KNOWLEDGE BASE // GLOSSARY
Key terms and language of model-based practice — the vocabulary you'll use in every SET Academy course and on every digital engineering program.
28 TERMS
Model-Based Systems Engineering — the formalized application of modeling to support system requirements, design, analysis, verification, and validation across the entire lifecycle.
The Systems Modeling Language — a graphical modeling language standardized by the OMG for specifying, analyzing, designing, and verifying complex systems.
A digital, structured representation of a system that serves as the authoritative source of engineering truth — replacing scattered documents and spreadsheets.
An integrated, digital approach that uses authoritative sources of system data and models across the lifecycle — the umbrella practice that MBSE lives within.
The connected flow of data linking requirements, design models, analysis, manufacturing, and sustainment — so every discipline works from the same information.
A virtual representation of a physical system, kept in sync with its real-world counterpart to support simulation, prediction, and operations.
A condition or capability a system must satisfy. In MBSE, requirements live in the model and are traced directly to the design elements that satisfy them.
The structure of a system — its components, their relationships, and the principles governing its design and evolution — captured as model elements.
The fundamental structural unit in SysML, used to represent systems, subsystems, components, and their properties and interfaces.
A description of how actors (users or external systems) interact with the system to achieve a goal — a primary tool for capturing functional behavior.
A structured comparison of design alternatives against weighted criteria, performed in or alongside the model to drive objective design decisions.
Verification confirms the system is built right (meets requirements); validation confirms the right system was built (meets the need). MBSE traces both through the model.
Using SysML parametric diagrams to bind system properties to engineering equations — enabling analysis and simulation directly from the model.
The Department of Defense instruction mandating digital engineering — including MBSE — across defense acquisition programs.
Any individual or organization with an interest in the system — customers, operators, regulators — whose needs the model must capture and satisfy.
The interdisciplinary practice of designing, integrating, and managing complex systems over their lifecycles — balancing performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
Viewing a system as a whole — its parts, interactions, and environment — rather than as isolated components. The foundational mindset of every SET Academy course.
The full span of a system's existence — from concept and design through production, operation, sustainment, and retirement — all traceable within the model.
A defined boundary where two system elements exchange energy, data, or material. Modeling interfaces early is one of MBSE's biggest defect-prevention wins.
The ability to follow a requirement from stakeholder need to design element to verification result — a core property of a well-built system model.
A person or external system that interacts with the system of interest — represented in use case diagrams to define the system boundary.
A behavioral model describing the states a system can be in and the events that trigger transitions between them.
A SysML extension mechanism that tailors a model element for a specific domain — letting teams adapt the language to their program's vocabulary.
The managed storage where system models live — providing version control, access control, and collaboration for distributed engineering teams.
The single, governed location — the model — where the current, approved definition of the system resides, ending conflicts between duplicated documents.
The Object Management Group — the standards consortium that maintains SysML, UML, and related modeling standards.
The culminating SET Academy course — a full end-to-end MBSE project modeled on real aerospace and defense mission problems.
Executing a model to predict system behavior before anything is built — validating designs early, when changes are cheapest.