A Flexible Modeling Engine Enabling Inter-service Management

Abstract

A large number of embedded computers, such as network appliances and sensors, have rapidly spread out to home and office environments in the last few years. These embedded computers have enough CPU power to execute the software components that can control hardware. Managing distributed components together can enhance human activity and change the real world into a "Smart Space." We name such collaboration of components "federated service" or "application." In this paper, we have developed and evaluated a novel middleware named uBlocks which enables users to build and manage applications. uBlocks, unlike other distributed application-building middleware, is distinguished by two major features. The first is a flexible communication mechanism named RT/Dragon. RT/Dragon enables the connection of heterogeneous components. The second is the universal modeling of various distributed components to support building applications by multiple users in parallel. Additionally, to enable building applications in a simple way, we provide various user interfaces (UI) for multi-modal visualization: 2D/3D User Interface, and a web interface. These features lead to reduce the cost of building and managing distributed applications by the user. This research proves that the idea of building applications by users is practical and effective.