System Architecture and Operational Concept Validation through Modeling and Simulation

System and software architectures are the foundation on which network centric communications platforms are constructed and must be defined early in the design process. If flaws lurk in these architectures well into a project, costly and time consuming redesign may be necessary. The capability to perform system and software architecture modeling and verification is enabled by incorporating recently available model driven design tools into the system development process. These tools provide standard based UML modeling capabilities that allow for software and system architecture design, as well as DoDAF modeling capabilities for documenting system architecture and verifying operational scenarios. Once created, these models are executed to evaluate system operation for scenarios of interest. This paper describes the use of model driven design tools to verify system and software architecture and operational concepts early in the project design process