Graphical modeling of Communication Architectures in Network Control Systems with Traceability to Requirements

For modeling Networked Control System (NCS) a standardized notation is still missing. Approaches like the Unified Modeling Language (UML) or the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) are widespread and accepted, yet remain very general and do not offer support for domain specific problems. Additionally, UML/SysML do not offer graphical support to model domain specific solutions e.g. for network architectures in NCS. UML and SysML-based approaches like MARTE, TURTLE, UML-QoS or SysML-Sec provide more guidance to model network architectures, embedded systems and network systems. However, they still lack a well-defined graphical notation, also referred as concrete syntax, to support the modeling process. To strengthen the modelling, an existing graphical notation is extended, which enables traceability to requirements and the modelling of safety-relevant properties. As case study, a train network architecture is provided to show the feasibility of this notation. Together with industrial experts, the communication architecture of a train-part is modeled and linked to its requirements. The graphical representation includes the necessary information to define the communication in the NCS and is understandable for engineers of the domain without UML/SysML knowledge. The approach was evaluated with experts from industry.     «

For modeling Networked Control System (NCS) a standardized notation is still missing. Approaches like the Unified Modeling Language (UML) or the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) are widespread and accepted, yet remain very general and do not offer support for domain specific problems. Additionally, UML/SysML do not offer graphical support to model domain specific solutions e.g. for network architectures in NCS. UML and SysML-based approaches like MARTE, TURTLE, UML-QoS or SysML-Sec provide more...     »