Software systems are becoming increasingly more open, distributed, pervasive, mobile and connected. This increases complexity, which threatens to slow future growth. Adaptive self-managed systems are a way to address this growing complexity. Role Oriented Adaptive Design (ROAD) is a meta-model which allows the design of adaptive self-managed systems. ROAD defines software applications as networks of functional roles which are executed by players (objects, components, services, agents, people, or role composites). Roles are bound by contracts, which can be regulated or reconfigured at run-time. These flexible structures become composites, each of which is managed by an organiser. Self-managed composites themselves can become role players, meaning composites can be recursively composed.
ROAD is an ongoing project being undertaken by researches and research students within Swinburne Universities Centre for Complex Software Systems and Services. Experimental code releases are available which demonstrate some ROAD concepts. For more information please see the ROAD related publications provided, or contact Dr Alan Colman. If you are a project member and looking for the ROAD wiki, it is located here.
