An Automated Approach to Generate SysML Models from Restricted Natural Language Requirements in Chinese

Model-driven development has been gradually adopted as an important approach of designing and developing safety-critical cyber-physical systems(SC-CPSs). The requirement of SC-CPSs is often described in natural language. How to link natural language requirements and the model-driven design and development process of SC-CPSs automatically or semi-automatically is a main existing challenge. In this paper, a method named RNL2SysML is proposed for the automatic generation of SysML models from restricted natural language requirements in Chinese. Firstly, in view of the problem that glossaries need to be manually extracted, a method for extracting and recommending terms of SC-CPSs based on artificial intelligence is proposed. Secondly, in order to reduce the ambiguity of natural language requirements, a restricted natural language requirement template is proposed for requirement specification. Then, the method of transformation from natural language requirement specification to SysML model is given. Finally, based on the open source tool Papyrus, the plugin for the method proposed in this paper is implemented, and the effectiveness and practicality of the method is evaluated and proved by an industry case of the airplane air compressor system in the aviation field. © 2021, Science Press. All right reserved.