Organization:OpenMBEE
Overview
The Open Model-Based Engineering Environment (OpenMBEE) is an open community that is focused around developing and creating open source software for model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tasks[1]. The goal of the community is to create an integrated environment for engineering to support modeling, analysis and collaboration between engineers[2]. Such environments are designed to serve multiple modeling languages, like SysML, as well as some techniques for model checking, simulation and document generation with all data being stored in a centralized system model[3]. OpenMBEE also has web services for integrating models and building web applications that use those models[4]. Some of these services, like the View Editor (see the components section), have the ability to make web-based technical documents from cross-referenced information stored directly in the underlying engineering models[3]. This allows engineers to use model information in a way that can be analyzed as well as consumed in formal technical human formats[3]. It also enables engineers to work in the language of their choice and easily share and document their work across other tools[5]. For example, the Model Management System (MMS), developed by the community, can be used to store engineering models that can be accessed from SysML desktop clients like MagicDraw, light-weight web-based clients like View Editor, mathematical computation programs like Mathematica, and is open to other tools via RESTful web services[5]. Additionally it provides infrastructure for versioning, workflow management, and access control[6].
Components/Projects
OpenMBEE has a variety of open source projects and open source models that have been developed by the community[4]. These range from standalone software like the MMS to plugins or extensions for commercial tools like MagicDraw etc[3]. OpenMBEE software is licensed under Apache 2.0 or another compatible open source license[4].
OpenSE Cookbook
The OpenSE Cookbook is a collection of modeling patterns, procedures and best practices put forth by the OpenMBEE community for systems engineers looking for guidance on how to implement MBSE in their projects or organizations[7]. The content of the cookbook demonstrates how to build and analyze system models using OpenMBEE software including examples from both small educational models and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) model. These examples represent implementations of systems engineering workflows such as how to verify requirements, roll-up technical resources, and analysis. The best practices presented are taken from the existing SysML literature[2]. The original version of the cookbook was created by the INCOSE Telescope Modeling Challenge Team then later adapted by the OpenMBEE community[7].
The Model Management System (MMS)
The MMS contains services for managing models and is a version control system for structured data. It employs RESTful web services that can be used for CRUD operations, branching, and tagging of the model repository. This allows model data to be queried, analyzed and displayed with different tools and repositories across engineering, computing, and management disciplines[6]. The MMS is built around the View Service which supports the transclusion features of Views[2]. The concepts of view and viewpoint, as defined in ISO-42010, exist to provide a model of the information to be presented to address stakeholders’ concerns by focusing on how the information in a model is used[3]. The community implemented DocGen to allow for generation of both static and dynamic, human readable engineering documents directly from the the model data stored in the MMS[3].
The View Editor (VE)
The View Editor is a light weight web client designed by the community to display the aforementioned dynamic engineering documents. It is a way to interact with SysML models within a web-based environment via the MMS REST API and allows users to create, read, and update model elements, including Documents and Views. This provides direct access to model data outside of any modeling tool (like MagicDraw) which opens up for more efficient collaboration with engineers or management that are non-modelers[8]. According to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK), the benefit over a traditional document-based approach is that currently disconnected artifacts become related in the model, enabling the production of consistent model-based documentation[5].
View Editor works in conjunction with the various Model Development Kits so data in different modeling tools can be shown in a primarily narrative format on the web without losing the connection to the data sources. In addition, View Editor allows presentation elements such as text fields, tables, videos or iframes to be added directly via the web interface[3].
Model Development Kits (MDKs)
Model Development Kits are tool-specific integrations with the primary purpose of syncing model information from these tools with the MMS. They are used to interact with both SysML modeling tools like MagicDraw and computational analysis tools like Mathematica[5]. These connections between tools allow the MMS to serve as the authoritative source of truth for the model while engineers carry out their modeling and analysis in the tool of their choice[3].
Cameo MDK
The Cameo MDK (formerly MagicDraw MDK) is a plugin for Cameo Systems Modeler that allows users to synchronize models with the MMS and generate documents and views using queries and viewpoint patterns[9].
Jupyter MDK
The Jupyter MDK couples the MMS’s element based storage and versioning with Jupyter notebooks enabling Python REST client libraries to be used to interact with and present model data[2].
