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Proactive Self-Adaptation under Uncertainty: A Probabilistic Model Checking Approach
Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE) (2015)
  • Gabriel A. Moreno, Software Engineering Institute
  • Javier Camara, Carnegie Mellon University
  • David Garlan, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Bradley Schmerl, Carnegie Mellon University
Abstract

Self-adaptive systems tend to be reactive and myopic, adapting in response to changes without anticipating what the subsequent adaptation needs will be. Adapting reactively can result in inefficiencies due to the system performing a suboptimal sequence of adaptations. Furthermore, when adaptations have latency, and take some time to produce their effect, they have to be started with sufficient lead time so that they complete by the time their effect is needed. Proactive latency-aware adaptation addresses these issues by making adaptation decisions with a look-ahead horizon and taking adaptation latency into account. In this paper we present an approach for proactive latency-aware adaptation under uncertainty that uses probabilistic model checking for adaptation decisions. The key idea is to use a formal model of the adaptive system in which the adaptation decision is left underspecified through nondeterminism, and have the model checker resolve the nondeterministic choices so that the accumulated utility over the horizon is maximized. The adaptation decision is optimal over the horizon, and takes into account the inherent uncertainty of the environment predictions needed for looking ahead. Our results show that the decision based on a look-ahead horizon, and the factoring of both tactic latency and environment uncertainty, considerably improve the effectiveness of adaptation decisions.

Keywords
  • Latency-aware,
  • proactive,
  • probabilistic model checking,
  • self-adaptation
Disciplines
Publication Date
2015
Publisher Statement
This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution.
Citation Information
Gabriel A. Moreno, Javier Camara, David Garlan and Bradley Schmerl. "Proactive Self-Adaptation under Uncertainty: A Probabilistic Model Checking Approach" Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE) (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/gabriel_moreno/25/