Extending BPEL for Interoperable Pervasive Computing

The widespread deployment of mobile devices like PDAs and mobile phones has created a vast computation and communication platform for pervasive computing applications. However, these devices feature an array of incompatible hardware and software architectures, discouraging ad-hoc interactions among devices. The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) allows users in wired computing settings to model applications of significant complexity, leveraging Web standards to guarantee interoperability. However, BPEL´s inflexible communication model effectively prohibits its deployment on the kinds of dynamic wireless networks used by most pervasive computing devices. This paper presents extensions to BPEL that address these restrictions, transforming BPEL into a versatile platform for interoperable pervasive computing applications. We discuss our implementation of these extensions in Sliver, a lightweight BPEL execution engine that we have developed for mobile devices. We also evaluate a pervasive computing application prototype implemented in BPEL, running on Sliver.