Linking Telecom Service High-level Abstract Models to Simulators based on Model Transformations: The IMS Case Study

Part 3: ManagementInternational audienceTelecommunication services are widespread and subject today to tensions on a competitive market. Telecommunication service design is more and more software oriented. To reduce time to market and cost of services, a service designer better need to simulate and evaluate his design earlier. The approach proposed in this paper is to reduce the abstraction gap between modeling and simulation phases using model transformation. But manual transformations are so far time consuming and error prone.As a trustworthy solution, model based techniques and associated transformations permit to systematically link service models with simulation phase before realization. We thus propose as a first contribution a meta-model dedicated to concepts of IP Multimedia Subsystem core network as a case study. Our meta-model constrains and defines such network entities to be used in the code generation, which is our second contribution. The implementation of a video conference service permits to illustrate our workbench

OT Modeling: The Enterprise Beyond IT

Enterprises are composed of an enormous number of elements (e.g., organizational units, human resources, production processes, and IT systems) typically classified in the business or the IT domain. However, some crucial elements do not belong in either group: they are directly responsible for producing and delivering the company’s goods and services and include all the elements that support day to day operations. Collectively, these elements have been called operational technologies (OT) and have been conspicuously excluded from enterprise modeling (EM) approaches which traditionally have focused on the business and IT dimensions. Evidence of this is the absence of OT elements in languages and metamodels for EM. This is in line with the historical division between IT and OT in organizations that has led to information silos, independent teams, and disparate tech- nologies that only recently have started to be reconciled. Considering that OT is critical to most productive organi- zations, and the benefits that EM brings to its understand- ing and improvement, it makes sense to expand EM to include OT. For that purpose, this paper proposes an extension to ArchiMate 3.0 which includes crucial OT elements. On top of that, this paper also proposes an approach to further expand ArchiMate to address specific industries where more specific OT elements are required. This is illustrated in the paper with an extension for the Oil and Gas case that was validated with experts belonging to five companies in the sector

Architecting the CDIO educational framework pursuant to constructive alignment principles

On the one hand, no one international model for quality assurance evaluation of higher education has emerged. On the other hand, as a reference model rather than a prescription, the CDIO initiative proposes a mature integrated framework for creation or continuous improvement of engineering programs. However, institutions developing and managing educational programs have to juggle the expectation of various accreditation and evaluation bodies, which may create consistency and interoperability problems. A need exists to unambiguously specify relations among quality assurance concepts to enable more transparent and comparable descriptions of quality frameworks for educational programs. Following constructive alignment principles, this article creates structural models using some of the CDIO Standards. In doing so it lays the foundations of an architectural meta-model for describing complex educational systems, which will contribute to consistency and interoperability among quality frameworks.Siegfried Rouvrais, Vanea Chipriano

Extending enterprise architecture modeling languages: application to telecommunications service creation

Enterprise Engineering offers a global view on multiple concerns such as processes, stakeholders, supporting technology. This global view is sustained by Enterprise Architecture frameworks, languages, tools and standards. The current effort has been focused on general purpose Enterprise Architecture frameworks, modeling languages and tools, which allow describing a wide range of domains. While they are expressive enough at the business layer, at the technical layer, where more detail is needed to describe a domain specific system, such general purpose Enterprise Architecture Modeling Languages sometime lack the semantic strength required. The concepts present in the language are too abstract, they need refinement and specification. To provide the necessary specific semantic strength, this paper proposes an approach to extend Enterprise Architecture Modeling Languages with domain specificity. The proposed approach is a model-driven one, allowing a high degree of automation in the building of tools for the language extension. To better show its benefits, the approach is applied on the domain of Telecommunications, for defining an Enterprise Architecture Modeling Language extension for service creation. The so defined language and its associated tools are illustrated on an IP Multimedia Subsystem conferencing service example.Vanea Chiprianov, Yvon Kermarrec, Siegfried Rouvrai

Extending enterprise architecture modeling languages for domain specificity and collaboration: application to telecommunication service design

The competitive market forces organizations to be agile and flexible so as to react robustly to complex events. Modeling helps managing this complexity. However, in order to model an enterprise, many stakeholders, with different expertise, must work together and take decisions. These decisions and their rationale are not always captured explicitly, in a standard, formal manner. The main problem is to persuade stakeholders to capture them. This article synthesizes an approach for capturing and using the rationale behind enterprise modeling decisions. The approach is implemented through a domain-specific modeling language, defined as an extension of a standard enterprise architecture modeling language. It promotes coordination, enables presenting different stakeholders’ points of view, facilities participation and collaboration in modeling activities—activities focused here on enterprise architecture viewpoints. To present its benefits, such as rapid prototyping, the approach is applied to large organizations in the context of telecommunication service design. It is exemplified on modeling and capturing decisions on a conference service.Vanea Chiprianov, Yvon Kermarrec, Siegfried Rouvrais, Jacques Simoni

