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In this post, we continue our updating of MBSE for autonomous vehicles in light of the current and upcoming capabilities of Syndeia, the digital thread platform from Intercax. As the focus of Integrated Digital Engineering (IDE) has shifted from point-to-point connections to the Digital Thread (DT), a holistic knowledge graph of system data, Syndeia has evolved. Two key requirements are

  • User-friendly access to the digital thread with advanced analysis and visualization
  • Clear partitioning of digital threads for different systems and system variants

Syndeia supports these requirements with a web browser user interface organized around DT projects.


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 Figure 1 Digital Thread Projects 

Under the federated digital thread concept, a system or system variant is specified by a set of inter-model relations, even if the connected artifacts in the base repositories are used by multiple systems. Figure 1 illustrates this concept of a Digital Thread Project. In our Autonomous Vehicle work, designs with full sensor suite and video-only sensors would have entirely different sets of inter-model relations, even though many of the requirements, parts and functions would be common to both.

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 Figure 2 Home Page, Project AVDZ01 in Syndeia Web Dashboard 

In the Syndeia Web Dashboard, users can view and edit the digital thread from their regular browser without needing a SysML modelling tool such as Cameo or Rhapsody. Figure 2 shows the home page for the project Autonomous Vehicle 01, including project metrics for the current number of repositories linked (8), artifacts linked (442) and inter-model relations (227). The growth in the number of relations over time is shown at the bottom.

Viewing or editing access to each project is subject to its own authorization settings, as well as overall access to Syndeia through the REST API. For example, a project manager is able to get real-time status reports on project metrics without being able to change the project or access other projects outside their permissions. Access to the underlying repositories is treated independently.

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 Figure 3 A list of Inter-model Relations for Project AVDZ01 in the Syndeia Web Browser (partial) 

Figure 3 displays a list of the inter-model relations that comprise this project. With the correct permissions, the user can add or delete relations, or open the connected artifacts in their own native web viewers.

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 Figure 4 Baseline Comparison of AVDZ01 Project in the Syndeia Web Dashboard 

Because the inter-model relation database is configuration-managed, project baselines can be set at particular time points and compared to audit changes over time. Figure 4 shows a comparison between two baselines with lists of relations Created, Updated and Deleted.

In the next blog post in this series, we will show several additional reports, queries and visualizations applied to the analysis of our Autonomous Vehicle model through the Syndeia Web Dashboard.

In the following blog posts in this series, we will demonstrate some of these current capabilities and offer a few glimpses of the future

Missed the earlier parts? Check them out here.

To evaluate Syndeia with your own toolset, or just to discuss your requirements and use cases, send your questions and requests to www.intercax.com/help and let us help you adopt best practices in Digital Engineering.

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