Synergy Between Software Product Line and Intelligent Mobile Middleware

Current mobile middleware is designed to have a monolithic structure according to a ´one-size-fits-all´ paradigm, which lacks the flexibility for optimization, customization and adaptation to different situations. In this paper we investigate the usage of software product line techniques together with OWL ontology reasoning enhanced BDI (belief-desire-intention) agents in an ongoing research project called PLIMM (product line enabled intelligent mobile middleware), in which Frame based software product line techniques are applied. Besides the advantages of a software product line, our approach can handle ontology evolution and keep all related assets in a consistent state. Ontology evolution is a problem that has not been addressed by current mobile middleware. Another advantage is the ability to configure Jadex BDI agents for different purpose and enhance agent intelligence by adding logic reasoning capabilities indirectly.