Integrating fUML in Enterprise Architect

This work has been finished in April 2015.

The foundational UML standard (fUML) specifies precise execution semantics for a subset of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The main purpose of this standard is to make models containing the detailed elements interpretable and executable. This enables additional use cases for the models, such as visualization of the execution of behavior models, or automatic validation.

However, the fUML standard does not have a significant market penetration in commercial UML simulation tools yet. These tools still rely on proprietary and mostly incompatible solutions, leading to migration and compatibility problems.

The main question that is dealt with in this master’s thesis is therefore: Can the proprietary solution of such a commercial UML simulation tool be replaced with the definitions and technologies proposed in the fUML standard? And, if so, which changes does this adaptation bring?

This master’s thesis focuses on the commercial UML tool Enterprise Architect [http://www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/index.html], and the simulation engine provided by the plugin AMUSE [http://www.lieberlieber.com/amuse/] – a proprietary UML simulation tool based on code generation. For the purpose of this thesis, AMUSE’s execution engine is modified to execute fUML standard-compliant models using the execution engine specified in the fUML standard instead of using its own, proprietary engine.