This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will improve dramatically the adaptability, maintainability, and robustness of software systems that operate in complex, ever- changing environments. current practice requires the end users of many software applications to customize those applications to their own requirements and environments. Such customization is particularly problematic when those requirements are dynamic and difficult to predict. This project will demonstrate the utility and feasibility of employing run-time monitors that detect failures to fulfill requirements and violations of assumption about the operating environment upon which current choice of system configuration is based. Users describe requirements and assumptions in a language to be designed for this specific purpose. From expressions of requirements in this notation, a run-time monitor is automatically generated, and installed to run alongside the monitored system. in its normal operating context. Run-time monitors of this kind alert users about mismatches between expected and actual operating conditions, thereby providing vital data necessary for either human users or a piece of software to reconfigure the system appropriately. Automated monitoring for reconfiguration has tremendous commercial potential in existing software products such as: databases, spreadsheets, graphical user interface kits, system administration tool suites, etc. Commercial products from this research could be a) Valuable additional `monitoring` modules packaged into existing products by their vendors; b) Stand-alone tools to monitor the requirements of systems from the outside environment. Both kinds of products have great commercial value.
