A framework for dynamically adaptive applications in a self-organized mobile network environment

Self-organized mobile networks present a challenging environment for the execution of software applications, due to their dynamic topologies and consistently changing resource conditions. In view of the above, a desirable property for software applications to be run over these networks is their ability to dynamically adapt to changing execution environments. The contract-based adaptive software architecture (CASA) provides a framework for the development of adaptive applications that are able to adapt their functionality and/or performance dynamically in response to runtime changes in their execution environments. The approach of the CASA framework is to decouple application code from any assumptions about resource availability, while enabling the application to execute under varying resource conditions. The CASA framework relies on specifying adaptation behavior of applications in application contracts, which enables the dynamic adaptation to be carried out in an application-transparent manner.