Genetic Approach to Software Architecture Synthesis with Work Allocation Scheme

The automated synthesis of software architecture design and associated work allocation plan is considered, given the requirements of the system and a specification of the available, possibly distributed development teams. The technique applies genetic algorithms, with mutations introducing changes both in the architectural solutions and in the work allocation schemes. The technique is implemented and evaluated using a non-trivial example system, the control system of an electronic home. The results suggest that genetic algorithms are a viable approach to solve this kind of multi-targeted optimization problem, assuming that the architectural quality and work allocation fitness can be given appropriate metrics.