Architecture support for runtime integration and verification of component-based Systems of Systems

Systems-of-systems (SoS) represent a novel kind of system, for which runtime evolution is a key requirement, as components join and leave during runtime. Current component integration and verification techniques are not enough in such a dynamic environment. In this paper we present ATLAS, an architectural framework that enables the runtime integration and verification of a system, based on the built-in test paradigm. ATLAS augments components with two specific interfaces to add and remove tests, and to provide adequate testability features to run these tests. To illustrate our approach, we present a case study of a dynamic reconfiguration scenario of components, in the maritime safety and security domain, using our implementation of ATLAS for the fractal component model. We demonstrate that built-in testing can be extended beyond development-time component integration testing, to support runtime reconfiguration and verification of component-based systems.