Challenges of secure and reliable data management in heterogeneous environments

Ubiquitous computing is getting more important since requirements for complex systems grow fast. In these systems, embedded devices have to fulfill different tasks. They have to monitor the environment, store data, communicate with other devices, and react to user input. In addition to this complexity, quality issues such as security and reliability have to be considered, as well, due to their increasing use in life critical application scenarios. Finally, different devices with different application goals are used, which results in interoperability problems. In this paper, we highlight challenges for interoperability, data management, and security, which arise with complex systems. Furthermore, we present approaches to overcome different problems and how an integrated solution can be realized using software product line techniques.