Component and Dependable Systems Technologies

Component Technology

• Objectives:
  
  Components are independent units that can be composed to larger units. This research is about flexible composition mechanisms for component-based systems. Suitable matching and adaptation technologies based on semantical descriptions of components are investigated. Computing models describing the entire component life cycle with its composition and interaction patterns are addressed. In particular the Web is considered as the central infrastructure.
  
  
• Projects:
  
  
  • A Formal Component Life Cycle Model: The aim is the definition of a process-oriented component model that formally captures activities such as discovery, matching, connection, interaction, and replacement.
  • Components and Design-by-Contract: Design-by-contract based on pre- and postconditions is a widely used technique for the specification and implementation of methods. This technique shall be incorporated into component technology.
  • Semantic Web Components: The development and deployment of components using Web technologies shall be explored. We consider semantical descriptions of components that are accessible via the Web as essential.
  • Case Study: Our case study is a Web-based virtual course system. Features of this system include multiple educational services (lectures, tutorials, labs, assessment), database supported content storage, highly interactive learning.
    
    
• People:
  
  
  • Claus Pahl: Project leader; Foundations
  • David Ward (2001): Architecture and broker implementation
  • Máire Casey (2001 - 2002): Web services and Web components; case study
  • Chen Li : Dependable components
    
    
• Publications:
  
  
  • C. Pahl. A Formal Composition and Interaction Model for a Web Component Platform. ICALP’2002 Workshop on Formal Methods and Component Interaction. Malaga, Spain. Elsevier Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. July 2002.
  • M. Casey. Towards a Web Component Framework: an Investigation into the Suitability of Web Service Technologies for Web-based Components. Dublin City University. M.Sc. Dissertation. 2002.
  • C. Pahl and D. Ward. Towards a Component Composition and Interaction Architecture for the Web. ETAPS’2002 Workshop on Software Composition. Grenoble, France. Elsevier Publishers. 2002.
  • C. Pahl. Components, Contracts, and Connectors for the Unified Modelling Language. Proceedings FME’01 Symposium Formal Methods Europe. Berlin, Germany. Springer-Verlag. LNCS Series No. 2021. pages 259-277. 2001.
  • C. Pahl. A Pi-Calculus based Framework for the Composition and Replacement of Components. Proc. Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications OOPSLA’2001 – Workshop on Specification and Verification of Component-Based Systems. Tampa Bay, Florida, USA. ACM Press. 2001.
  • C. Pahl. Formalising Dynamic Composition and Evolution in Java. ECOOP European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming – Workshop on Formal Techniques for Java Programming FTfJP’2001, Budapest, Hungary. 2001. Published as Technical Report, Fernuniversität Hagen. 2001.
  • C. Pahl. Modal Logics for Reasoning about Object-based Component Composition. In Proc. 4rd Irish Workshop on Formal Methods, July 2000, Maynooth, Ireland. 2000.
  • C. Pahl. Modular Composition of Language Features through Language Extensions. In A. Butterfield and S. Flynn, editors, Proc. 3rd Irish Workshop on Formal Methods, July 1999, Galway, Ireland, Electronic Workshops in Computing. Springer-Verlag, 1999.

Secure and Dependable Systems

• Objectives:
  
  Dependability - the combination of security and safety - is more and more important for systems that are deployed in open, distributed, an often untrusted environments. Two aspects are at the centre of this research: access control and security analysis.
  
  
• Projects:
  
  
  • A Formal Model for Access Control: A formal model of access control primitives shall be developed. Starting point is the use of algebraic techniques.
  • Security Protocol Analysis through Intruder Generation: Starting from formal specifications of security requirements for a security protocol a technique to generate intruder behaviours that can be used to test the specification and detect security flaws shall be developed.
    
    
• People:
  
  
  • Claus Pahl
    
    
• Publications:
  
  
  • C. Pahl. Interference Analysis for Dependable Systems using Refinement and Abstraction. Symposium Formal Methods Europe FME’2002. Copenhagen, Denmark. Springer-Verlag. LNCS Series. July 2002.
  • C. Pahl. Analysing Security Properties using Refinement. ZB’2002 Z and B User’s Conference – Workshop on Refinement of Critical Systems RCS’02. Grenoble, France. 2002.
  • C. Pahl. Analysis and Test Case Generation for Security Protocols using Abstraction. Proc. Joint 7^th International Conference on Information Systems Analysis and Synthesis ISAS'2001 and 5^th Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics SCI’2001. Orlando, Florida, USA. pages V.294-V.299. 2001.
  • C. Pahl. An Algebraic Basis for Specifying and Enforcing Access Control in Security Systems. In Proc. 4rd Irish Workshop on Formal Methods, July 2000, Maynooth, Ireland. 2000.