TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter sets the stage for the detailed description of the SysML language that follows in the rest of Part II. It contains a discussion on the SysML language architecture and provides an introduction to common concepts that apply to all SysML diagrams. It also includes an introduction to the example used throughout the chapters in Part II to illustrate the language concepts. The remaining chapters in Part II provide the detailed description of the language.
The official OMG SysML specification [1] for the SysML language has been publicly available since September 2007. The specification was developed in response to the requirements specified in the UML for Systems Engineering Request for Proposal (UML for SE RFP) [27]. It was formally adopted by the OMG in 2006 as an extension to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) [28]. The SysML specification is maintained and evolved by the OMG SysML Revision Task Force (RTF).
The SysML specification defines the SysML language concepts used to model systems. The SysML language concepts are described in three parts:
An abstract syntax, or schema, described by a metamodel
A concrete syntax, or notation, described using notation tables
The semantics, or meaning, of the language concepts in the systems engineering domain
SysML is derived from the Unified Modeling Language, which was originally specified as a modeling language for software design but has been extended by SysML to support general-purpose systems modeling. As indicated in the Venn diagram in Figure...
