Managing complex interoperability solutions using model-driven architecture

The increasing need to exchange information in joint operations has resulted in interoperability standards of significant complexity. For instance, the Joint Consultation, Command, and Control Information Exchange Data Model (JC3IEDM) that is part of the MIP interoperability solution has almost doubled in size since 2002. The configuration management of complex data models, especially in the context of international standardization activities, is a challenging task, because many different artifacts (examples, documentation, etc.) must be kept synchronized as the model evolves. Ideally, data models are expressed at several levels of abstraction in the form of computation-independent (business) models, platform-independent models (PIM), and platform-specific models (PSM). Efficient transformation tools are desirable to automate the generation of PSMs from a PIM. Another important aspect concerns the collaboration of different Communities of Interest (COIs). Diverging information exchange requirements call for a modular or even federated data model rather than a monolithic, indivisible one. In this paper, we demonstrate how the use of formal languages and the concepts of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) can be applied to the JC3IEDM in order to improve the maintenance, consistency, and comprehension of the model and to provide implementers with products that allow them to build interoperability solutions for their C2 systems more easily.