On Self-Adaptation, Self-Expression, and Self-Awareness in Autonomic Service Component Ensembles

Software systems operating in open-ended and unpredictable environments have to become autonomic, i.e., capable of dynamically adapting their behavior in response to changing situations. To this end, key research issues include: (i) framing the schemes that can facilitate components (or ensembles of) to exhibit self-adaptive behaviors, (ii) identifying mechanisms to enable components or ensembles to self-express the most suitable adaptation scheme, and (iii) acquiring the proper degree of self-awareness to enable putting in action self-adaptation and self-expression schemes. In this position paper, with the help of a representative case study, we frame and discuss the above issues, survey the state of the art in the area, and sketch the main research challenges that will be faced in the ASCENS project towards the definition of a fully-fledged framework for autonomic services.