaptation level of a software system is determined by how well the system satisfies the user's expectations through adjusting its behavior or configuration to tackle the changes in the environment. Accordingly, the paper puts forward a mathematical measurement for adaptation levels of software systems. Secondly, the paper presents a formal method for evaluating the efficiencies of adaptation mechanisms. The method also takes into consideration the aspects of satisfactions with the users' expectations, the environment, and the time that the system takes adaptation actions to stabilize its performance. Finally, this paper implements a simulation traffic system for validating the measurements.