Sensor-based decision support systems have to cope with a high volume of continuously generated sensor events. Conventional software architectures do not explicitly target the efficient processing of continuous event streams. Due to the high volume of events and their complex dependencies it is not possible to have a fixed or predefined process flow on the business level. Recently, Complex Event Processing (CEP) has been proposed as a general process model for event streams. Though CEP provides mechanisms for computing high volume of events, it does not define any methodologies, models and reference architectures, which would establish EDA as a mature software architecture. In this chapter the authors present a reference architecture for sensor-based decision support systems, which enables the analysis and processing of complex event streams in real-time. The proposed architecture provides a conceptual basis for development of flexible software frameworks that can be adapted to meet various applications needs. The authors’ architectural approach is based on semantically rich event models providing the different stages of the decision process. They illustrate their approach in the domain of road traffic management for high-capacity road networks.
MULTI-AGENT MANAGEMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
