arXiv subjects

Karthik Vaidhyanathan

Publications and source records attributed to Karthik Vaidhyanathan.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Towards Architecting Sustainable MLOps: A Self-Adaptation Approach

In today's dynamic technological landscape, sustainability has emerged as a pivotal concern, especially with respect to architecting Machine Learning enabled Systems (MLS). Many ML models fail in transitioning to production, primarily hindered by uncertainties due to data variations, evolving requirements, and model instabilities. Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) offers a promising solution by enhancing adaptability and technical sustainability in MLS. However, MLOps itself faces challenges related to environmental impact, technical maintenance, and economic concerns. Over the years, self-adaptation has emerged as a potential solution to handle uncertainties. This paper introduces a novel approach employing self-adaptive principles integrated into the MLOps architecture through a MAPE-K loop to bolster MLOps sustainability. By autonomously responding to uncertainties, including data, model dynamics, and environmental variations, our approach aims to address the sustainability concerns of a given MLOps pipeline identified by an architect at design time. Further, we implement the method for a Smart City use case to display the capabilities of our approach.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2024

Can LLMs Generate Architectural Design Decisions? -An Exploratory Empirical study

Architectural Knowledge Management (AKM) involves the organized handling of information related to architectural decisions and design within a project or organization. An essential artifact of AKM is the Architecture Decision Records (ADR), which documents key design decisions. ADRs are documents that capture decision context, decision made and various aspects related to a design decision, thereby promoting transparency, collaboration, and understanding. Despite their benefits, ADR adoption in software development has been slow due to challenges like time constraints and inconsistent uptake. Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) may help bridge this adoption gap by facilitating ADR generation. However, the effectiveness of LLM for ADR generation or understanding is something that has not been explored. To this end, in this work, we perform an exploratory study that aims to investigate the feasibility of using LLM for the generation of ADRs given the decision context. In our exploratory study, we utilize GPT and T5-based models with 0-shot, few-shot, and fine-tuning approaches to generate the Decision of an ADR given its Context. Our results indicate that in a 0-shot setting, state-of-the-art models such as GPT-4 generate relevant and accurate Design Decisions, although they fall short of human-level performance. Additionally, we observe that more cost-effective models like GPT-3.5 can achieve similar outcomes in a few-shot setting, and smaller models such as Flan-T5 can yield comparable results after fine-tuning. To conclude, this exploratory study suggests that LLM can generate Design Decisions, but further research is required to attain human-level generation and establish standardized widespread adoption.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2024

SWITCH: An Exemplar for Evaluating Self-Adaptive ML-Enabled Systems

Addressing runtime uncertainties in Machine Learning-Enabled Systems (MLS) is crucial for maintaining Quality of Service (QoS). The Machine Learning Model Balancer is a concept that addresses these uncertainties by facilitating dynamic ML model switching, showing promise in improving QoS in MLS. Leveraging this concept, this paper introduces SWITCH, an exemplar developed to enhance self-adaptive capabilities in such systems through dynamic model switching in runtime. SWITCH is designed as a comprehensive web service catering to a broad range of ML scenarios, with its implementation demonstrated through an object detection use case. SWITCH provides researchers with a flexible platform to apply and evaluate their ML model switching strategies, aiming to enhance QoS in MLS. SWITCH features advanced input handling, real-time data processing, and logging for adaptation metrics supplemented with an interactive real-time dashboard for enhancing system observability. This paper details SWITCH's architecture, self-adaptation strategies through ML model switching, and its empirical validation through a case study, illustrating its potential to improve QoS in MLS. By enabling a hands-on approach to explore adaptive behaviors in ML systems, SWITCH contributes a valuable tool to the SEAMS community for research into self-adaptive mechanisms for MLS and their practical applications.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2024

