Architecture Modeling - SPES 2020
Architecture Modeling - SPES 2020
Architecture Modeling - SPES 2020
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3 The <strong>Architecture</strong> Meta-Model<br />
In Section 2 we briefly introduced the fundamental concepts of the architecture modeling approach.<br />
In this section these concepts are described in more detail. In addition it is shown how<br />
they are expressed in the architecture meta-model and how concepts relate to each other. However<br />
it is not in the scope of this document to give a complete specification of the architecture<br />
meta-model. That specification is delivered seperately in [50]. Note, that we sometime use the<br />
abbreviation <strong>SPES</strong>MM denoting the architecture meta-model.<br />
3.1 Abstraction levels<br />
The <strong>SPES</strong>MM introduces a generic concept of abstraction levels. An abstraction level represents<br />
the system under development at a certain level of detail. A car for example may be<br />
modelled at the top-level as a single component where only the interface of the car to the environment<br />
is visible. At a lower level, certain components of the car may be visible (chassis,<br />
engine, ...), and so on.<br />
+subPackage<br />
Package<br />
SystemModel<br />
+owner 0..1<br />
1..*<br />
+owner<br />
0..1<br />
0..*<br />
+abstractionLevel<br />
DeclarationZone<br />
1 +topLevel<br />
+declarationZone<br />
0..1<br />
+owner<br />
AbstractionLev el 0..1 +ownedPerspective<br />
Perspectiv e<br />
+successor 0..1<br />
0..*<br />
+abstractionLevel 0..*<br />
0..* +perspective<br />
+declared<br />
ReusableElement<br />
0..*<br />
+ kind: PerspectiveKind<br />
AbstractionLev elCategory<br />
+category 0..1<br />
Figure 3.1: Meta-model integration of the concept of abstraction levels<br />
A design item (e. g. the system under development or a component) may be modeled on<br />
different levels of abstraction. An ordering relation on the abstraction levels within a model<br />
is defined by means of the successor-association between AbstractionLevels (see<br />
Figure 3.1). The highest abstraction level associated by the SystemModel in the role of<br />
topLevel is intended to contain the most abstract description. Each AbstractionLevel<br />
owns a set of Perspectives, that in turn contain models and requirements.<br />
An abstraction level may be further categorized by AbstractionLevelCategory,<br />
which allows to adapt the concept to development processes of a company. So for an abstraction<br />
level of a certain category one can e. g. specify the set of considered perspectives.<br />
The component hierarchy modelled within a certain abstraction level may be re-arranged<br />
within the next lower abstraction level. Thus, a component-based architecture can not only be<br />
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