Abstract
The recent increase in the ubiquity and connectivity of computing devices allows forming large-scale distributed systems that respond to and influence activities in their environment. Engineering of such systems is very complex because of their inherent dynamicity, open-endedness, and autonomicity.
In this paper we propose a new class of component systems (Ensemble-Based Component Systems - EBCS) which bind autonomic components with cyclic execution via dynamic component ensembles controlling data exchange. EBCS combine the key ideas of agents, ensemble-oriented systems, and control systems into software engineering concepts based on autonomic components.
In particular, we present an instantiation of EBCS - the DEECo component model. In addition to DEECo main concepts, we also describe its computation model and mapping to Java.
Lastly, we outline the basic principles of the EBCS/DEECo development process.