Model‐based protocol specification

Abstract

We propose a holistic Model-Based Protocol Specification (MBPS) framework. Standards, procedures, and protocols are important anchors for interconnected systems: they facilitate the connectivity of billions of devices around the world, commodify advanced technologies and solutions, and enable efficient services involving trillions of transactions in aviation, medicine, e-commerce, transportation, infrastructure, and other domains. Domain protocols allow for conventional interactions within a domain among ecosystem entities and humans (eg, airline ticketing, financial transactions, etc). Protocol specifications must be formal, consistent, and verifiable. Nevertheless, most current standard protocols are text-based, unverifiable, and often inconsistent with themselves and with other standards. Text-based standards are difficult to manage, track, control, and adopt. MBPS includes three critical enablers: a modeling language, a modeling process, and a model-supported standardization process. This paper employs Object-Process Methodology (OPM), a model-based systems engineering framework, endorsed as ISO-19450, for modeling and simulation of the generic protocol specification process and for two examples: (a) a Kerberos authentication protocol revision based on a previous Kerberos model and on a recently discovered vulnerability and (b) a domain-specific Publish-Subscribe protocol application for selective information distribution. K E Y W O R D S formal protocol specification, Kerberos, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), objectprocess methodology (OPM), publish-subscribe INTRODUCTIONThe ISO 9000 revolution in the world of business process management and quality led to clear definitions of the terms standard and procedure. 1 A standard is a specification of requirements, guidelines, or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes, and services are fit for their purpose. As this definition implies, standards are nonbinding, often informal documents, yet broadly accepted, adopted, and applied, even if they lack in formality. Standards often include or constitute specifications of procedures and protocols, among other elements such as conventions, attributes, and quality requirements. A procedure is a specification of an activity or process. The term protocol, which originated from the domains of law and diplomacy, has become a common term in computer and communication technology for formal conventions. Large standardization bodies publish standards for common practices, industry-wide conventions, solution integration, compatibility, exchangeability, and interoperability. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the Inter-net Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Object Modeling Group (OMG) are major standardization bodies. Standards are sometimes premature, when they are formed for emerging domains, such as Internet of Things (IoT) 2,3 and electric v...

Toward Systems Engineering Meta‐Methodology

“…We implemented and enhanced the meta-methodological approach in eight different method design projects, including model-based protocol specification (Mordecai 2019), model-based operational scene diagnosis (Grimberg, Levin-Elad, and Mordecai 2022), analyzing system architectures using category theory and graph theory (Mordecai, Fairbanks, and Crawley 2021), modelbased ontology coverage analysis (Mordecai et al 2022), digital systems engineering enterprise architecture (Mordecai, de Weck, and Crawley 2020), and applied science enterprise architecture (Mordecai and Malshe 2023). Significant attention was given in those projects to the need for: a. rigorous and robust foundations of the methodological aspects of the study, and b. convincing evidence for the value and merit of the proposed methods, mostly compared to legacy approaches.…”

What is knowledge in Industry 4.0?

“…Though knowledge-state 68 may be used to solve this problem, it would be challenging to implement it in real-life scenarios without the types of knowledge. Though the semantic networks of linked data and knowledge (ie, knowledge graphs or concept maps) integrate the relevant data, information, and knowledge to solve problems in engineered systems, [76][77][78] the maps are created without making any distinctions among knowledge, data, and information. As a result, when the so-called knowledge state 68 changes, its influence randomly propagates to the whole network.…”