WildCAT: a generic framework for context-aware applications

ABSTRACT

We present WildCAT, an extensible Java framework to ease the creation of context-aware applications. WildCAT provides a simple yet powerful dynamic model to represent an application's execution context. The context information can be accessed by application programmers through two complimentary interfaces: synchronous requests (pull mode) and asynchronous notifications (push mode). Internally, WildCAT is designed as a framework supporting different levels of extensions, from the simple configuration of the default generic implementation to completely new implementations tailored to specific needs. A given application can mix different implementations for different aspects of its context while only depending on WildCAT's simple and unified API.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.12 Interoperability

Keywords:
context-awareness, framework, self-adaptive applications