Self-adaptive Internet of Things Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

The dynamic and uncertain nature in which IoT systems operate has led to the exploration of new emerging Software Engineering approaches, such as self-adaptation, to provide these systems with autonomous capabilities to adjust their behavior at runtime to environmental changes. There are numerous primary studies on self-adaptation in IoT; however, it is necessary to deepen and update the state of technological knowledge in this area, especially in aspects that have not been addressed in previous reviews. Therefore, this paper presents a systematic review of the literature on self-adaptation in IoT systems, according to the guidelines proposed by Kitchenham et al. and the self-adapting topology created by Krupitzer et al. This review aims to answer the following research questions: i) In what context has self-adaptation been used in the IoT domain? ii) How is self-adaptation performed in IoT platforms? and iii) What is the research approach in studies related to self-adaptive systems in IoT? First, 1136 primary studies were obtained through automatic and manual searches. Then, inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to select 84 relevant studies on self-adaptation in IoT. Finally, quantitative and qualitative methods based on extraction criteria were used to synthesize the strengths and weaknesses of the studies concerning the research questions as well as to identify research gaps and opportunities.