Title: Fuzzy multi-objective build-or-buy approach for component selection of fault tolerant software system under consensus recovery block scheme with mandatory redundancy in critical modules

Authors: Shivani Bali; P.C. Jha; U. Dinesh Kumar; Hoang Pham

Addresses: Department of Operations and Systems, Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Sector – 11, Dwarka, New Delhi – 110075, India ' Department of Operational Research, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110007, India ' Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Systems, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore – 560076, India ' Department of Industrial and System Engineering, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 96 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08855-8018, USA

Abstract: During the last two decades, there has been a growing interest in component-based software engineering (CBSE) both in academia and industry. In component-based system development, it is common to identify software modules first. Once they are identified, we need to select appropriate software components for each module. These components can either be bought as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and probably adapted to work in the software system or can be developed in-house. This is a 'build-or-buy' decision. This paper discusses a framework that helps a developer to decide whether to buy or to build software components while designing a fault-tolerant modular software system. This paper proposes optimisation models for optimal component selection for a fault-tolerant modular software system under the consensus recovery block scheme. It is necessary to identify critical modules in the design of a fault-tolerant modular software system and also to develop a system with a built in redundancy for critical modules. Therefore, the first optimisation model is developed for optimal component selection with the dual objective of reliability maximisation and cost minimisation of the overall system under the constraints on the delivery time and criticality of modules. The second optimisation model is an extension of the first optimisation model and discusses the issue of compatibility of components of modules. In practice, it is not possible for management to obtain precise value of reliability, cost, delivery time, etc., therefore both the models are formulated as fuzzy multi-objective optimisation models. A case study of developing a manufacturing system for medium-size enterprise is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.

Keywords: software reliability; modular software; critical modules; COTS; commercial off-the-shelf; build-or-buy; CRB; fuzzy optimisation; software component selection; fault tolerant software systems; consensus recovery; mandatory redundancy; fault tolerance; component-based software engineering; CBSE.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAISC.2014.062815

International Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, 2014 Vol.4 No.2/3, pp.98 - 119

Received: 16 Jul 2012
Accepted: 03 Mar 2013
Published online: 28 Jun 2014 *

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