Runtime Monitoring and Resolution of Probabilistic Obstacles to System Goals

Software systems are deployed in environments that keep changing over time. They should therefore adapt to changing conditions in order to meet their requirements. The satisfaction rate of these requirements depends on the rate at which adverse conditions prevent their satisfaction. Obstacle analysis is a goal-oriented form of risk analysis for requirements engineering (RE) whereby obstacles to system goals are identified, assessed, and resolved through countermeasures. The selection of appropriate countermeasures relies on environmental assumptions and on the assessed likelihood and criticality of the corresponding obstacles. Those various factors estimated at RE time may, however, evolve at system runtime. To meet the system’s goals under changing conditions, this article proposes to defer obstacle resolution to system runtime. Techniques are presented for monitoring obstacle satisfaction rates; deciding when adaptation should be triggered; and adapting the system on-the-fly to countermeasures that are more effective. The approach relies on a model where goals and obstacles are refined and specified in a probabilistic linear temporal logic. The techniques allow for monitoring the satisfaction rate of probabilistic leaf obstacles; determining the severity of obstacle consequences on goal satisfaction rates computed from the monitored obstacle satisfaction rates; and shifting to countermeasures that better meet the required goal satisfaction rate. Our approach is evaluated on fragments of an ambulance dispatching system.