Supporting the Development of a Mobile Context-Aware Application by an MDA-based Approach

Mobile devices and context recognition are the most important drivers of digitization. They help to increase productivity and efficiency by optimizing processes and adapting the situation according to context. For example, sensor data from a smartphone can be used together with vehicle and customer data to better plan routes for delivery drivers and adjust them during delivery. To exploit these possibilities, a mobile context-aware application must be developed. The model-driven architecture (MDA)-based development approach simplifies the development of such applications by designing a domain-specific modeling language (DSML) called SenSoMod. SenSoMod facilitates collaboration between domain experts and developers by discussing problems at a higher, more abstract level of the modeling language. Thus, SenSoMod helps to get a better estimation of the complexity of the application and thus supports the project management. Assisted by a modeling tool, code is generated from the designed model, reducing the implementation time of context-aware applications. Thus, the development time can be shortened and adaptations can be made faster. To test the assumed improvements that can positively impact project management, a proof-of-concept implementation of a mobile emergency corridor application was conducted.