Architecture Framework Standardization for Satellite Software Generation Using MBSE and F Prime

Abstract

An Architecture Framework (AF) describes a system's product taxonomy; utilization of the same AF between dissimilar projects, industries, or nations standardizes communication about a system if AF products are used to describe the system. Software is ubiquitous to complex systems but has not received requisite attention in AF product representation or standardization. The most advanced and widely used AFs employ Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tenets to communicate system elements to Stakeholders; generating system software architectures as MBSE artifacts alongside non-software artifacts is possible for space systems when using F Prime, a software framework from the Jet Propulsion Lab. NASA recently published the Space Mission Architecture Framework (SMAF) for use on uncrewed, robotic missions, and AF products for software architecture generation using the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) and F Prime are presented here in SMAF format. In contrast to an AF, which describes the products that can be created for a system or mission, a Mission Architecture Framework (MAF) such as the SMAF describes the products that should be created for a mission. MBSE definitions are established in the context of a MAF, products for software architecture generation are defined in the hierarchy and style of the SMAF, and examples of software architecture generation as MBSE artifacts from SysML are provided using the Alabama Burst Energetics eXplorer (ABEX) CubeSat mission as a case study.