SE-IF, System Engineering Interoperability Forum
INTRODUCTION
SE (System Engineering) Interoperability Forum was initiated byAFIS (French Chapter of INCOSE) andAFNeT end of 2019, with the objective to provide industry with first solutions for sharing, exchanging and archiving data for extended enterprise use and based on the standard STEP format (ISO 10303). At the beginning, the project focused on RV&V (Requirement, Verification and Validation) data and in 2023, it has been extended to all System Engineering artefacts, including model and project management data.
In MBSE dataset, there are RV&V data that covers the satisfaction of needs through requirements and verification and validation data. From a process viewpoint, the RV&V data need to be:
- Cascaded in the system/sub-system structure, meaning needs for exchanging, synchronizing and configuration control of RV&V data between client/customer, system manufacturer and sub-system or system component manufacturers.
- Communicated and shared with other engineering disciplines: a system requirement (in MBSE domain) is typically derived in design specification (Detailed design domain) and in manufacturing specification (Manufacturing domain) and support specification (Support domain). Conversely V&V data interface with design justification and manufacturing/support control.
Then come model data from the major MBSE viewpoints:
- Behavioral viewpoint: modelization following this viewpoint allows describing the way the system’s different parts work together and with the external environment. Functions / activities, functional exchanges and allocations to various model entities that allow a functional analysis of the system are data that can be shared by the project stakeholders.
- Physical viewpoint: this viewpoint focuses on the (physical) architecture of the system and describes how the system will be built. The composition of the subsystems represents an important part of the data to be shared between the project stakeholders.
In addition to technical data directly linked to the modelized system, information related to their configuration management and governance data (project and organization) can also be shared.
ORGANIZATION
Le forum d’interopérabilité SE est organisé en 2 groupes :
- The User Group, composed of end-users, that defines the industry priorities in terms of SE interoperability use cases, and representative test cases. The group is working on recommendations for the use of standards in terms of process and methodology.
- The Implementer Group, composed of SE and PLM tools/service providers, in charge of:
- Analyzing and challenging the use cases
- Elaborating interoperability solutions based on standards
- Validating these solutions through SE interoperability test rounds
- Documenting these solutions in SE interoperability recommended practices
Targeted exchange technology and data standard
Exchange technology range from file exchange (industry partners exchanging RV&V data files through the network) to webservices (machine-to-machine interaction over the network embedding RV&V data).
Regarding data standards, the only standard currently identified to convey SE data is STEP (ISO 10303). The STEP community recently developed a STEP Core Model (ISO STEP Core Model Technical Specification, 2021) that includes interoperability capability for System Engineering.
Benefit for implementers is that the same data model (and same derived XML schema) is used by several STEP Application Protocols covering the product life cycle (including AP242 “Managed model-based 3D engineering”, AP243 MoSSEC, AP239 “Product Life Cycle Support”, and potentially AP233 Systems engineering).
Note: ReqIF from OMG (OMG ReqIF) is another standard, also XML-based, that covers the exchange of Requirements only, so doesn’t cover the required scope (also considering that the objective at short term is to extend from RV&V data to the whole MBSE data perimeter).
Use case under study
The use case depicts the exchange of RV&V data between a system manufacturer (OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer) and a sub-system supplier.
Key aspects:
- System manufacturer model their system in their own MBSE environment, and the same is done by the sub-system supplier (or OEM).
- Data that is exchanged is a sub-set of their resp. system models: links must be maintained with the objects that are in their resp. proprietary domains, along the several exchange iterations. Also, the Specification provided by the sub-system supplier must include the links with the OEM requirements.
- The specific data of the system may evolve between the time the request is sent to the Sus-system supplier and the time the answer is received, requiring a reconciliation of the data received by the system manufacturer.
- The scenario includes the exchange of the following data types: requirements, specifications, V&V data and models.
- Need to demonstrate exchange process capability to:
- Cover functional exchange: ability to exchange (input/output) the various objects and links
- Manage data export and import (incl. data reconciliation).
- Operate under constraints: security, Intellectual Property Rights, scalability.
Participants
The project partners come from Airbus, CIMPA, MBDA, IRT Saint-Exupéry.
Ariane Group, C-S Group, Safran, Siemens took part to the project in its early phases.
Call for participation and collaboration
ATLAS is pleased to welcome additional participants: to join this initiative contact Yves Baudier or Pascal Hubert.
This project is open for collaboration with other associations over the world, with the objective to turn this initiative to an international project.
RÉFÉRENCES PROJET
Related projects
Other external links
Proposed AFIS-AFNeT Requirements and V&V Interoperability Forum
CIMPA ReConnEct (cliquer ici pour la présentation) : CIMPA ReConnEct project (Click here for the presentation): this project has a lot of connections with SE-IF: scope including MBSE data and use of STEP XML technology as pivot format. Data analytics is also identified as a capability enabled by the future format.
Contacts ATLAS :
Pascal Hubert et Christian Koumlah Mbey, AFNeT Services
Share this article
RELATED ARTICLES:
Systems Engineering Interoperability Forum
The System Engineering Interoperability Forum (SE-IF) has produced its first use case demonstration video! Use case demonstration: transferring a system specification between two partners from a STEP file
La 55e Lettre de l’AFIS met en valeur les travaux du forum d’interopérabilité d’ingénierie système (SE-IF)
Le forum d’interopérabilité d’ingénierie système (SE-IF) pour l’échange d’exigences, mis en avant dans la 55ème lettre de l’AFIS
The RV&V Interoperability Forum is launched!
The project to improve the exchange of validation and verification requirements and data was launched under the ATLAS program.