Systems

Architectu
res

System Integration & Architecture

 Architecture

•The word “architecture” is derived from

the Greek word “architecton”, which
means master mason or master builder
•Webster’s Dictionary defines architecture
as:
•The art or science of designing or building
structures
•The structure (in terms of components,
connections, and constraints) of a
product, process, or element – The Art of
Systems Architecting
•An Architecture is the highest-level
concept of a system in its environment - -2
SE Tutorial Sys Architectures
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IEEE
Architecture
 Architecture

• Architecture – The fundamental organization of a system

embodied in its components, their relationships to each other
and to the environment and the principles guiding its design
and evolution - P141 Standard
• Systems Architecture – The fundamental and unifying system
structure defined in terms of system elements, interfaces,
processes, constraints, and behaviors – INCOSE SAWG
• Architecture – The organizational structure of a system of
CSCIs, identifying its components, their interfaces and a
concept of execution among them
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Architecture
 Architecture
• The architecture of a system
defines its high-level structure,
exposing its gross organization as
a collection of interacting
components.
• Components needed to model a
software architecture include:
– Components, Connectors,
Systems, Properties and Styles.
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Architecture
 IT Architecture Concepts
• Components
– The computational elements and data
stores of the system
– May have multiple interfaces, called ports
– Ports define a point of interaction between
a component and its environment
• Connectors
– Model interactions among components
– Runtime perspective: connectors mediate
the communication and coordination
activities between components
– Connectors may have interfaces that define
System Integrationthe
& roles played by the participants in the
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Architecture interaction
 IT Architecture Concepts
• Systems
– Graphs of components and connectors
– Tend to be hierarchical – components and
connectors may represent subsystems that
have their own internal architectures
– Bindings map the interfaces of one level of a
system to another

• Properties
– Represent the non-structural information about
the parts of an architecture description
– Example: a connector can be a function call, or
a network interaction
– Properties can be attached to any architectural
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Architecture element
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 IT Architecture Concepts
• Style
– An architectural style represents a
family of related systems
– Defines the design vocabulary (and
constraints) for the components,
connectors, ports, roles, bindings and
properties.

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Architecture
 System Architect

• The architect is a member of the team that is

responsible for designing and building a
system
• The architect’s contribution comes in the very
early stages of the systems engineering
process
– When the operational concept is defined
– The basic structure of the system is conceptualized
• A system architect, not only knows about the
individual components, but also understands
the interrelationships among the components

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Architecture
 Systems Architecting

• Systems Architecting has been defined as

the process of creating complex,
unprecedented systems
• Building systems in today’s world is
tenuous at best
– Requirements of the marketplace are ill-defined
– Rapidly evolving technology provides new
services at a global level instantly
– Uncertainty is increasing about they way the
system will be used, the components that will
be incorporated and the interconnections that
will be made
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Architecture
 Systems
Architecting - 2

• Generating a system architecture as

part of the systems engineering
process can be seen as a deliberate
approach to deal with the
uncertainty that characterizes these
complex, unprecedented systems

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Architecture
 Traditional Approach
to System Architecting

• Many methodologies have been

developed to support a traditional
system development model
– Define the requirements
– Consider several options
– Emerge with a well-defined design
through a process of elimination
– Based on structured analysis and
design
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Architecture
 Traditional Approach to
System Architecting - 2

• Effective when the requirements are

well defined and remain essentially
constant during the system
development period
– Cannot handle change well
• If the implementation of the system is long
– on the order of years – the requirements
change because of changing needs and new
technology offers different alternatives and
opportunities
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Architecture
 The Traditional
Approach

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Architecture
 Evolutionary Approach

• New approach that is emerging with roots in

software systems engineering
• Deals with uncertainty in requirements and in
technology, especially for systems with a long
development time and expected long life cycle
– Evolutionary development
– Build-a-little, Test-a-little
• Requirements are allowed to be more abstract
and therefore subject to interpretation
• Alternative solutions are explored and
pursued further as new technology options
become available

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Architecture
 Evolutionary Approach - 2

• Intermediate designs are saved

• Some intermediate designs are
implemented as prototypes but not
operationally implemented while others are
implemented in traditional ways
• Advantages of Object-Oriented approach:
– Allows flexibility in the design as it evolves over
time
• Disadvantages of Object-Oriented approach:
– Requires some early elimination of technology
alternatives in the absence of reliable
information
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Architecture
 Evolutionary Approach

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Architecture
 Select, Build, and Field

• At any time in the development

process, when there is a need to
build a system, the available solution
that best meets the current
requirements is selected and
implemented using any systems
engineering approach

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Architecture
 Select, Build, and Field

