Presence-awareness: A conceptual model-based systems biology approach

We propose a model-based systems engineering approach for representing and analyzing the perception and consideration of the presence of external entities by systems. This approach is inspired by the conceptual model-based systems biology paradigm we have previously proposed. The notion of presence and absence of surrounding objects, or occurrence of surrounding processes, is becoming ever more critical in a world of highly-aware automation agents and the increasingly complex and stochastic environmental configurations in which these agents act. This problem is well-known in the biological modeling domain. System models usually focus on nominal, mainstream aspects and scenarios. Presence-related aspects are often assumed to pose no issue, and remain unattended in both the conceptual and actual system design phases. The Pareto rule-of-thumb of system design asserts that about 20% of design and development efforts cover the nominal, “sunny day” process, while the other 80% cover exceptions, alternative scenarios, failure modes, edge conditions, special settings, and emergencies. We propose an approach to extend the naïve, nominal system model by enriching it with notions of presence-awareness and sensitivity. This approach is facilitated by Object-Process Methodology, a holistic system and process modeling framework, currently being adopted as ISO standard 19450.