Location-based variability for mobile information systems

Advances in size, power, and ubiquity of computing, sensors, and communication technology make possible the development of mobile or nomadic information systems. Variability of location and system behavior is a central issue in mobile information systems, where software behavior has to change and re-adapt to the different location settings. In this paper, we motivate the need for integration of variable location and variable software behavior. We adapt the goal-oriented framework i*/Tropos to model and analyze the alternative goal satisfaction strategies and the location where each alternative can be adopted. We introduce analysis techniques for the proposed location-based models.