Tool Support for the eHome Specification, Configuration, and Deployment Process

New developments and decreasing costs of electronic appliances enable the realization of pervasive systems in our daily environment. In our work, we focus on eHome systems. eHomes are homes equipped with electronic devices and a software system offering services incorporating these devices and external services. The configuration of software components making up these systems is one of the major problems preventing their public use. In this paper, we describe the eHome domain related process of specification, configuration and deployment, and the positive impact of tool support on this process. We present our tool suite, the eHomeConfigurator, supporting the configuration and deployment of various services on different home environments.