Chip designers build circuits that go into larger systems, often extensive ones such as cars, aircraft, ships, satellites and spacecraft. How are those designed, and how do those constraints interact with the implementation of sub-components, like an embedded system?

For many years, the answer was through the exchange of documents – high-level specifications, requirements and key performance indicators. In 2007, the international council on systems engineering (INCOSE) introduced an initiative called model-based systems engineering (MBSE) to formalize the application of modeling to support all phases of system design, from concept through development and later lifecycle phases. The use of this approach is now common in aerospace development. It is also taking off in automotive design and gaining recognition in large-scale infrastructure projects – public works, utilities, airports and seaports. This means it is increasingly likely that new products are aimed at platforms already using or planning to adopt MBSE.

SysML Modeling, From Systems Design to Component Design

System designers must think about the whole system project – mechanical, environmental, software, electronic components and more. These designs cannot be fully represented in C, mechanical CAD drawings or register-transfer level (RTL) language. Instead, unified modeling language (UML) might be a better choice to use, but that is very software-centric. Another popular option, though, is systems modeling language (SysML). SysML is an extension of a subset of UML for systems engineering that eliminates software-only features and adds support for more general needs, requirements, parametrics and modeling. This is now published as an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 19514:2017) and has become a central component of MBSE.
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