Key Concepts

The underlying technology that drives GENESYS includes: 

Integrated System Design Repository

GENESYS's integrated system design repository supports the many individuals who are adding, deleting, changing, and reviewing design information that results in the specification of a system. This centralization allows all team members to work from a common, controllable baseline. Additionally, this approach is key to providing consistency of the entities in the system design and ensures that all design views (image and otherwise) are always synchronized and consistent.

System Definition Language

Our approach to attaining an explicit system specification is grounded in the use of the System Definition Language (SDL) provided with GENESYS. SDL is a formal, structured language which avoids the ambiguity inherent in using common English to define or specify a system. The precise meaning of each language concept is fixed and documented to enhance team communication and assure unambiguous interpretation of specifications using this language. The repository is structured by the SDL which is user extensible, if needed. SDL is an Entity-Relationship-Attribute (ERA) language augmented by graphical structures with semantic meaning. SDL is based on the following primitive language concepts:

 

1. • Entities correspond to nouns in English. Entities define objects and serve as the basic units in the system repository. GENESYS groups these entities into one of several classes (e.g., Component, Function, etc.) in the system repository.
   • Relationships are similar to verbs. To be precise, a relationship that defines a link between two entities corresponds to the mathematical definition of a binary relation. Relationships are not commutative, with each relationship having a definite subject and object. However, for each relationship, there is a complementary relationship that defines the link from the object to the subject. For example, when you allocate a Function entity to a Component entity (the allocated to relationship), GENESYS automatically creates the performs relationship linking the entities in the reverse direction.
   • Attributes further describe entities much like adjectives modify nouns. The attributes of an entity serve to define critical properties of entities. For instance, attributes of a Component entity would include number and type.
   • Attributed-Relationships (i.e., attributes on relationships) correspond to adverbs in English. The attributes of a relationship serve to define critical properties of the relationship. For instance, attributes of a consumes relationship would include the quantity being consumed.
   • Structures provide specification of semantically explicit system control constructs (Concurrency, Iteration, Loop, Multiple Exit, Replication, Selection, and Sequence). Using this explicit notation, the behavior of the system can be validated and shown to be executable using the simulator. The simulator dynamically interprets a behavior representation so the simulation is always synchronized with the current model contained in the system design repository.

 

The repository consists of entities that are modified by attributes and related to other entities. This structure corresponds to the object-oriented approach. Entities are represented as objects with the attributes stored as data within the objects. The relationships then define the interaction between objects.

 

In GENESYS, the SDL is referred to as a schema (or the project metadata). The diagram below illustrates a subset of the basic schema, showing some of the primary systems engineering classes and relationships between them.

 

Dynamic Graphical View Generators

GENESYS dynamically generates diagrams directly from the system design repository ensuring that they are consistent with current design details. A change made in any view changes the design information in the repository and, conversely, a change made to the database is automatically reflected in the views.

 

GENESYS delivers a mixture of SysML and traditional representations enabling you to satisfy the specific needs of your project. GENESYS provides the following diagrams of interest to engineering and management personnel permitting system models to be viewed in as many layers of abstraction as necessary to understand the model:

 

• Hierarchy and Spider Diagrams: graphically display several layers of relationships between entities on a single diagram such as functional, physical, and traceability hierarchy views.
• Package Diagrams: display arbitrary clustering of model entities to communicate groupings and interrelationships of interest.
• Requirements Diagrams: show system requirements and their relationships to logical and physical components of the solution.
• Use Case Diagrams: describe the functionality of a system in terms of how its users interact with the system to achieve their goals.
• State Transition Diagrams: reflect system states, the transitions that connect them, and the events that trigger transitions.
• Function Flow Block Diagrams (FFBDs): show functional flow including control logic.
• Activity Diagrams and Enhanced Function Flow Block Diagrams (EFFBDs): portray behavioral flow, control logic, and inputs/outputs/triggers.
• Sequence Diagrams: represent the interactions between functions and their corresponding components.
• Integration Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF0) Diagrams: show functions, inputs, outputs, controls, and mechanisms.
• N2 (N-squared) Diagrams: display functions/components and their internal and external interactions in a matrix format.
• Block Definition Diagrams (BDD): show composition and classification of the physical architecture.
• Physical Block Diagrams, Interface Block Diagrams, and Internal Block Diagrams: show composition and connectivity (both physical and logical) of the physical architecture.
• Interface N2 and Physical N2 Diagrams: display components with their internal and external interactions in a matrix format.
• Class Diagrams: displays the static structure and composition of a system.
• Constraint Block Definition Diagrams (BDD): shows the constraint expression(s) used to constrain the subject entity of your system.
• Parametric Diagrams: expresses a set of constraints that determine the values that are valid in a system that is operating nominally.

Automatic Document Generation

The GENESYS report generator enables you to extract information from the GENESYS system design repository and present it in virtually any desired format. Reports allow you to view the system design information in different ways. Reports in GENESYS can range from a simple query (e.g., a list of all open concerns) to complex, formal documents (e.g., a System/Segment Specification). Reports and analyses for engineering or management support are generated through the use of standard utilities, queries, and report templates provided with GENESYS. Reports in GENESYS can be generated in any ASCII-based text file format. Most reports are generated using PDF, but can be converted into Rich Text Format (RTF) (a standard publication file format) that can be imported into word processors such as Microsoft Word® for previewing, editing, and printing.