A modeling approach for Systems-of-Systems by adapting ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 Standard evaluated by Goal-Question-Metric

Abstract

Context. Systems-of-Systems (SoS) constitute a new category of complex software systems resulting from the integration of independent heterogeneous systems. Each constituent system has its own purpose and could interact with other systems to achieve a common goal. SoS have specific characteristics, namely operational and managerial independence of constituent systems, geographic distribution, evolutionary development and emergent behaviors. Due to the complexity of SoS, their development demands special attention to their software architecture description. Objective. In this work, we aim to elaborate an approach for modeling SoS using an Architecture Description Languages (ADL) adequate with SoS' characteristics. In fact, many researches have addressed the problem of describing the software architecture of SoS. However, there is still a lack of ADL having the expressive power to describe SoS software architectures. Method. To address this problem, we proposed an approach based on the standard “ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010: Systems and software engineering- Architecture Description” to describe the software architectures of SoS. Then, we proposed improvements for this standard to be adequate with SoS characteristics. Finally, we conducted a qualitative study based on Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) with a focus group to evaluate the effectiveness of this work. Results. While applying our approach in an illustrative case study which is an SoS entitled Smart City, we modeled three viewpoints for our SoS, expressing its specific characteristics; structural viewpoint, behavioral viewpoint and requirement viewpoint. Each one of these viewpoints is illustrated via an architecture model modeled by multi-labeled graphs which represent an intuitive and formal ADL. The use of multi-labeled graphs allowed as to check the conformity of the obtained architecture models with design rules via the Graph Matching and Transformation Engine (GMTE). Conclusions. It is concluded that the proposed improvements for the standard are important to express specific characteristics of SoS. Moreover, our proposed formal ADL, entitled multi-labeled graphs, allows us to elaborate different models considering different viewpoints to describe the SoS' architecture. Finally, it is important to investigate larger SoS and to conduct a quantitative study to further evaluate the effectiveness of our approach. • Modeling System of Systems based on the standard ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010. • Improving the ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 standard for System of Systems modeling. • System of Systems case study entitled “Smart City”. • Qualitative study based on Goal-Question-Metric (GQM).