Hybrid Agent & Component-based Management of Backchannels

This paper describes the use of the SoSAA software framework to implement the hybrid management of communication channels (backchannels) across a distributed software system. SoSAA is a new integrated architectural solution enabling context-aware, open and adaptive software while preserving system modularity and promoting the re-use of existing component-based and agent-oriented frameworks and associated methodologies. In particular, we show how SoSAA can be used to orchestrate the adoption of network adapter components to bind functional components that are distributed across different component contexts. Both the performance of the different computational nodes involved and the efficiencies and faults in the underlying transport layers are taken into account when deciding which transport mechanisms to use.