Toward Formalizing a Systems of Systems Core Ontology for Capability Configuration: A SysML Approach

In many sciences, it is important to define and formulate a core set of principles and ideas, and, in technical fields, this can often be through shared ontologies. However, ontologies are often impractical to utilize directly due to the abstract and agnostic definition of concepts and terms. In this paper, we present a first step to formalize a previously defined core ontology for Systems of Systems (SoS) through extensions and synthesis of mission and capability views. By employing the four pillars of the SysML, language practitioners can apply the ontology more readily while keeping the definition free from specific processes or methods. The representation of the core ontology in SysML further paves the way for applying more advanced analytical means to improve decision-making. We demonstrate how commonly used concepts in SysML map to the ontology through a set of example views.