Other MDKs
Some other MDKs include[4]:
- Mathematica MDK for Wolfram Mathematica
- MATLAB MDK for MATLAB
- Cameo MDK Systems Reasoner for Cameo Systems Modeler
- Cameo MDK Expression for Cameo Systems Modeler
Comodo
Comodo is a tool that can transform a UML model into different text artifacts that can be used for different platforms. Based on Xpand/Xtend, it is not tool-dependent and can be used to create new text artifacts based on custom templates. The toolkit has been developed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to build telescope and instrument control and supervisor applications for different software platforms[2].
Applications/Implementations/Usage
Thirty Meter Telescope
The Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory, a project by the TMT Observatory Corporation, has been using MMS, VE, and MDKs for creating engineering documentation from executable SysML models. The TMT SysML model is an industrial scale application of OpenMBEE and system-level behavior simulation[5]. It is built with an approach to model-based systems analysis with SysML that is both rigorous and automated. The rigor is established with a modeling method that is an extension of INCOSE’s Object Oriented Systems Engineering Method (OOSEM)[2].
NAVAIR is using SysML together with OpenMBEE as an authoritative source of truth (AST) as part of a study to move to a more model-based systems engineering approach centered on a system model[8]. More specifically, NAVAIR is using MMS, VE, and MDKs for its NAVAIR surrogate pilot project for sign-off handling of documents[8].
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab
The MMS, VE, MDKs and other OpenMBEE software are being used on a number of Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) flight projects such as[10][11]:
- Mars2020
- Europa Clipper
- Europa Lander
- Mars Sample Return
- Asteroid Redirect Retrieval Mission
Other Organizations
Other companies/organizations that utilize OpenMBEE are[10][11]:
- Boeing
- Lockheed
- Object Management Group (OMG)
- Ford
- Stevens
- GaTech
- ESO
References
- ↑ "OpenMBEE". https://numfocus.org/project/openmbee.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "OpenMBEE - Open Model Based Engineering Environment". https://www.openmbee.org.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Kruse, Benjamin; Blackburn, Mark (1 January 2019). "Collaborating with OpenMBEE as an Authoritative Source of Truth Environment" (in en). Procedia Computer Science 153: 277–284. doi:10.1016/j.procs.2019.05.080. ISSN 1877-0509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.05.080.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "OpenMBEE" (in en). https://github.com/Open-MBEE.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Applying a Model-Based Approach to Support Requirements Analysis on the Thirty-Meter Telescope - SEBoK". https://www.sebokwiki.org/wiki/Applying_a_Model-Based_Approach_to_Support_Requirements_Analysis_on_the_Thirty-Meter_Telescope.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "ESEM and OpenMBEE supporting the SE Lifecycle Change Process - TMT Case Study". https://www.omgwiki.org/MBSE/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=mbse:tmt_mbse_workshop-2017-04-06.pdf.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Karban, Robert; Crawford, Amanda; Trancho, Gelys; Zamparelli, Michele; Herzig, Sebastian; Gomes, Ivan; Brower, Eric; Piette, Marie (10 July 2018). Dierickx, Philippe; Angeli, George Z. eds. "The OpenSE Cookbook: a practical, recipe based collection of patterns, procedures, and best practices for executable systems engineering for the Thirty Meter Telescope". Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VIII (SPIE) 10705: 31. doi:10.1117/12.2312281. ISBN 9781510619630. Bibcode: 2018SPIE10705E..0WK. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312281. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Mark R. Blackburn; Benjamin Kruse (9 January 2020). "View and Viewpoint Based Digital Signoff Using OpenMBEE as an Authoritative Source of Truth" (in English). CSIAC (Cybersecurity & Information Systems Information Analysis Center) 7 (3). https://csiac.org/articles/view-and-viewpoint-based-digital-signoff-using-openmbee-as-an-authoritative-source-of-truth/.
- ↑ "Investigating JPL's Open-MBEE Plugin for Application to Large Scale System Modeling" (in en). Global Product Data Interoperability Summit 2016. http://gpdisonline.com/wp-content/uploads/past-presentations/Boeing-JohnHerrold-JPLs%20Open-MBEE-Plugin-CAE-Open.pdf.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Robert, Karban (10 December 2018). "NASA JPL Systems Environment". Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/50097?show=full.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Karban, Robert; Delp, Christopher (18 October 2020). "Connected engineering information for a connected world". 23rd International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS 20), Montreal, Canada: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/53808.
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