On the Architecture-Driven Development of Software-Intensive Systems-of-Systems

Nowadays, complex software-intensive systems have resulted from the integration of heterogeneous independent systems, thus leading to a new class of systems called Systems-of-Systems (SoS). As in any system, SoS architectures have been regarded as an important element for determining their success. However, the state of the art reveals shortcomings that contribute to compromise the quality of these systems, as their inherent characteristics (such as emergent behavior and evolutionary development) are often not properly addressed. In this context, this PhD research aims at investigating how SoS software architectures can be used to model and evolve these systems. As main contribution, an architecture-centric approach for developing software-intensive SoS with focus on the formal specification and dynamic reconfiguration of their architectures is proposed. Such an approach mainly intends to contribute to fill some of the relevant existing gaps regarding the development of software-intensive SoS driven by their software architectures.