NIST Researcher Proposes Modeling Language Upgrade to OMG Standards Organization

In June 2022, NIST's Conrad Bock proposed upgrades for the Systems Modeling Language (SysML 2) to the standards development organization, Object Management Group (OMG), which is responsible for its upgrade. SysML 2 is widely used to specify requirements, design and testing of complex systems.

As part of this upgrade to SysML 2, Bock proposed modeling spatial relationships within a system – but without committing to specific geometries or shapes for objects. For example, requirements for landing gear to be inside or outside a plane at given periods could be captured early in development and later refined with topologies, geometries, and behaviors in detailed designs. This proposed language upgrade includes a library of basic geometrical shapes, defined topologically with quantitative attributes, for assembly into more complex shapes. The proposed upgrade also would enable the modeling language to translate topology and geometry to and from ISO STEP 242 Managed model-based 3D engineering.

The proposed spatial modeling upgrades also integrate with time models in SysML 2, under a NIST-developed, four-dimensional framework. The integrated model enables specification and simulation of non-colliding paths for objects, such as those occurring in assembly and disassembly, as well as for transportation safety, such as when autonomous vehicles negotiate street intersections.

Since March 2018, Bock has presented quarterly to the OMG on SysML 2 and the logical architecture it uses. Bock and colleagues at NIST and OMG developed the architecture in earlier work, leveraging ontology-based languages, such as the OWL 2 Web Ontology Language (OWL 2) and NIST’s Process Specification Language (PSL),  a first-order axiomatization processes, supporting automated, consistency checking of process rules and specifications.