ASSESSING INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN BEHAVIOR DIAGRAMS CONSTRUCTED WITH SYSTEMS MODELING LANGUAGE (SYSML) AND MONTEREY PHOENIX (MP)

Abstract

Systems engineers have long struggled to identify and understand system behaviors in the operational environment. System Modeling Language (SysML) is a graphical language used among systems engineers to relay details of the system’s design to various stakeholders. Monterey Phoenix (MP) is a behavioral modeling approach and tool utilizing a lightweight formal method and language to generate diagrams and display expected and unexpected emergent system behaviors. Through systematic analysis of SysML and MP behavior models, this research presents recommendations for improving MP in future releases to accommodate SysML compliance. The ability to merge MP’s scope complete event trace generation into a SysML compliant format would provide great insights and benefits into the DOD acquisition process. Findings from this research include several simple additions to MP diagrams that will better align them with SysML standards while preserving MP’s capability to enable identification of emergent behavior early in the design process, when the risks can be addressed before system design features are ever manufactured or tested.