Integration of different system engineering methods using an object-oriented model

Abstract

The development of large, complex systems consisting of both hardware and software normally involves several companies and/or development teams for the development of the different subsystems forming the entire system. Depending on the kind of subsystem to be developed, these different development teams normally use different system engineering methodologies and/or tool sets to produce their subsystems. However, the usage of different methodologies and tools makes technical management and quality assurance for the entire development effort a difficult task. Therefore the development as well as the maintenance of future systems with their increasing size and complexity requires a common frame for the entire system development and maintenance effort covering different kinds of subsystems, like graphical user interfaces, database systems, expert systems, real-time systems, and so on. This common frame should support the separate and independent development of the different subsystems by different subcontractors using different system engineering methods, the integration of these subsystems to the entire system as well as the maintenance of the entire system. A hierarchical object-oriented model for the encapsulation and integration of different system engineering methods can serve as this common frame, providing traceability from the system requirements model to the implemented system while giving each subsystem development team full scope in choosing the system engineering method most suitable for a specific subsystem. The approach underlying this object-oriented model is the encapsulation of the different subsystems in “high-level objects,” which can be either further decomposed into “high-level object” or described in more detail using any appropriate system engineering method. The integration of these “high-level objects” to the entire system is supported by a “definition object” on each layer of each system engineering models and the different “high-level objects.”