PAC-MEN: personal autonomic computing monitoring environment

The overall goal of this research is to improve the ´environment awareness´ aspect of personal autonomic computing. Personal computing offers unique challenges for self-management due to its multiequipment, multisituation, and multiuser nature. The aim is to develop a support architecture for multiplatform working, based on autonomic computing concepts and techniques. Of particular interest is collaboration among personal systems to take a shared responsibility for environment awareness. Concepts mirroring human mechanisms, such as ´reflex reactions´ and the use of ´vital signs´ to assess operational health, are used in designing and implementing the personal computing architecture. A proof of concept self-healing tool is considered and lessons learned used for the requirements specification of the community-based environment awareness prototype environment - PAC-MEN (personal autonomic computing monitor environment).