A proposed meta‐model for formalizing systems engineering knowledge, based on functional architectural patterns

Abstract

Design patterns and architecture patterns have been considerably promoted by software engineering. The software oriented tools and methods have been adapted for Systems Engineering, conforming to the model driven engineering paradigm proposed by the Object Management Group. However, designers of complex socio-technical systems have specific concerns, which differ from those of software designers. We propose a method of pattern implementation for Systems Engineering, based on a functional approach and relying on formal conceptual foundations in the form of a meta-model, which can be used for the management, application, and cataloguing of patterns specific to the field of Systems Engineering. A pattern instance in the field of control systems is proposed as an example application.

Towards Model‐based Systems Engineering (Mbse) Patterns to Efficiently Reuse Know‐how

“…The engineering artefact on which a pattern is applied may be the system of interest (SOI) or systems engineering activities (SEA) -such as requirements engineering, functional architecture design, and physical architecture design -whose aim is to produce a model of the SOI (Pfister et al 2012). Both should be addressed in order to propose a broad approach for generic patterns based on MBSE methodology.…”

“…In the field of systems engineering, Barter (1998) and Haskins (2003), were the first to introduce pattern and pattern language for capturing the engineering knowledge. (Pfister et al 2012) adapted the concept to functional architecture design and describe patterns with an enhanced function flow block diagram (eFFBD), which is translatable into SysML, allowing a bridge with MBSE. However, other works are trying to link MBSE and patterns.…”

A Prescriptive Approach to Quality-Focused System Architecture

“…These system engineering patterns provide guidelines for system architecting but do not address -ilities desired for complex engineering systems. A method of pattern implementation for system engineering based on a functional approach is proposed in [45]. In this paper, investigators argue that functional architecture patterns are key elements for knowledge reuse in system engineering and propose a meta-model to represent patterns in functional graph structures.…”

A Reference Architecture for Mobile SOA

“…The benefit of this approach to patterns is that they should not remain stagnant, but instead be improved through continuous application” [Cloutier and Verma, ]. Patterns improve communication between various stakeholders [Cloutier and Verma, ], facilitate collaborative work [Pfister et al., ], and facilitate reuse which reduces the effort required for system testing, integration and maintenance [Cloutier and Verma, ]; they reportedly improve product quality and save time [Pfister et al., ]. Such patterns may also help control the complexity of architectures [Cloutier and Verma, ].…”