Rotary Dial Model — A model-driven methodology for autonomic network design

Designing and developing complex multi-domain systems such as autonomic systems and networks is not only a creative but also a systems engineering challenge. Current systems engineering methodologies are unsuitable, as autonomics is a multi-domain field that requires the knowledge of several domains, such as control-theory, computer networks, software-engineering, etc., and comes with its own set of requirements and challenges. We showcase why and how current systems engineering approaches fail, and advocate for an avant-garde systems engineering approach to designing safety-critical and multidomain systems, such as autonomic entities. In this paper, we introduce a new model-driven systems engineering methodology, called the Rotary Dial Model (RDM), whose functioning is inspired by the standard telephone rotary dial. We describe in detail the working of the RDM model, and showcase its robustness and flexibility for the system design process.