Identifying "good" architectural design alternatives with multi-objective optimization strategies

ABSTRACT

Architecture trade-off analysis methods are appropriate techniques to evaluate design decisions and design alternatives with respect to conflicting quality requirements. However, the identification of good design alternatives is a time consuming task, which is currently performed manually. To automate this task, this paper proposes to use evolutionary algorithms and multi-objective optimization strategies based on architecture refactorings to identify a sufficient set of design alternatives. This approach will reduce development costs and improve the quality of the final system, because an automated and systematic search will identify more and better design alternatives.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Computer-aided software engineering (CASE)

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Evolutionary prototyping

General Terms:
Design, Economics, Reliability

Keywords:
architecture refactorings, architecture trade-off analysis, dependability, multi-objective optimization