The C4ISR Architecture Framework document issued by the Department of Defense specifies three views of an information architecture and defines a set of products that describe each view. These architecture views are to serve as the basis for C4ISR system development and acquisition. The Framework does not provide a process for architecture design. In this paper, information architectures are described in the context of Structured Analysis, and then the architecture views of the Framework and the related products are interpreted in that context. A methodology for architecture design is developed that is then implemented using Structured Analysis and object orientation in two companion papers.
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has mandated the development of Command, Control, Communications Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Architectures to support the acquisition of systems that are interoperable and will meet the needs of military coalitions. This paper provides a general description of an architecting process based on the object oriented Unified Modeling Language (UML) that includes three phases: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It then provides a rationale for style constraints on the use of UML artifacts for representing DoD C4ISR architectures. Finally the paper describes both a mapping between the UML artifacts and an executable model based on Colored Petri nets that can be used for logical, behavioral, and performance evaluation of the architecture. A procedure for the conversion is also provided.
A Structured Analysis based process for developing C4ISR architectures is presented. The process demonstrates the feasibility of developing architecture descriptions that conform to the C4ISR Architecture Framework based on the Structured Analysis paradigm that underlies the concepts and definitions in the Framework. Furthermore, the process incorporates the derivation of an executable model that can reveal the logical, behavioral, and performance characteristics of the architecture. The complete process is illustrated through an example involving the insertion of a new technology in a large legacy system.
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