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Projects

Research Project Highlights:

• Novel cloud computing based workflow technology for managing large numbers of process instances:
  Workflow is for computerised automation of processes existing in all organisations. Cloud computing is a recent paradigm to provide users with services via virtualised resources from the Internet. By combining workflow and cloud computing technologies, we can provide a promising solution for handling large numbers of process instances effectively with cloud computing. Funded by the ARC, to manage such instance-intensive processes, the project aims at proposing a novel cloud workflow architecture and its corresponding innovative mechanisms including data and services management schemes, scheduling algorithms and exception handling strategies. The key research outcomes are applicable to many e-business and e-government processes.

• Managing Conflicts in Requirements Engineering with Argumentation Framework: As software systems are conceived and evolve, a wide range of inconsistencies can arise as early as during requirements engineering (RE) when goals and requirements are elicited from multiple stakeholders. Managing and resolving such conflicts become critical activities during the process of software development. Funded by the ARC this project aims to develop a framework for conflict management based on an argumentation-theoretic approach. The advantage of this approach is in the ability to incorporate basic notions of RE into an argument system so that arguments for and against conflicting requirements can be analysed and put into competition. Well-defined argumentation-theoretic semantics will also help in resolving the conflicts between requirements.
  

• Adaptive Service Grids: CS3 has led one of the most significant international collaboration between Australian and EU researchers in the area of Service Oriented Computing (SOC). As the only Australian organisation endorsed by EU, CS3 has participated in an international project on Adaptive Services Grid that is one of the largest SOC projects funded by the Sixth EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (EU FP6), and the first and largest Australia-EU FP6 collaboration in SOC.
  
  
• Complex Service Provision Management: CS3 has led collaborative research on Adaptive Service Agreement and Process Management and developed new solutions for agent-based service composition, SLA /QoS negotiation, execution and adaptation in complex service environments. The project has been funded by the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) in collaboration with Australian industry partners (EIN, Telstra and DSTO). It is the largest grant for an ICT R&D project awarded by DEST IST-ISL in 9 rounds, the largest R&D project in intelligent services computing in Australia, and one of the largest single university based projects in that area internationally.
  
  
• System Performance and Scalability: A CS3 research team has successfully completed a study for Citipower and Powercor Australia. The study involved the performance and scalability assessment of the data processing systems for “smart” electricity meters across the state of Victoria, to be rolled out. The project has provided the necessary quantitative information and recommendations for a multi-million dollar IT investment decision by the company.
  
  
• Rationalised Software Architecture Design: A CS3 research team has developed the methodology and related tool support for capturing and reasoning about the decision-making process of software architecture design, ARM. The methodology has been incorporated into the UML design tool, Enterprise Architect. The project has enjoyed close collaboration from Sparx Systems (the developer of Enterprise Architect), National ICT Australia and Monash University. The research has received best paper awards and high acclaim.
  
  
• Evolution of Instant Messaging: In collaboration initially with the Smart Internet Technology CRC, the centre undertakes research into a better Instant Messaging (IM) tool for use by individuals and organisations. With the aim to effectively handle multiple IM sessions, the project represents a promising approach to the next generation of IM.
  
  
• Service Workflow for eScience and eBusiness: Funded by the ARC and other sources, the centre is building workflow systems that will better support process management, with a current focus on cloud, grid and peer-to-peer based computing environments. The systems are designed to not only support eScience and eBusiness processes within organisations but also across organisations.
  
  
• Agent-Enabled Social Networks: Funded by ARC and in collaboration with Vastpark, a CS3 team has developed novel technology solutions for agent-based discovery, trustful interconnection and policy-based management of peer-to-peer social networks and 3D virtual environments.
  
  
• Reconfigurable Vehicle Software Systems: A research team from the Centre undertakes a large scale R&D project in reconfigurable embedded vehicle systems, funded by the AutoCRC and in collaboration with General Motors Holden. The project investigates advanced software techniques for vehicle data monitoring and processing capabilities, to improve the vehicle design and maintenance practice and deliver significant economic benefits.
  
  
• An Organisation Oriented Framework for Collaborative Business Processes: Business collaboration is about coordinating the information flow among organisations and linking their business processes. While most inter-organisational workflow approaches provide cooperative means to business processes of organisations, the autonomy of organisations and the openness of the collaboration environment have not been well supported. To address these issues, a CS3 research team is investigating an advanced inter-organisational workflow system that supports collaborative business processes in the Web service environment. This project is funded by the ARC and supported by SAP
  
  
• XML Views of Relational Databases – Semantics and Update: XML is the standard for representing, publishing and exchanging data over the Internet and relational database is the dominant technology for data management. Updating XML views over relational data is fundamental to bring these two technologies together to serve Internet-based applications. Funded by the ARC, a CS3 team is developing a theory on the semantics of XML views and a set of techniques for checking XML view updatability, detecting and handling data redundancy and unintended updates, translating view updates to relational updates, and processing recursive view updates.
  
