Measurements for Adaptation Level and Efficiency of Adaptive Software Systems

It is a great challenge to evaluate self-adaptive software rigorously. This paper first discusses the key aspects of adaptation of software and points out that the adaptation level of a software system is determined by how well the system satisfies the user´s expectations through adjusting its behavior or configuration to tackle the changes in the environment. Accordingly, the paper puts forward a mathematical measurement for adaptation levels of software systems. Secondly, the paper presents a formal method for evaluating the efficiencies of adaptation mechanisms. The method also takes into consideration the aspects of satisfactions with the users´ expectations, the environment, and the time that the system takes adaptation actions to stabilize its performance. Finally, this paper implements a simulation traffic system for validating the measurements.