Integration of object-oriented analysis and performance simulation for engineering computer-based systems

Recent successes using object-oriented analysis methods to develop software systems suggest exploiting these techniques for systems engineering of large, complex systems. Unfortunately, object-oriented analysis methods are limited in their ability to model systems performance, one of the key components of the systems engineering process. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a systems engineering discipline that involves the integration of object-oriented models (which include information, state transition, and process models) with queueing-based performance simulation models. We discuss several techniques that promote performance modeling of hardware components as shared physical resources accessed by logical software objects. These techniques allow in-depth analysis of functionality, performance, and partitioning early in the requirements and design process which, in turn, reduces the risk, cost, and time involved in building and deploying computer-based systems.