Heterogeneity in Discovery Systems: Study and Proposal
Service Discovery, Resource Discovery, Heterogeneity
Discovery systems are fundamental tools to allows the localization and use of the growing number of network-enabled devices, services and resources, with reduced or no human intervention. These systems have been applied to a wide number of contexts, from wireless sensor networks, vehicular networks and peer-to-peer systems, to grids, high processing clusters and cloud systems. However, due to the great diversity in these environments, discovery approaches have been developed to specific contexts, making them incompatible with each other. To solve this issue, it is necessary the development of sofware solutions capable of adapt themselves to these different contexts or which can integrate distinct discovery systems. This requires, in turn, to know the relevant design aspects of these systems, how they vary, and what are the context and application factors which can affect them. Therefore, this study tries to map the design space of discovery systems, as well as the requirements and context elements which can influence them. To achieve that, we conducted a literature review about the topic, i.e., service and resource discovery. Based on this research, a comprehensive view of discovery systems, its design aspects, contexts and relevant requirements is presented, which can contribute not only to solve the interoperability issue, but may also be used as an introduction to the subject or to help the development of new approaches as it is being proposed in this research.