Semi-formal representation of requirements for automotive solutions using sysML

As systems and electrical and electronic devices are becoming more and more complex, the number of requirements is increased accordingly. Therefore, the organization, the processing and the verification of requirements has become a necessity. In automotive applications, this necessity is more pronounced because of the safety regulations imposed by authorities. Semi-formal representation is an approach that helps making the requirements more understandable and rigorous. In particular, SysML has proved to have the capabilities to represent requirements, structure and behaviour of systems and devices in a diagram-based fashion, enabling the linking different elements that define the composition and the functionalities of the desired product. While for software systems and digital hardware it has been applied successfully, very little work has yet been done for analogue and analogue-mixed signal devices. This is mainly because of the particular behaviour of such devices and the continuous quantities related to them. In this paper, we describe the modelling of requirements for an electronic power switch in SysML. We show that the description of the requirements for analogue devices is possible and emphasize its utility in a real scenario.