Agile modeling of an evolving ballistic missile defense system with Object-Process Methodology

Abstract

Evolution of requirements and systems has led to the proliferation of agile development as a matter of course in the current technological landscape. The rate of change poses a significant dilemma to stakeholders regarding the amount of effort and resources they should invest in methodological practices, including modeling, design, analysis, and specification. The attempt to move quickly from concept to operation often leads to preference of expedience for gaining early time-to-market over quality and robustness. Rather than referring to the modeling vs. agility challenge as a dilemma, we perceive it as an opportunity for synergy. Building on Object-Process Methodology (OPM)—the new ISO-19450 standard, we propose an agile model-based systems engineering (MBSE) framework that facilitates, and fosters development agility and system evolution. This agile MBSE framework extends the traditional scope of system modeling to cover aspects of functional and structural evolution, phase transition, deployment feedback, and configuration interdependence. We demonstrate the applicability of agile MBSE on a hypothetical ballistic missile defense system, based on publicly available information on Iron Dome - an Israeli ballistic missile defense system with proven operational capability.