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Constellation-level Variability Modeling for Safety Constraint Refinement in System of Systems.

Fulltext:


Authors:

Julieth Patricia Castellanos Ardila, Sasikumar Punnekkat, Nazakat Ali

Publication Type:

Conference/Workshop Paper

Venue:

2025 IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering

Abstract

Safety assurance in System of Systems (SoS) orchestrations is challenged by the inherent variability of Constituent Systems (CS) and the dynamic environments in which they must operate. To address this challenge, we previously introduced SOSoS (Safe Orchestration of Systems of Systems), a process that integrates System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) with principles from Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) to support safety reasoning about the SoS variability at the macro-level, i.e., analysis of the SoS as a whole in its context. However, SOSoS lacked a clearly defined mechanism for managing variability at lower levels. Thus, in this paper, we expand SOSoS to the meso-level, i.e., a level focusing on the constellation formation within a SoS. A constellation is a subset of CS that together form operational links and interact to deliver a specific SoS capability. This constellation-level variability analysis employs the concepts of Orthogonal Variability Modeling (OVM) to identify key Variation Points (VP), Variants (V), and Inter-Variant Constraints (IVC) that govern the formation of viable constellations and can be used to generate Refined Safety Constraints (RSC). We demonstrate the method’s applicability through a case study on a construction site. The meso-level analysis shifts the focus to constellation configuration options, enabling a more precise characterization of orchestration logic and its associated safety constraints.

Bibtex

@inproceedings{Castellanos Ardila7247,
author = {Julieth Patricia Castellanos Ardila and Sasikumar Punnekkat and Nazakat Ali},
title = {Constellation-level Variability Modeling for Safety Constraint Refinement in System of Systems.},
month = {October},
year = {2025},
booktitle = {2025 IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering},
url = {http://www.es.mdu.se/publications/7247-}
}