The role of SDL in the design, simulation, validation of system models, and code-generation, in the recently emerged and growing domain of autonomic systems engineering

In this paper we present the role of Specification and Description Language (SDL) in the recently emerged and growing domain of autonomic systems engineering in which SDL has a role to play. The topic and issues discussed in this paper are important because the subject of the role of SDL in autonomic systems engineering has not yet been explored due to the fact that the area of autonomic systems engineering is still a growing even though it is now a mature area. In this paper we investigate the role SDL should play in autonomic systems engineering. At the same time we raise a series of questions we believe both the research community and the industry at large need to consider in this context and come up with solutions that will solidify the role of SDL in such emerging domains. While we provide important insights, the goal is not to provide answers to each of the questions we raise in this study, but rather to discuss issues that both academia and the industry should seize within this growing area. The domain of Autonomic Networking is now seeing a Reference Model that defines the associated concepts of the domain, their relationships and constraints, being developed in ETSI - European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Thus, in this paper, we argue the need for the formalization of the Reference Model as a standardizable Meta-Model and present the role of SDL in a model-driven systems engineering methodology and associated tool-chain for designing stable autonomic systems.