Arcade: early dynamic property evaluation of requirements using partitioned software architecture models

A fundamental goal of software engineering research is to develop evaluation techniques that enable analysis early in the software development process, when correcting errors is less costly. The Systems Engineering Process Activities (SEPA) Arcade tool employs a number of techniques to evaluate dynamic properties of requirements including correctness, performance, and reliability. To mitigate a number of practical issues associated with dynamic property evaluation, Arcade leverages the SEPA 3D Architecture, a formal requirements representation that partitions requirements types amongst a set of interrelated architecture models. This paper presents a case study illustrating how Arcade uses the SEPA 3D Architecture to help manage complexity associated with dynamic property evaluation, to reduce the level of evaluation technique expertise required to perform dynamic property evaluations, and to support an iterative, incremental approach that allows early evaluation using partial requirements models.