The Application of Machine Learning in Self-Adaptive Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

Context: Self-adaptive systems have been studied in software engineering over the past few decades attempting to address challenges within the field. There is a continuous significant need to fully understand the behavior and characteristics of the systems that operate in dynamic environments. By learning the behavior pattern of the environment, we can avoid unnecessary adaptations imbalance efforts for adaptation. As such, there exist research in the area of machine learning aimed at understanding dynamic environments regarding self-adaptive systems. Objective: This study aims to help software practitioners to address adaptation concerns by performing a systematic literature review that provides a comprehensive overview of using machine learning (ML) in self-adaptive systems. We summarize state-of-the-art Of the ML approaches used to handle self-adaptation to help software engineers in the proper selection of ML techniques based on the adaptation concern. Method: This review examines research published between 2001 and 2019 on ML implementation in self-adaptive systems, focusing on the adaptation aspects and purposes. The review was conducted by analyzing major scientific databases that resulted in 78 primary studies from 315 papers from an automatic search. Result: Finally, this study recommends three future research directions to enhance the application of machine learning in self-adaptive systems.