Engineers use model-based systems engineering (MBSE) to manage system complexity, improve communication, and produce optimized systems. Successful MBSE requires the synthesis of stakeholder needs into system design requirements and architecture models to create intuitive system descriptions.
MATLAB, Simulink, System Composer, and Requirements Toolbox together create a single environment for authoring descriptive architecture models that seamlessly connect to detailed implementation models. The connected environment ensures items across the architecture and design worlds stay in sync. Systems engineers can establish a digital thread to navigate between system requirements, architecture models, implementation models, and embedded software.
With MATLAB, Simulink, System Composer, and Requirements Toolbox, you can:
- Create architecture models to define a system through structure, behavior, and views
- Capture and manage system requirements enabling impact and coverage analysis
- Perform trade studies to optimize system architectures and analyze architectures with custom model views
- Create software, service-oriented, and AUTOSAR architectures
- Connect architecture models to detailed component designs implemented in Simulink, Stateflow, and Simscape using Model-Based Design, FMUs, and code
- Validate requirements and verify system architectures using simulation-based tests
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Using MATLAB, Simulink, System Composer, and Requirements Toolbox for MBSE
Develop Architecture Models
Use System Composer to intuitively sketch hierarchical systems of architectures using a component, port, and connector modeling approach. Create interfaces to guarantee that the information exchanged between components has compatible properties such as data types, dimensions, and units.
Work at the level of detail that suits your needs and add more specifics as you go. Start with a high-level overview of complex systems made up of multiple subsystems, focus on detailed system activities using behavior diagrams, or choose any level of detail in between.
Import SysML, AUTOSAR (ARXML), Capella, and other architectural designs from third-party tools for seamless integration with MATLAB and Simulink. Export designs as needed to communicate changes. Reuse existing design artifacts and interface control documents (ICDs) by importing external repositories and files via a MATLAB API. Additionally, extract architecture models from existing Simulink system models.
Process of refining stakeholder needs into system requirements leading to detailed requirements.
Manage System Requirements
While developing architecture models, directly capture, view, and manage system requirements using Requirements Toolbox. Link system requirements to different architectural elements to establish a digital thread for requirements traceability and perform requirement coverage analysis. Linked requirements maintain a revision history enabling you to perform impact analysis and communicate changes to downstream teams.
Use other MATLAB and Simulink products for analysis and testing. Simulink Fault Analyzer enables systematic fault effect and safety analysis using simulation. Simulink Coverage performs model and code coverage analysis that measures testing completeness in models and generated code.
Perform Trade Studies and Analyze Architectures with Views
Use stereotypes to extend your architecture models with domain-specific design data such as size, weight, power, or cost. Group related stereotypes into profiles that you can apply throughout your architecture or reuse in other architectures. To manage architectural complexity, create custom views to isolate components of interest for various stakeholders, edit a subsection of the architecture, or facilitate specific analysis activities. System Composer allows for behavior diagram creation and execution to aid in analysis of system information and action flows of your composition.
Using MATLAB, directly perform analysis and trade studies on your architecture, such as:
- Multi-Disciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO)
- Bottom-up rollup or top-down allocation (size, weight, power, cost, and more)
- Network or flow analysis (end-to-end latency, shortest path, flow of materials, and more)
- Custom analysis with MATLAB (or Python®) scripts
- Trade studies (identifying the most acceptable solution)
Create custom views to manage architectural complexity and communicate with various stakeholders.
Build Software Architectures
Use System Composer to author software architectures and service-oriented architectures (SOAs) using a component-port-connector paradigm with software components and interface ports, including client/server ports.
- View and edit your software compositions with the Class Diagram Viewer
- Link software architecture to component designs in Simulink and Stateflow
- Visualize and edit simulation execution order for functions in your software architecture model before running simulations
- Iteratively refine your design to meet requirements
- Automatically generate code to deploy your design to embedded hardware, high-performance computing platforms, and the cloud
References
- Migration of a Monolithic Algorithm to Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) (24:36)
- Using Model-Based Design to Develop SOA Applications for In-Vehicle OS (15:53)
- Service-Oriented Arbitration of ADAS Features with Model-Based Design (15:36)
- Model-based Framework for Data and Knowledge-Driven Systems Architecting Demonstrated on a Hydrogen-Powered Concept Aircraft
Connect to Model-Based Design
With Model-Based Design, natively integrate with detailed design models in Simulink and Stateflow. Use Simscape to model and simulate multidomain physical systems. Import FMUs and C/C++ code to streamline your development process.
Follow a top-down workflow to automatically generate Simulink and Simscape models from architectural components, or create an architecture component from a Simulink component model. Link architecture models with Simulink behavior models to keep your architecture and implementation models synchronized and to simulate system behavior.
Perform system verification to debug designs and identify inconsistent requirements.
System Verification and Validation
Simulation lets you explore architectures, prototype components, and create component specifications while understanding and refining system behaviors early in the MBSE process. To scale this for large and complex systems, automate verification using test suites to validate requirements and iteratively verify system behaviors throughout the MBSE process.
Specify system-level tests to ensure consistency and correctness of requirements for use by downstream implementation teams. Translate requirements with complex, timing-dependent signal logic into assessments with clear, defined semantics for debugging designs and identifying inconsistencies.
Simulink Fault Analyzer enables systematic fault effect and safety analyses, such as Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), using simulation. After model verification and validation, tools such as Simulink Check, IEC Certification Kit, and DO Qualification Kit, along with MathWorks Consulting, can streamline your certification workflows for DO-178, ARP-4754, ISO-26262, and more.
Design and automatically generate reports from models and simulations, effectively communicating with stakeholders and regulators and saving time for other MBSE tasks.
Learn More
- Validating Requirements with Simulation and Formal Methods
- Agile Behavior-Driven and Test-Driven Development with Model-Based Design
- Using Model-Based Design for ARP-4754
- Find System and Software Architecture Guideline Errors as You Edit (3:32)
- Simulink Fault Analyzer Essentials - Video Series
- What Is FMEA? (5:50)
Examples
- Helicopter Flight Control: A Model-Based Design Example for DO-178C and DO-331
- Explore the Highway Lane-Following Example
- Define Fault Behaviors
- Export Safety Analysis Manager Link Information to Excel
- Verify Fault Detection Logic in Aircraft Elevator Control System
- Conduct Fault Sensitivity Study on Warehouse Robot
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