Abstract

This thesis looks at the search for a generic information retrieval software architecture. I start with background information on the state of generic information retrieval, the organizations involved in this project and then explain the research goals that my thesis will attempt to reach.

The requirements analysis is done through the use of interviews due to a lack of existing systems to examine. By lack of existing systems, I am referring to the lack of existing information retrieval architectures that allow for the modular construction of generic information retrieval systems. The modular construction is important to facilitate the building of research prototypes and this is missing in the existing information retrieval architectural solutions, which tend to focus on single solution domains.

The requirements analysis resulted in the narrowing of my scope to resource access. An architectural reference model also grew out of the analysis and the next step was to expand this into a reference architecture. By using the requirements analysis as a starting point, three use cases were generated to use as a basis for creation of the reference architecture.

A domain analysis using the three use cases made it possible to take a look at the possible features and a feature diagram was created to show their relationships. The resulting reference architecture was tested in a proof of concept by mapping these features to stubs and plug-ins using the use case map as a notational tool.

The final software architecture is presented with stubs and various plug-ins used to denote the options used to fulfill both the functional and non-functional requirements that were set at the beginning of this project. This software architecture is explained and the conclusions are presented with a few suggestions for further development.

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