Towards Early Validation and Verification of System Behaviour with Heterogenous Models in Systems Engineering

Sammanfattning: Systems Engineering (SE) is an established paradigm for developing complex systems across several domains. As systems are becoming more complex, partly due to the increase in software-related considerations, traditional methods of SE are becoming less effective and struggle to handle the development complexity of modern systems, and more recently, the shift towards model-centric development is taking over and becoming the standard practice. The early availability of models from the very start of system development has several potential benefits, such as increased traceability, clarity from model diagrams, and improved analytical capabilities due to underlying semantics. An essential and often argued benefit of using models is the increased ability to perform Validation and Verification (V&V) activities on systems described using model-based representations, particularly employed in early stages of development processes. The use of model-based approaches needs to be carefully integrated into the SE process, as a model with too little detail cannot provide an analysis of worth, however, a detailed model takes considerable effort to implement. This research investigates early V&V of system behaviour in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Notably, the research investigates the analysis of low-fidelity system descriptions in the form of one or several semi-formal models described through standard languages, often by several different stakeholders. The research discusses how common artefacts found in the early stages of MBSE can be leveraged for system behaviour analysis and how system modelling can be promoted for SE practitioners to deploy early V&V capabilities.