Software Engineering Institute

The Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI) was involved in an Architecture-Centric Virtual Integration Process (ACVIP) shadow project for the U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center Science & Technology Joint Multi-Role vertical lift program in the Joint Common Architecture (JCA) Demonstration. The JCA Demo used the Modular Integrated Survivability (MIS) system, which provided a situational awareness service that will be integrated with two instances of a Data Correlation and Fusion Manager (DCFM) software component, which was contracted to two suppliers. The purpose of the ACVIP shadow project to the JCA Demo was to demonstrate the value of using ACVIP technology, in particular the use of architecture models expressed in the Society of Automotive Engineering Aerospace Standard 5506 standard for the Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL), for discovering potential system integration problems early in the development process. To do this, the SEI first captured information from existing requirements documents and other documentation in AADL. Then, by taking an architecture-led approach to specifying requirements, the SEI quickly identified a number of issues that, if not addressed, would result in system integration problems between MIS and DCFM. The SEI’s findings gave the MIS team and the DCFM contractor teams the opportunity to discuss these issues in program meetings early system development.