Advances in enabling technologies, such as wireless networking and communication, have brought computer systems into almost every aspect of daily life. Many areas of individual and mass transportation have become almost completely dependent on the correct functioning of software services. Cars, for instance, rely heavily on the complex interplay of hundreds to thousands of software functions that are distributed over dozens of networked computer systems. Some of these functions manage highly safety-relevant aspects of the vehicle. Service-oriented software and systems engineering has emerged as a promising approach to managing the integration complexity of high-quality, feature-rich systems-of-systems. This research focuses on a novel methodology for service-oriented development of highly interactive software systems. At the core of the methodology is the understanding that services, and their composition, emerge from the interplay of interacting components. This gives rise to a fresh look at the composition and refinement of services and components as composition and refinement, respectively, of corresponding interaction aspects. Besides theoretical foundations for interaction-based software-services and their composition, intuitive description techniques, an architectural definition language, component synthesis algorithms, and practical development guidelines for service-oriented software development are investigated. The research is validated using case studies from the automotive domain.
