Multy-dimensional composition by objectives in aspect-oriented requirements analysis

Thesis submitted to Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Computer ScienceThis dissertation focuses on the composition of requirements artefacts using Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering (AORE), to develop an enhanced composition mechanism to extend the work previously done to the Aspect-Oriented Requirements Analysis (AORA) approach (Brito and Moreira, 2006; Brito et al., 2007). The AORA approach consists of the identification, modularization, composition and management of crosscutting concerns. However, the AORA composition (Soeiro et al., 2005) is poor, handles composite elements as a “black box” and operates at a coarse-granularity level with reduced number of operators, resulting in limited composition expressiveness. These limitations have a negative impact when moving towards later stages of software development, such as software architecture and design phases. The core of the work of this Master dissertation is the development of: •a composition language that enables a multi-dimensional specification at the requirements level; •an approach that enables the composition of requirements’ artefacts based on Objectives, therefore stating the purpose or the goal of the composition. The output is an approach that provides a composition process supported by a well-defined syntax and semantics, as well as tool support integrated into the AORA tool (Soeiro et al., 2005; Brito et al., 2006). The approach, together with the composition language, were applied to a real case study, from the SOFTAS project, in the air traffic control domain, which is operated by Navegação Aérea de Portugal (NAV), the company that controls the Portuguese air space.Partially supported by the SOFTAS (SOFTware development with ASpects) project1,reference ID POSI/EIA/60189/2004, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia2 (FCT/MCTES). The project consortium was composed of Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa3 (project coordinator), Universidade do Minho4, Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Beja5, Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Castelo Branco6, Navegação Aérea de Portugal7 (NAV) and LINCI