An ontology mindset for system engineering

This paper presents an approach to support model-based system engineering (MBSE) which combines a standard metamodel such as UML, SysML, or NAF, with dedicated project ontologies that ease the understanding and creation of models. The approach is formalized using category theory to determine the conditions for use of project ontologies while ensuring the resulting models comply with the selected metamodel. The paper exposes the advantages of the proposed approach over a direct metamodel-based approach or an ontology-based approach using a domain specific language (DSL).