Model-based Systems Engineering Process for Supporting Variant Selection in the Early Product Development Phase

Combining the benefits of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and product line engineering (PLE), model-based product line engineering (MB-PLE) is applied for the design and development of complex product line systems with variants. However, due to limitations such as visualization complexity and lack of support for variant selection, MB-PLE is still not widely applied in the manufacturing industry. In this paper, we propose a model-based systems engineering process in the early development phase to promote the application of MB-PLE in the manufacturing industry. Through the integration of PSS planning model, SysML4Mechatronics modeling language and an optimal variant selection approach, the proposed process facilitates the modeling of a product line system and supports variant selection as well as architecture verification. The feasibility of the proposed systems engineering process is demonstrated with a case study.