Engineering End-to-End Remote Labs using IoT-based Retrofitting

Remote labs are a groundbreaking development in the education industry, providing students with access to laboratory education anytime, anywhere. However, most remote labs are costly and difficult to scale, especially in developing countries. With this as a motivation, this paper proposes a new remote labs (RLabs) solution that includes two use case experiments: Vanishing Rod and Focal Length. The hardware experiments are built at a low-cost by retrofitting Internet of Things (IoT) components. They are also made portable by designing miniaturised and modular setups. The software architecture designed as part of the solution seamlessly supports the scalability of the experiments, offering compatibility with a wide range of hardware devices and IoT platforms. Additionally, it can live-stream remote experiments without needing dedicated server space for the stream. The software architecture also includes an automation suite that periodically checks the status of the experiments using computer vision (CV). RLabs is qualitatively evaluated against seven non-functional attributes - affordability, portability, scalability, compatibility, maintainability, usability, and universality. Finally, user feedback was collected from a group of students, and the scores indicate a positive response to the students' learning and the platform's usability.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2023

Towards Self-Adaptive Machine Learning-Enabled Systems Through QoS-Aware Model Switching

Machine Learning (ML), particularly deep learning, has seen vast advancements, leading to the rise of Machine Learning-Enabled Systems (MLS). However, numerous software engineering challenges persist in propelling these MLS into production, largely due to various run-time uncertainties that impact the overall Quality of Service (QoS). These uncertainties emanate from ML models, software components, and environmental factors. Self-adaptation techniques present potential in managing run-time uncertainties, but their application in MLS remains largely unexplored. As a solution, we propose the concept of a Machine Learning Model Balancer, focusing on managing uncertainties related to ML models by using multiple models. Subsequently, we introduce AdaMLS, a novel self-adaptation approach that leverages this concept and extends the traditional MAPE-K loop for continuous MLS adaptation. AdaMLS employs lightweight unsupervised learning for dynamic model switching, thereby ensuring consistent QoS. Through a self-adaptive object detection system prototype, we demonstrate AdaMLS's effectiveness in balancing system and model performance. Preliminary results suggest AdaMLS surpasses naive and single state-of-the-art models in QoS guarantees, heralding the advancement towards self-adaptive MLS with optimal QoS in dynamic environments.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2021

Architecture Design for Human-Driven Systems

This paper highlights humans' social and mobility behaviors' role in the continuous engineering of sustainable socio-technical systems. Our approach relates the humans' characteristics and intentions with the system's goals, and models such interaction. Such a modeling approach aligns the architectural design and associated quality of service (QoS) with humans' quality of experience (QoE). We design a simulation environment that combines agent-based social simulation (ABSS) with architectural models generated through a model-driven engineering approach. Our modeling approach facilitates choosing the best architectural model and system configuration to enhance both the humans' and system's sustainability. We apply our approach to the Uffizi Galleries crowd management system. Taking advantage of real data, we model different scenarios that impact QoE. We then assess various architectural models with different SW/HW configurations to propose the optimal model based on different scenarios concerning QoS-QoE requirements.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2021

A Service for Supporting Digital and Immersive Cultural Experiences

Cultural heritage sites in Italy typically attract a large number of tourists every year. However, the lack of support for i) locating contents of interest; ii) discovering information on specific contents; and iii) ease of navigation within the heritage site; hinders the overall experience of the visitor. To this end, in this work, we present a Digital Object Space Management service developed as a part of the VASARI project. The service generates a digital twin (with 3D visualization) of a given cultural heritage site and further provides support for navigation and localization, thereby providing an immersive cultural experience to the visitor.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2021

Software Architecture for ML-based Systems: What Exists and What Lies Ahead

The increasing usage of machine learning (ML) coupled with the software architectural challenges of the modern era has resulted in two broad research areas: i) software architecture for ML-based systems, which focuses on developing architectural techniques for better developing ML-based software systems, and ii) ML for software architectures, which focuses on developing ML techniques to better architect traditional software systems. In this work, we focus on the former side of the spectrum with a goal to highlight the different architecting practices that exist in the current scenario for architecting ML-based software systems. We identify four key areas of software architecture that need the attention of both the ML and software practitioners to better define a standard set of practices for architecting ML-based software systems. We base these areas in light of our experience in architecting an ML-based software system for solving queuing challenges in one of the largest museums in Italy.

cs.SE↗