The usage of mobile computing devices such as smartphones is increasing significantly in society. Software exists in these devices, e.g., mobile applications, but it is mostly transparent as mobile applications can use pervasive services, as the ones offered by the cloud, or stop using them without users being aware. However, software becomes apparent when failures occur. The research in mobile software engineering is a green area with interest in both academia and industry whose objective is to assure the development of secure, high-quality applications on mobile devices.
As mobile applications evolve and become more business critical it is essential to apply software engineering processes and techniques to assure their quality. Mobile applications continuously interact with devices, networks, their environments, or pervasive services. Mobile or pervasive systems continuously change their environments and resources (e.g. battery or bandwidth). Mobile applications require different services when they enter or exit environments and as their resources change. This project suggests a radical reconceptualisation of mobile software engineering by using an architecture centric approach at runtime.
This work has been partly funded by the University of Brighton Rising Star Scheme awarded to Dr Nour Ali.