Mandala - SoS-based interoperability in smart cities
Interoperability, Middleware, System of Systems, Smart Cities.
Currently, the cities depend considerable on information systems. A large part of these systems, regardless of the form of public or private management, was developed using technologies and concepts that are now considered outdated. Moreover, because they were not designed to communicate with other systems in an interoperable way, many of these systems in the cities are isolated and non-standardized solutions. In contrast, the dynamism demanded by companies, government and, mainly, population presupposes the union of these systems, working in an integrated and interoperable way. This interoperability is critical to achieving the efficiency and effectiveness of the use of expected resources in an smart city. Furthermore, the union between these systems can bring previously unimaginable results, when compared to the results acquired by each isolated system. These characteristics refer to the concept of System of Systems, which is a set of complex, independent, heterogeneous systems that have their own purposes and collaborate with others to achieve common goals. The interaction between different systems made possible by a SoS is more than the sum of the systems involved, since it allows a SoS to offer new functionalities that are not provided by any of the systems operating alone. Based on the above mentioned characteristics, this paper proposes Mandala, a SoS-centric middleware that enables interoperability between information systems in smart cities. The goal is to make the heterogeneity of the systems involved transparent, providing an environment of integration and interoperation of information systems.