What We Do
The hosts of the Plug-Fest (
NIST
and
DoD's Systems and Software Engineering office.)
provide the resources and a forum for tool implementors to assess the
interoperability of their tools. This page describes how it all works.
At the start of a round of testing (new rounds start every few months), instructions and data
specifications are provided for creating one or more models
(see
exercises).
The specifications consist of (1) a
general description that is invariant across the technologies, (SysML, AP233, and CADM) and (2) a
technology-specific description (e.g. a SysML Diagram or reference to technology-specific
information elements). In the selection of models, we try to balance the time it takes to create
the models with the domain coverage it will provide. A conference call is held among all
participants to ensure that there are no misunderstandings with regard to the
instructions/specifications or procedures.
Each participant creates the model and translates it into one of the exchange formats of their
choosing (XMI, Part 28 XML, CADM XML). The exchange file is checked to ensure that it is
syntactically and structurally correct and that it does not violate any of the encoded normative
constraints of the chosen specification (SysML, AP233, CADM XML). We provide web-based
tools to
perform these checks. If the file meets these criteria, it is "vaulted", and an e-mail notification
is sent to all participants, telling them that the file has been approved for processing.
The other Plug-Fest participants may then download the exchange file and read it into their
tool. Using a checklist of characteristics that is provided with each exercise specification, they verify
the presence of these same characteristics in their tool's presentation of the content. Where the
intended and witnessed characteristics do not match, a potential problem may exist; either in the
file read, or in a tool's reading of it. These problems (which are more focused on "semantics"
and "comprehension" than what the
plug-fest tools provide)
shall be the subject of a subsequent email discussion, meeting or telecon of the participants.
Send questions or comments to
se-interop@nist.gov.
Date Created: April 24, 2006
Last Modified: August 19, 2008
