A Mathematical Basis for the Chaining of Lossy Interface Adapters

TL;DR

This paper develops a mathematical framework for analyzing chained lossy interface adapters in network services, highlighting the complexity of finding optimal chains and addressing interface compatibility issues in ubiquitous computing.

Contribution

It introduces a formal mathematical basis for analyzing lossy interface adapter chaining and proves the NP-completeness of finding optimal adapter chains.

Findings

Mathematical model for lossy interface adapter chaining

NP-completeness of optimal chain problem

Framework aids in designing efficient interface adaptation strategies

Abstract

Despite providing similar functionality, multiple network services may require the use of different interfaces to access the functionality, and this problem will only get worse with the widespread deployment of ubiquitous computing environments. One way around this problem is to use interface adapters that adapt one interface into another. Chaining these adapters allows flexible interface adaptation with fewer adapters, but the loss incurred due to imperfect interface adaptation must be considered. This paper outlines a mathematical basis for analyzing the chaining of lossy interface adapters. We also show that the problem of finding an optimal interface adapter chain is NP-complete.