A Methodology for the Design, Development and Validation of Adaptive and Context-Aware Mobile Services

Abstract

The authors present a holistic approach for the efficient design, implementation, and validation of context-aware mobile services. The according concepts have been developed within the PLASTIC project which devises a methodology based on model-to-model transformations to be applied at different stages of the service lifecycle. Starting from a conceptual model, these models reflect characteristic properties of the mobile service under development such as context information. For the implementation of the service, a middleware suite then is used which comprises a set of constituents which significantly simplify and shorten the mobile services development cycle. The authors focus on demonstrating the concepts in terms of mobile business-to-business field services as opposed to business-to-consumer services. Here through the methodology and tools the dynamicity can be significantly enhanced. By using the contained adaptation mechanism, service specifications (static by nature) can be qualified to deal with additional information (e.g., context) needed for achieving a better quality of service and usability.