Modular and Distributed Verification of SysML Activity Diagrams

International audienceModel-based development for complex system design has been used to support the increase of systems complexity. SysML is a modeling language that allows a system description with various integrated diagrams, but SysML lacks formality for the requirement verification. Translating SysML-based specification into Petri nets allows to enable rigorous system analysis. However, for complex systems, we have to deal with the state space explosion problem. In this paper, we propose new approach to allow a modular and distributed verification of SysML Activity Diagram basing on the derived Petri net

Mapping SysML to modelica to validate wireless sensor networks non-functional requirements

International audienceWireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have registered a large success in the scientific and industrial communities for their broad application domains. Furthermore, the WSN specification is a complex task considering to their distributed and embedded nature and the strong interactions between their hardware and software parts. Moreover, most of approaches use semi-formal methods to design systems and generally simulation to validate their properties in order to produce models without errors and conform to the system specifications. In this context, we propose a Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach to improve the verification of the WSN properties. This approach combines the advantages of the System Modeling Language (SysML) and the Modelica language which promote the reusability and improve the development process. In this work, we specify a model transformation from SysML static, dynamic and requirement diagrams to their corresponding elements in Modelica. Thanks to the SysML requirement diagram which is transformed into Modelica properties (constraints), we propose a technique using dynamic tests to verify WSN properties. We have used the Topcased platform to implement our approach 1 and chosen a crossroads monitoring system which is based on wireless sensors to illustrate it. Besides, we have verified and validated some wireless sensors properties of the studied system

Executable system architecting using systems modeling language in conjunction with Colored Petri Nets - a demonstration using the GEOSS network centric system

Models and simulation furnish abstractions to manage complexities allowing engineers to visualize the proposed system and to analyze and validate system behavior before constructing it. Unified Modeling Language (UML) and its systems engineering extension, Systems Modeling Language (SysML), provide a rich set of diagrams for systems specification. However, the lack of executable semantics of such notations limits the capability of analyzing and verifying defined specifications. This research has developed an executable system architecting framework based on SysML-CPN transformation, which introduces dynamic model analysis into SysML modeling by mapping SysML notations to Colored Petri Net (CPN), a graphical language for system design, specification, simulation, and verification. A graphic user interface was also integrated into the CPN model to enhance the model-based simulation. A set of methodologies has been developed to achieve this framework. The aim is to investigate system wide properties of the proposed system, which in turn provides a basis for system reconfiguration --Abstract, page iii

Model-Based Systems Engineering Approach to Distributed and Hybrid Simulation Systems

INCOSE defines Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) as the formalized application of modeling to support system requirements, design, analysis, verification, and validation activities beginning in the conceptual design phase and continuing throughout development and later life cycle phases. One very important development is the utilization of MBSE to develop distributed and hybrid (discrete-continuous) simulation modeling systems. MBSE can help to describe the systems to be modeled and help make the right decisions and partitions to tame complexity. The ability to embrace conceptual modeling and interoperability techniques during systems specification and design presents a great advantage in distributed and hybrid simulation systems development efforts. Our research is aimed at the definition of a methodological framework that uses MBSE languages, methods and tools for the development of these simulation systems. A model-based composition approach is defined at the initial steps to identify distributed systems interoperability requirements and hybrid simulation systems characteristics. Guidelines are developed to adopt simulation interoperability standards and conceptual modeling techniques using MBSE methods and tools. Domain specific system complexity and behavior can be captured with model-based approaches during the system architecture and functional design requirements definition. MBSE can allow simulation engineers to formally model different aspects of a problem ranging from architectures to corresponding behavioral analysis, to functional decompositions and user requirements (Jobe, 2008)

Non-functional property analysis using UML2.0 and model transformations

Real-time embedded architectures consist of software and hardware parts. Meeting non-functional constraints (e.g., real-time constraints) greatly depends on the mappings from the system functionalities to software and hardware components. Thus, there is a strong demand for precise architecture and allocation modeling, amenable to performance analysis. The report proposes a model-driven approach for the assessment of the quality of allocations of the system functionalities to the architecture. We consider two technical domains: the UML domain for the definition of the model elements (for both description and analysis), and an analysis domain, external to UML, used for formal verification. This report defines three meta-models, one for each domain, and provides automated transformations within and between these domains. A special attention is then paid to temporal property analysis, based on a particular analysis model: the Modular and Hierarchical Time Petri Nets

SYSML BASED CUBESAT MODEL DESIGN AND INTEGRATION WITH THE HORIZON SIMULATION FRAMEWORK

This thesis examines the feasibility of substituting the system input script of Cal Poly’s Horizon Simulation Framework (HSF) with a Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) model designed with the Systems Modeling Language (SysML). A concurrent student project, SysML Output Interface Creation for the Horizon Simulation Framework, focused on design of the HSF Translator Plugin which converts SysML models to an HSF specific XML format. A SysML model of the HSF test case, Aeolus, was designed. The original Aeolus HSF input script and the translated SysML input script retained the format and dependency structure required by HSF. Both input scripts returned identical results and thus validated the feasibility of linking SysML with HSF through the HSF Translator Plugin. A second SysML model of the Cal Poly CubeSat mission, ExoCube, was also designed and converted into an HSF input script. The ExoCube input script also retained the format and dependency structure required by HSF. This demonstrated that future SysML models can be used in conjunction with the HSF Translator Plugin to create a functional HSF system input script

Collaborative Verification-Driven Engineering of Hybrid Systems

Hybrid systems with both discrete and continuous dynamics are an important model for real-world cyber-physical systems. The key challenge is to ensure their correct functioning w.r.t. safety requirements. Promising techniques to ensure safety seem to be model-driven engineering to develop hybrid systems in a well-defined and traceable manner, and formal verification to prove their correctness. Their combination forms the vision of verification-driven engineering. Often, hybrid systems are rather complex in that they require expertise from many domains (e.g., robotics, control systems, computer science, software engineering, and mechanical engineering). Moreover, despite the remarkable progress in automating formal verification of hybrid systems, the construction of proofs of complex systems often requires nontrivial human guidance, since hybrid systems verification tools solve undecidable problems. It is, thus, not uncommon for development and verification teams to consist of many players with diverse expertise. This paper introduces a verification-driven engineering toolset that extends our previous work on hybrid and arithmetic verification with tools for (i) graphical (UML) and textual modeling of hybrid systems, (ii) exchanging and comparing models and proofs, and (iii) managing verification tasks. This toolset makes it easier to tackle large-scale verification tasks