SysML in digital engineering

Today, most projects are interdisciplinary. They require expertise from various domains like legal regulations, mechanical restrictions and software engineering. Digital engineering is a relatively new discipline, which aims at minimizing friction losses, when different disciplines meet each other. This paper shows how model-based development on the basis of SysML can be used in digital engineering to develop a common system model. Such a common system model helps to track requirements, provides precise specification of (sub-)components together with necessary interfaces, intended interactions and information flow among them. This information supports the overall development process as it is a consistent specification of the whole system. Parts of this model can then be used as input for disciplines dealing with specific subproblems. It is also providing means to test the interaction of different components and can even be used for formal proofs of correctness using semantically well-founded models and automatic proof techniques. The paper is centered around a real-world case study: a logistic monitoring system at an airport cargo hub. This case study can be seen as a benchmarking scenario for research questions as well as an illustrative example for using SysML in digital engineering.