Software Architecture Research

We believe that software architecture is a discipline pervading all phases of development. Our research focuses on issues related to the integration of software architecture into the development process.

Below are phases of a generic software life-cycle model and how an architecture may be used in each phase. Included are links to different views of our research corresponding to architecture-based uses in each phase:

• During requirements, an architecture may be used to identify, prioritize, and record system concerns and desired qualities.
• During design, analysis, an architecture may be used to model, visualize, and analyze design decisions chosen to address the principal concerns and achieve the desired qualities. Decisions may be guided by adopting one or more architectural styles.
• During implementation, testing, an architecture may be used to drive testing, instantiate a product, support runtime dynamism, or enforce security policies. Rather than thrown out an architecture at this point, as is often done, an architecture remains part of the product.
• During maintenance, an architecture may be used as a basis for incorporating new features, or increasing modeling detail.

We also maintain a number of different software projects where we apply our research to real systems.