An Object-oriented and Executable SysML Framework for Rapid Model Development

This paper introduces Cortex, a new framework to develop object-oriented and executable SysML models using the IPython Notebook4. The framework strives to create a succinct and intuitive Python programming interface for SysML models, and integrate it with OpenMDAO (a Multi-disciplinary Design, Analysis and Optimization framework being developed by NASA Glenn Research Center). Data persists in MongoDB, with a Resource Description Framework (RDF) cache for semantic querying. The models can be exposed to custom web-based applications through a Representational State Transfer (REST) interface. The authors strive to create a foundational framework on which to be able to build more advanced system engineering and decision support tools. All the tools and libraries leveraged in this effort are open source software (OSS), and whenever possible, the authors selected technologies with the most permissive licenses.