A Self-Adaptation Exemplar: the Shipboard Power System Reconfiguration Problem

In a vessel, the Shipboard Power System (SPS) is responsible for supplying energy to various services, such as navigation and communication. A research topic is the reconfiguration of the electrical scheme in case of either failure or damage. Indeed, after a fault, the software control system must ensure the ship’s survival. In a couple of earlier studies, we: (i) analyzed the relation between the electrical schema and the software control system and (ii) identified many common characteristics between the SPS problem and Self-Adaptive Systems domain. In particular, a systematic classification of the approaches for reconfiguration highlighted the need of environment monitors, decision-making procedures and a feedback loop among the others. The purpose of this paper is to frame the SPS reconfiguration as a self-adaptive exemplar by highlighting scenarios, tasks, norms goals and quality aspects with the support of the IEEE specifications. The exemplar may serve for a twofold aim: (i) the SPS may be a new field to compare self-adaptive procedures, and, on the other side, novel self-adaptive approaches may improve the state-of-the-art in SPS reconfiguration.