Abstract

We take as established that ontological modeling and analysis provides a foundation for rigorous systems engineering internal to a particular engineering authority. We show in this presentation that it provides a similarly rigorous foundation for interactions between consumers and providers in a supply chain, through viewpoints developed specifically for these interactions. These viewpoints clarify mutual expectations and obligations among collaborating authorities. They also support a continuous integration/continuous delivery mode of system verification that exploits automation and provides detailed record-keeping. OML’s use of named graphs to attribute knowledge to authorities is a key enabler of this approach. Knowledge attributable to the consumer establishes what the system must be; knowledge attributable to the provider establishes what the system is. Verification is simply the process of determining whether these two descriptions of the system are mutually consistent.

Speaker

Steven Jenkins

is a Research Fellow in the Acquisition Innovation Research Center at Stevens Institute of Technology. He retired in 2021 after a 32-year career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, culminating as Principal Engineer in the Systems Engineering Division. He served in various roles at JPL, including systems engineering for the Space Flight Operations Center, Deep Space Network, and Computer-Aided Engineering. He served as Chief Engineer and Project Manager for Enterprise Information System, a multi-year task to modernize the laboratory’s information technology infrastructure. He served on the systems engineering teams for Project Prometheus and NASA’s Project Constellation. From 2009 he was Chief Engineer for Integrated Model-Centric Engineering, a laboratory-wide initiative to improve systems engineering practice through rigorous application of precise language, mathematical abstractions, and automation. Dr. Jenkins holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Millsaps College, an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Southern Methodist University, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (control systems) from University of California, Los Angeles. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Anesthesiology, UCLA School of Medicine. He was awarded the Ralph and Marjorie Crump Prize for Excellence in Medical Engineering at UCLA in 1987, a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1999, a JPL Mariner Award in 2011, a JPL Explorer Award in 2012, and a NASA Systems Engineering Excellence Award in 2013.