Conceptual Modeling Semantics for the Physical-Informatical Essence Duality Problem

Physical-Informatical Essence Duality (PIED) is the parallel existence of an entity as both an independent, mostly physical object, and its informatical representation. System models tend to neglect or ignore this dual representation and the two parallel manifestations of model entities. This may result in erroneous modeling and realization, as representations can be partial and mistaken. Agent perception or capturing of an entity of interest is fundamental to the way it affects or interacts with the entity. The problem intensifies in models of complex systems and systems of systems, which must account for original embodiments and their multiple representations by various agents. This paper proposes a formal model-based approach and theory for detecting, capturing, representing, and controlling this physical-informatical duality in system models. We illustrate the proposed semantics via formal object-oriented epistemic logic semantics and via Object-Process Methodology (OPM), the emerging ISO 19450 standard for Model-based Systems Engineering.