Developing a DSL-Based Approach for Event-Based Monitoring of Systems of Systems: Experiences and Lessons Learned

Complex software-intensive systems are often described as systems of systems (SoS) comprising heterogeneous architectural elements. As SoS behavior fully emerges during operation only, runtime monitoring is needed to detect deviations from requirements. Today, diverse approaches exist to define and check runtime behavior and performance characteristics. However, existing approaches often focus on specific types of systems and address certain kinds of checks, thus impeding their use in industrial SoS. Furthermore, as many SoS need to run continuously for long periods, the dynamic definition and deployment of constraints needs to be supported. In this paper we describe experiences of developing and applying a DSL-based approach for monitoring an SoS in the domain of industrial automation software. We evaluate both the expressiveness of our DSL as well as the scalability of the constraint checker. We also describe lessons learned.