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Architecture
 The Challenge of
Coping With Change

• If the implementation is long, then

the situation shown next prevails,
with the unfortunate consequences
that very little, if any, from the work
on Option A is used for Option B

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Architecture
 The Challenge of
Coping With Change

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Architecture
 How to Define
an Architecture
• Defining an architecture, especially of an
information system, requires the following
items to be described:
– Processes exist that need to take place in
order that the system accomplish its intended
functions
– The individual processes transform either data
or materials that “flow” between them
– The processes or activities or operations follow
rules that establish the conditions under which
they occur
– The components that will implement the
design (hardware, software, personnel, and
facilities must be described)
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Architecture
 How to Define
an Architecture - 2

• Define the Functional Architecture

– A functional architecture is:
• A set of activities or functions that are
arranged in a specific order and when
activated, achieves a set of requirements
• Divide and allocate the functional
requirements into different sub-functions
and modes of operation

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Architecture
 How to Define
an Architecture - 3

• Define the Physical Architecture

– A physical architecture is:
• A representation of the physical resources
• Expressed as nodes that constitute the
system and their connectivity
• Expressed in the form of links

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Architecture
 How to Define
an Architecture - 4
• Define the technical architecture
– A minimal set of rules governing the
arrangement, interaction, and
interdependence of the parts or elements
that must ensure that a conformant system
satisfies a specified set of requirements
– Provides the framework upon which
engineering specifications can be derived,
guiding the implementation of the system
– Analogous to the building code that provides
guidance for new buildings to be able to
connect to the existing infrastructure by
characterizing the attributes of that
infrastructure
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Architecture
 Operational Concept

• An important task in the architecture

development process is to define the
operational concept
– A concise statement that describes how the goal
will be met
– How will the system look and act in the operational
environment
• Operational Concept Definition Parts
– How the system operates
– Where in the operating environment the system
will be distributed
– How long the system must operate
– How effective the system’s performance must be
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Architecture
 Operational Concept - 2

• An operational concept is a shared

vision from the perspective of the
system’s stakeholders of how the system
will be:
– Developed
– Produced
– Deployed
– Trained
– Used and maintained
– Refined
– Retired
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Architecture
 Operational Concept - 3

ᴥ The operational concept includes a

collection of scenarios – one for each
group of stakeholders for each relevant
phase of the system’s lifecycle
– Each scenario addresses one way that a
particular stakeholder will want to use, deploy,
fix, etc., the system and how the system will
respond to a produce a desired end
– Scenario - a sequence of events which might
occur that includes the interaction of the
product with its environment and users, as well
as the interaction among its product
components
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Architecture
 Executable Model

ᴥ The functional, physical, and

technical architectures are static
representations that attempt to
describe the dynamic behavior of the
architecture
ᴥ In order to analyze the behavior of
the architecture and evaluate the
performance characteristics, an
executable model is needed
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Architecture
 Architecture
Development Process
ᴥ The architecture development process
consists of three phases:
 Analysis Phase – The static representatives of
the functional and physical architectures are
obtained using the operational concept to drive
the process and the technical architecture to
guide it
 Synthesis Phase – The static constructs are
used, together with descriptions of the dynamic
behavior of the architecture to obtain the
executable operational X-architecture (X =
executable property)
 Evaluation Phase – Measures of performance
(MOP) and measures of effectiveness (MOE) are
obtained
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Architecture
 The Three-Phase
Process of Architecture
Development

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Architecture
 Summary

ᴥ Architecture – The fundamental

organization of a system embodied in its
components, their relationships to each
other and to the environment and the
principles guiding its design and
evolution
ᴥ A system architect, not only knows about
the individual components, but also
understands the interrelationships
among the components
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Architecture
 Summary - 2

ᴥ A functional architecture is:

A set of activities or functions that are
arranged in a specific order and when
activated, achieves a set of requirements
ᴥ A physical architecture is:
A representation of the physical resources
Expressed as nodes that constitute the
system and their connectivity
Expressed in the form of links

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Architecture
 Summary - 3

ᴥ An important task in the architecture

development process is to define the
operational concept
 A concise statement that describes how the
goal will be met
 How will the system look and act in the
operational environment
ᴥ A technical architecture is a minimal set of
rules governing the arrangement,
interaction, and interdependence of the
parts or elements that must ensure that a
conformant system satisfies a specified set
of requirements
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Architecture
 Summary - 4

ᴥ The functional, physical, and

technical architecture are static
representations that attempt to
describe the dynamic behavior of the
architecture
ᴥ In order to analyze the behavior of
the architecture and evaluate the
performance characteristics, an
executable model is needed
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Architecture