ComFlux: External Composition and Adaptation of Pervasive Applications

TL;DR

ComFlux is an open source middleware enabling external, policy-driven composition and adaptation of pervasive system components, supporting dynamic interactions with manageable overhead.

Contribution

It introduces ComFlux, a middleware that facilitates external control and adaptation of pervasive applications, a novel approach for flexible component interaction.

Findings

Supports dynamic composition with acceptable overhead

Demonstrates flexible external control of pervasive components

Provides open source middleware for pervasive computing

Abstract

Technology is becoming increasingly pervasive. At present, the system components working together to provide functionality, be they purely software or with a physical element, tend to operate within silos, bound to a particular application or usage. This is counter to the wider vision of pervasive computing, where a potentially limitless number of applications can be realised through the dynamic and seamless interactions of system components. We believe this application composition should be externally controlled, driven by policy and subject to access control. We present ComFlux, our open source middleware, and show through a number of designs and implementations, how it supports this functionality with acceptable overhead.