  
• Constraints in XML Schema Integration: Constraints are associated with the quality of data, which is an important issue in data processing, especially in data integration. Funded by the ARC, a CS3 research team has been engaging in research into the issues of integrating XML schema and data and providing various flexible querying supports on large collections of heterogeneous XML data sources on the Web.
  
  
• A Framework for Supporting Consistent and Reliable Collaborative Business Transactions: Business collaborations in loosely coupled distributed environments require coordinating business activities among partners and maintaining consistency for interacting long business processes. Current Web service technology provides very primitive and restrictive support to business transactions. Funded by the ARC, a CS3 research team has developed a framework to provide specifications and mechanisms for supporting reliable and consistent business transactions in the context of Web services.
  
  
• Utility Grid Project: A CS3 team has developed new mechanisms for distributed market-based resource allocation based on multi-agent learning techniques for the Utility Grid Project funded by DEST-IAP in collaboration with University of Melbourne and other Australian partners, and EU FP6 Projects on CoreGrid and CatNets.
  
  
• Service Oriented Architecture for IT Infrastructure Management: Funded by the ARC with support and collaboration from CA, a research team from the Centre is engaged in research into the next generation Service Registries, which will be the centre piece of any future enterprise information systems deploying the service-oriented architecture. These registries support capability (business and application)-based service modelling, publication, discovery and composition, and facilitate adaptive lifecycle management of the services and applications and their auditing and legal compliance from an enterprise perspective.
  
  
• Large-Scale Enterprise Systems Emulation: With support and collaboration from CA, researchers from the Centre are investigating advanced techniques to emulate simultaneously a large number of large-scale enterprise information systems with various and varied behaviours in diverse real-world deployment environments. One particular application of this emulation platform will be the provision of a testing environment for large-scale integration of enterprise systems.
  
  
• SwinGrid – Swinburne Grid Infrastructure at CS3: With support from the University, the Centre has established a service grid infrastructure named SwinGrid. It is capable of supporting effective resource sharing for diverse scientific and business grid applications and simulations. It hosts the Centre’s decentralised peer-to-peer grid workflow system (SwinDeW-G) and grid service management platform (ASAPM).
  
  
• e-Security: Swinburne, through CS3, is a cornerstone foundation member of SECIA, a Victorian e-Security Cluster, supported by the Victorian Government through Multimedia Victoria. The Cluster involves a large number of industry, government and research organisations. In collaboration with other partners of the Cluster, CS3 is involved in delivering significant benefits for the State and beyond in the e-Security domain. In particular, CS3 has internationally leading expertise in the engineering of software and service-based systems with predictable security outcomes.
  
  
• Adaptive Management of Quality-Assured Service Aggregation:  CS3 develops a framework and associated methods, techniques and tools for adaptive management of the flexible quality-assured service aggregation. In particular it aims at enabling on-demand aggregated service procurement, QoS measurements, multi-party service level agreement (SLA) and service quality assurance during provision of service aggregations. The research is funded by the Smart Services CRC in collaboration with SAP and Infosys, and other CRC partners.
  
  
• Adaptive Service Delivery: In another research project funded by the Smart Services CRC, CS3 researchers are investigating new ways of service delivery in the service marketplace (or ecosystem), connecting service providers and service consumers. In particular, it considers how to re-purpose and reconfigure services and service assemblies for different business application contexts and manage their variation during operation. This will result in methods and tools enabling service delivery in a flexible and adaptive manner, creating increased business value for service providers, consumers and distributors. Some of the project partners are SAP, Infosys and Suncorp.
  
  
• Safe and Reliable Automotive Software Systems: In a project funded by the AutoCRC, centre researchers are carrying out research into safe and reliable integration and deployment architectures for automotive software systems. This research will lead to advanced methods and techniques that help to deliver future vehicle systems with greater innovation and reliability in a cost-effective manner.
  
  
• Knowledge Valuation and Dissemination: CS3 develops a Knowledge Management framework including a Knowledge Acquisition methodology, methods and tools for capturing and disseminating knowledge in an engineering domain. The research is supported by the AutoCRC in collaboration with GKN Aerospace and the Australian National University.
  
  
• Context-aware Vehicle: With support from the AutoCRC, a CS3 research team is investigating a new context-aware pervasive computing platform for seamlessly managing and integrating in-vehicle functions and external services. The research adopts a service-oriented approach, which is particularly suited to managing such open, dynamic and adaptive systems. It will lead to enhanced driver experience and increased vehicle control and safety through distraction-free vehicle-environment interaction.
  
  
• Agent-Based Coordination and Negotiation Technologies for Decentralised Service Workflow Management: Funded by the ARC, the centre is developing an innovative agent-based decentralised service workflow management framework and its corresponding novel coordination and negotiation technologies in order to provide advanced non-functional features of efficiency, reliability, flexibility and adaptability.