Modeling and Executing System and Operational Architectures with Representational Languages

The current generation of executable architecture tools is based upon a monolithic design that does not accommodate modularity and thus forces users to make design and analysis trade-offs based upon the capabilities of the single tool that best suites their particular requirements. Expand proposes to investigate the feasibility of creating tools with interchangeable components, allowing analysts to select the most appropriate combination of features extracted from several tools. The resulting virtual tool will provide performance optimized for a specific task. Two major components are investigated: the design language and the execution engine. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the execution engine of CPN Tools will be investigated as replaceable components. Verification and validation of the approach will be performed by integrating these components with Visual Simulation Objects (VSO), a general-purpose modeling and simulation tool kit developed by Expand. Interoperability among tools using module interconnection is an extension of the basic concept of interoperability among simulations, which has resulted in the development of the High Level Architecture specification and application tools that support it. Modular tools can provide analysts with greater power to investigate the dynamic properties of complex systems and operations by providing multiple, independent views of the same architecture.