An architectural style for optimizing system qualities in adaptive embedded systems using Multi-Objective Optimization

Customers of today´s complex embedded systems demand the optimization of multiple system qualities under varying operational conditions. To be able to influence the system qualities, the system must have parameters that can be adapted. Constraints may be defined on the value of these parameters. Optimizing multiple system qualities under the given set of parameters and constraints is called Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO). This is a well-known mathematical problem, for which numerous solutions have been proposed. The application of an MOO solution in an embedded system involves specific design decisions. It is preferable that these design decisions are documented in the architectural description. Therefore, this paper presents an architectural style, which specializes the Component-and-Connector viewtype, to enable the analysis and design of an architecture from an MOO point of view. A case study from industry is used to demonstrate the usage of this style.