MSc Project Proposals for 2004/5

Reiko Heckel

 

Tracking of Industry Contacts

 

Prerequisites

The project will involve programming in Java, using data base and web technology. It will also require knowledge of Software Engineering methods.

 

Aims of Project

In many activities in the department contacts with industrial partners are maintained, often in an ad-hoc fashion. The system should support the coordination of these contacts, for the mutual benefit of the various roles requiring and providing such data. The system should allow semi-automatic gathering of data from a variety of sources (e.g., using Google's web service interface) and have a web-based user interface and data base/XML connection.

 

The task includes typical SE activities like gathering of requirements from stakeholders, evaluation of design alternatives, etc.

 

Learning Outcomes

·       Understand software development process from requirements to implementation in Java.

·       Use web and data base technology, including XML and web services.

 

Nature of End-Product

A database with web-based interface and search facility to extract data from heterogeneous sources.

 

Modelling and Simulation of P2P Networks

 

Prerequisites

The project will involve the development of executable UML models by means of a CASE tool. Background in OO modelling and programming is required, performance models may be helpful.

 

Aims of Project

Structured Peer-to-Peer networks employ different kinds of protocols to organize and optimize communication in the absence of a centralized network infrastructure. The evaluation of the trade-offs inherent in such protocols (e.g., to choose and/or tailor one for a particular class of applications) requires a tool support for modelling and simulation so that protocols can be tried out before they are actually implemented.

 

The project shall use UML and graph transformation rules for modelling and simulation and could either focus on visualization or performance evaluation.

 

Learning Outcomes

·       Develop executable UML models.

·       Use executable UML models to reason about and evaluate protocols.

 

Nature of End-Product

One or several models of a network’s architecture and protocols as well as results of its simulation.  

 

Resources

 

Model-based Testing of Web Service Middleware

 

Prerequisites

The project will involve the development of executable UML models by means of a CASE tool. Background in OO modelling and programming is required. Some knowledge about business process models and Web Services could be helpful.

 

Aims of Project

Specifications of platforms like CORBA or Web Services are usually given in an informal, textual way. This leads to incomplete and ambiguous requirements which often lead to inconsistent implementations.

 

The project shall use UML and graph transformation rules for modelling middleware platforms, starting from informal standards documents, and go on to develop a concept for testing implementations of these platforms against their executable models.

 

As typical use case, a core part of a standard BPEL4WS execution engine could be modelled and used to test the (existing) Java implementation of this standard.

 

Learning Outcomes

 

Nature of End-Product

A model of an interpreter and some scaffolding for testing the actual implementation against this model. 

 

Resources

 

BPWS4J is IBM's Business Process Execution Language for Java. It includes an execution environment for BPEL4WS, an Eclipse plug-in for creating and modifying BPEL4WS documents, and a validation tool for BPEL4WS documents.

 

http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/bpws4j

 

 

 

 

Model-based Development of Web Service Choreography Descriptions

 

Prerequisites

The project will require knowledge in UML and background in Web Services and XML.

 

Aims of Project

The Web Service Choreography Description Language (CDL) is an XML-based language for specifying interaction protocols between Web Services, based on and integrated with WSDL, the W3C standard for specifying service interfaces. In UML a quite similar role is played by sequence diagrams.

 

The project shall explore this correspondence, develop and possibly implement a mapping between the two representations in order to facilitate the visual specification of Web Service interactions using UML.

 

Learning Outcomes

 

Nature of End-Product

A proposal for a UML customization (profile) for CDL focussing on sequence and class diagrams, as well as a description (and possibly implementation) of the mapping. 

 

Resources