Is Self-Expression Useful? Evaluation by a Case Study

In the context of adaptive component-based systems, self-expression is the capability of changing the adaptation pattern at run-time when some changes occur in the system itself or in its environment. Even if functional requirements can be met without changing the adaptation pattern, the achievement of non-functional requirements, such as performance, can benefit from a change of adaptation pattern. The aim of this paper is to show, by means of a case study in swarm robotics, that a change of adaptation pattern can affect the performance of a system. In particular we show that the change of adaptation pattern can be useful in adaptive component-based systems to react to changes in the situation of the environment.