MBSE and architecture frameworks for automotive development

The opponent for this seminar will be Gerrit Muller, Professor of Systems Engineering, University of South-Eastern Norway, who will give an invited talk from 9.15-10.15 What is the relation between Architecting and Model-Based working?

Abstract for the half-way seminar by Rakesh Jayaprakash:
This is a brief background and summary of a technical study performed as the first step of the Ph.D. project in the field of MBSE, performed in collaboration between Scania CV AB and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Heavy transport vehicles are no longer just a mode of individual transport of goods and people but represent Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) forming part of a complex transport system. The need for sustainable transport solutions is paving the way for novel solutions of connected vehicles involving electrification and autonomous technologies. These vehicles have an enhanced purpose with newer requirements over the traditional Internal Combustion (IC) engine vehicles, realized through new functions and components, which additionally require changes in the organizational resources such as workforce, processes, infrastructure and information. The interactions between these resources generate complexity, eventually creeping into product development.

This study investigates the use of a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach for dealing with the increasing complexity, comprising of results from a state of the art survey in Systems Engineering (SE) and related topics, followed by a detailed interview study at Scania, examining the present state in its product development. The results from the investigations identified complications corresponding to product architecture, information management, and inconsistent terminology during product development phases. The study concludes the need for the support from a tailored MBSE approach towards Scania’s product development that complement Scania’s strategies in implementing digital technologies on a company wide scale to improve quality, induce agility, reduce wastage and costs, and enhance the speed of working and doing business. The purpose of the PhD thus focusses on an MBSE Architecture Description Framework governing the implementation of MBSE at Scania by applying SE principles and supported by appropriate modelling techniques and tools.

Keywords: Systems Engineering, Model-Based Systems Engineering, Cyber-physical Systems, Complexity management, System architecture, Product architecture, Architecture Frameworks, and Ontology engineering