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A practical guide to SysML : the systems modeling language (3rd ed.)
Friedenthal S., Moore A., Steiner R., Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 2014. 630 pp. Type: Book (978-0-128002-02-5)
Date Reviewed: Oct 28 2015

The primary goal of this book is to introduce model-based engineering through SysML, a graphical systems modeling language that is being promoted as an alternative to the unified modeling language (UML) to address systems engineering. It is a UML derivative that has nine diagrams, seven of which are adapted from UML.

The book is structured into four parts. Part 1 includes four chapters of which the first two are a light introduction to systems engineering and model-based engineering. Chapter 3 introduces SysML-Lite, a subset of SysML. It consists of six diagrams (out of the nine). There is no explicit rationale in this choice, except for the reduction of the number of behavioral diagrams. The six diagrams are intended to cover the major modeling components, such as model organization, requirements, activity, definition, hierarchy, and properties. Each of these diagrams is briefly defined, and the air compressor example is used to illustrate how these diagrams are hierarchically elaborated to model a system. Aside from the example, a modeling tool interface is described in generic terms. Chapter 4 elaborates a staged analysis of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) system. The initial step is to define the automobile domain, which consists of blocks, such as the vehicle proper and external environment entities (physical environment and stakeholders). A block definition diagram is used to capture the hierarchy among the blocks. Further steps in the analysis introduce the various perspectives of design captured in diagrammatic notation, such as use cases, activity, and statechart diagrams. An interesting addition not found in UML is the parametric diagram used to express constraints, properties, and equations to support analysis.

The second part, the core of the book, is an overview of the language. It contains 11 chapters. Chapter 5 describes the overall structure of a SysML diagram, naming conventions, and associated attributes. Each of the remaining chapters describes a given type of diagram and its usage. Illustrative diagrams are used extensively to guide the discussion. The emphasis of this discussion is to show how a specific diagram captures a model from the various perspectives, such as structure, behavior, interconnection, and requirements. The illustrations follow a pattern, showing a given diagram and describing its intent and components.

Part 3 consists of chapters 16 and 17, both of which are meant to demonstrate that the application of SysML to design systems is independent of the analysis strategy. In chapter 16, the design of the water distiller example is elaborated using functional analysis. In chapter 17, the object-oriented systems engineering method is used to design a residential security system. These two chapters are structured according to the corresponding life cycle model.

Part 4 covers the last two chapters. Chapter 18 discusses the issues of integrating SysML modeling into the bigger context of systems development. Given the various modeling perspectives and their processes, the challenges of integrating them into one coherent systems development environment are addressed briefly. Chapter 19 introduces a cyclic life cycle to guide the deployment of SysML in an organization. The discussion is short and mostly advisory. As an appendix, a brief SysML reference describes the major SysML diagrams.

This book is a comprehensive yet light introduction to SysML. Its style relies heavily on examples and describing solutions illustrated by diagrams. Its discussion of the modeling is high level and does not differ from introductory material in object-oriented design and software engineering textbooks. Each chapter ends with a list of questions focusing mostly on what a reader remembers from reading the chapter. Discussion topics of a general nature are also included. One can see a lack of depth and specificity in these two sections. Given these considerations, the book seems more suitable as a reference for the general audience.

Reviewer:  B. Belkhouche Review #: CR143892 (1601-0009)
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