An FSM model for situation-aware mobile application software systems

ABSTRACT

Situation-awareness is a desirable feature of application software systems in mobile computing environments. In this paper, we present an extended finite state machine model for the situation-aware mobile application software systems. In this model, each state represents an impromptu condition that a system is presented, and the state is characterized by the historical context record and the internal action record. Each state transition in the model represents a context input. The whole finite state machine models the dynamicity of the situation-aware application software system that adjusts its own behavior according to the situation changes. The situation-aware requirement is application-specific, and each situation-aware requirement is corresponding to an FSM. This model is useful in the mobile application software development: it can be used to verify the validness of the situation-aware requirement; it can be used to generate test cases that represent the situation changes a system may experience in a mobile environment.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
context, finite finite state machine, mobile computing, situation, situation-awareness