\subsubsection{Schedule of Milestones}
\label{sec:schedule}

The project duration is expected to be three years and will be divided in four
stages. At the completion of each stage, technical reports and prototype
implementations of the system middleware, independent components, and experimental
applications will be made publicly available to the research community.


\begin{itemize}
%\setlength{\itemsep}{-1mm}
%\setlength{\parsep}{-10mm}
\item {\bf Stage 1 --} Duration: 4 months.
\begin{itemize}
\item Theoretical analysis and refinement of the dependence and configuration 
models considering fault tolerance and quality of service.

\item Investigation of query languages for monitored data and policies for
data consolidation.

\item Publication of two technical reports describing 
\begin{enumerate}
\item the automatic configuration model and 
\item the monitoring and visualization model.
\end{enumerate}
\end{itemize}


\item {\bf Stage 2 --} Duration: 8 months.
\begin{itemize}
\item Implementation of the dependence model using the \twoK
reflective ORB with basic support for reconfiguration and fault tolerance.

\item Implementation of basic data collection, consolidation, 
and query analyzer module. 
\item Implementation of the Java Visualizer with limited functionality.

\item Publication of two technical reports:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Description of the dependence and configuration services implementation
including a user manual.
\item Description of the monitoring and visualization service implementation.
\end{enumerate}
\end{itemize}


\item {\bf Stage 3 --} Duration: 12 months.
\begin{itemize}
\item Extension of the configuration service for components using the \twoK
reflective ORB providing support for quality of service.
\item Design and initial implementation of two test applications that will
be used to evaluate the automatic configuration framework, a parallel 
application and a distributed application.

\item Extension of the query analyzer and data collection and
consolidation modules to include more sophisticated queries.
\item Integration of the monitoring module to the \twoK reflective ORB.

\item Publication of two technical reports:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Description of the mechanisms for automatic configuration on the
reflective ORB with detailed user manual.
\item Experimental analysis of the monitoring module on the reflective ORB
considering performance overhead and interference with monitored applications.
\end{enumerate}
\end{itemize}


\item {\bf Stage 4 --} Duration: 12 months.
\begin{itemize}
\item Implementation of the automatic configuration support in a second
component architecture. 
\item Experiment with the interoperability between the configuration support
on the new component architecture and on the \twoK reflective ORB.
\item Extension of the Java Visualizer to include different kinds of graphic
diagrams and animations.
\item Final implementation and deployment of the configuration service in the
two test applications.

\item Integration of the monitoring module to the Off++ microkernel.
\item Experimental analysis of the overhead and interference imposed by 
the monitoring service on the Off++ microkernel.

\item Publication of two technical reports:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Final description of the automatic configuration model discussing its
implementation in different component architectures, the interoperability
between different implementations, and its performance.
\item Final description of the monitoring and visualization service
considering its model, implementation, and portability to different
environments, component architectures, and applications.
\end{enumerate}

\end{itemize}


\end{itemize}