SimCA vs ActivFORMS: comparing control- and architecture-based adaptation on the TAS exemplar

Abstract

Today customers require software systems to provide particular levels of qualities, while operating under dynamically changing conditions. These requirements can be met with different self-adaptation approaches. Recently, we developed two approaches that are different in nature - control theory-based SimCA and architecture-based ActivFORMS - to endow software systems with self-adaptation, providing guarantees on desired behavior. However, it is unclear which of the two approaches should be used in different adaptation scenarios and how effective they are in comparison to each other. In this paper, we apply SimCA and ActivFORMS to the Tele Assistance System (TAS) exemplar and compare obtained results, demonstrating the difference in achieved qualities and formal guarantees.