Knowledge-Driven Architecture Composition: Case-Based Formalization of Integration Knowledge to Enable Automated Component Coupling

Abstract

Using languages with formalized semantics for automating component integration is a well-established research area. As a consequence, independently developed software systems can interact without the need for manual integration effort in a "plug-and-play" manner. However, such dynamic adaptive system architectures are not widely used in Industrial IoT scenarios. Practitioners mostly rely on informal, domain-specific standards as formal interface specifications tend to become highly complex quickly. Nonetheless, this results in high manual integration efforts as integration knowledge cannot be reused. Thus, interface specification should be tailored towards its case-based requirements. Interface specifications should only be created and persisted evolutionary after specific integration tasks with knowledge management techniques. The resulting knowledge-driven architecture composition enables integration knowledge reusability and can ultimately automate component integration.