Modelling and Simulation Based Engineering for IoT

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is fast becoming a commercial reality in Canada. The IoT paradigm has brought about new software engineering challenges due to the interconnection of billions of devices and complex, heterogeneous systems which are required to cooperate reliably in an uncertain and ever-changing environment. Software development frameworks need to evolve to address the needs of such dynamically adaptive systems to autonomically cope with (anticipate, detect, and adapt to) internal and external changes in the operation, goals, or environment. Recent industrial projects and research have demonstrated that the application of model-driven engineering (MDE) methods and tools are essential to further the development of complex, software-intensive systems. In MDE, models are used to drive the entire engineering or software development process, and model transformations are used to manipulate these models. Model-based design enables modelling of the structure, behaviour, and interactions of the system at the most appropriate level of abstraction using the most appropriate formalisms, such as Statecharts, Petri Nets, or Activity Diagrams for the software parts and Modelica for the physical parts. Furthermore, domain-specific languages may maximally constrain the modeller to the problem at hand. Moreover, explicit modelling of the development process itself allows for analysis, optimization and automation. Use of such model-based enablers also allows requirements and design errors and alternatives to be addressed early-on in the development process. Having an effective and efficient way of coordinating these (requirements, analysis, design, and runtime) models, maintaining consistency across multiple views, and managing the propagation of changes across the models is crucial. The long-term goal of this research program is to develop innovative modelling and simulation-based methods, techniques, and software tools to facilitate requirements analysis and design of adaptive and cost-effective IoT Systems. The long-term vision of this program will be realized through several short-term, concrete projects. I intend to propose effective and scalable methods and techniques for modelling language engineering, process modelling, global traceability management, and simulation and analysis of adaptive IoT systems. The methods and tools will be demonstrated with applications from the IoT domain. The combined use of MDE, requirements engineering, and simulation to cope with the complexities and challenges of IoT systems is still in its infancy. I envision this research program to contribute to both the model-driven engineering and IoT domains. The research program also aims to align with industry needs through optimization of design and deployment time and ultimately to a reduction in capital and operating expenses.