Demonstration of model-driven performance prediction of distributed real-time embedded systems of systems

Investigating the performance of system of systems raises significant challenges due to their distributed and interconnected nature. To determine the suitability of different architectural alternatives, the proposed performance prediction process captures and analyses system metrics. Metric visualisation provides feedback to system experts who can pose performance questions and decide on the optimal architectural design. To support this process, this paper presents a model driven engineering and system execution modelling tool set. This provides early insight into architectural characteristics and assists in the design and development of Distributed Real-time and Embedded systems of systems.Marianne Rieckmann, Daniel Fraser, Vanea Chiprianov, Claudia Szabo, Katrina Falkne

A model-driven engineering method for DRE defence systems performance analysis and prediction

Autonomous, Distributed Real-Time Embedded (DRE) defence systems are typically characterized by hard constraints on space, weight, and power. These constraints have a strong impact on the nonfunctional properties of the final system, especially its performance. System execution modeling tools permit early prediction of the performance of model-driven systems; however, the focus to date has been on the practical aspects and creating tools that work in specific cases, rather than on the process and methodology applied. In this chapter, the authors present an integrated method to performance analysis and prediction of model-driven DRE defense systems. They present both the tools to support the process and a method to define these tools. The authors explore these tools and processes within an industry case study from a defense context.Katrina Falkner, Vanea Chiprianov, Nickolas Falkner, Claudia Szabo, Gavin Pudd

Modeling scenarios for the performance prediction of distributed real-time embedded systems

Autonomous defence systems are typically characterized by hard constraints on space, weight and power. These constraints have a strong impact on the non-functional properties and especially performance of the final system. System execution modelling tools permit early prediction of the performance of model driven systems; however they are intended for one shot analysis, not for repeatable, interactive use. In this paper we propose a Domain Specific Language for describing scenarios to repeatedly test a system execution model within a Synthetic Environment. We exemplify it by describing and executing a scenario involving an UAV and a CMS.Katrina Falkner, Vanea Chiprianov, Nickolas Falkner, Claudia Szabo, Gavin Pudd

Model-driven performance prediction of systems of systems

Systems of systems exhibit characteristics that pose difficulty in modelling and predicting their overall performance capabilities, including the presence of operational independence, emergent behaviour, and evolutionary development. When considering systems of systems within the autonomous defence systems context, these aspects become increasingly critical, as constraints on the performance of the final system are typically driven by hard constraints on space, weight and power. System execution modelling languages and tools permit early prediction of the performance of model-driven systems; however, the focus to date has been on understanding the performance of a model rather than determining whether it meets performance requirements, and only subsequently carrying out analysis to reveal the causes of any requirement violations. Moreover, such an analysis is even more difficult when applied to several systems cooperating to achieve a common goala-a system of systems. In this article, we propose an integrated approach to performance prediction of model-driven real-time embedded defence systems and systems of systems. Our architectural prototyping system supports a scenario-driven experimental platform for evaluating model suitability within a set of deployment and real-time performance constraints. We present an overview of our performance prediction system, demonstrating the integration of modelling, execution and performance analysis, and discuss a case study to illustrate our approach.Katrina Falkner, Claudia Szabo, Vanea Chiprianov, Gavin Puddy, Marianne Rieckmann, Dan Fraser, Cathlyn Asto

Model-driven performance prediction of distributed real-time embedded defence systems

Autonomous defence systems are typically characterised by hard constraints on space, weight and power. These constraints have a strong impact on the non-functional properties, and performance, of the final system. System execution modelling tools permit early prediction of the performance of model driven systems, however the focus to date has been on understanding the performance of a model rather than determining if it meets performance requirements, and subsequently carrying out analysis to reveal the causes of any requirement violations. In this paper, we propose an integrated approach to performance prediction of model-driven distributed real time embedded defence systems. Our architectural prototyping system supports a scenario-driven experimental platform for evaluating model suitability within a set of deployment and real-time performance constraints. We present an overview of our performance prediction system, demonstrating the integration of modelling, execution and visualisation, and discuss a case study to illustrate our approach.Katrina Falkner, Vanea Chiprianov, Nickolas J.G. Falkner, Claudia Szabo, James H. Hill, Gavin Puddy, Dan Fraser, Adrian Johnston, Marianne Rieckmann, Andrew Walli