Specification and execution of gateways in integrated architectures

The DECOS integrated architecture divides the overall system into a set of nearly-independent distributed application subsystems, which share the node computers and the physical network of a single distributed computer system. This paper provides a solution to the controlled export and import of information between distributed application subsystems. We give the designer the ability to coordinate application services and exploit redundancy in a system to either improve reliability or reduce resource duplication. We introduce virtual gateways for the coupling of virtual networks by the selective redirection of messages. Virtual gateways not only resolve property mismatches between distributed application subsystems, but also preserve encapsulation. We capture the essential properties of each application subsystem in an interface specification based on timed automata and use this description as a parameterization of generic architectural gateway services