Constraint-Based Deployment of Distributed Components in a Dynamic Network

Hierarchical software components offer interesting characteristics for the development of complex applications. However, supporting the deployment of such applications is difficult, especially on challenging distributed platforms. This paper addresses the distribution and the deployment of hierarchical components on heterogeneous dynamic networks. Such networks may include fixed and mobile resource-constrained devices and are characterized by the volatility of their hosts and connections, which may lead to their fragmentation. The distribution scheme and the associated mechanisms we propose allow a component to provide its services in an ubiquitous way and to operate in a degraded mode. The deployment of hierarchical components is described: we present an ADL extension for specifying a context-aware deployment and we detail a hierarchically-controlled deployment designed for dynamic networks. This deployment is performed in a propagative way and is driven by constraints put on the resources of the target hosts.