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Over the past two decades, the promoters of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) have encouraged systems engineers to transition from document-centric approaches to model-based ones. Literacy of systems engineers in reading, sharing and elaborating models has therefore become an issue. Whatever the modeling language, elaboration of models is a highly complex intellectual process and SysML is no exception. Feedback from industry practitioners and MBSE lecturers suggests that developers of SysML models often stumble on the same problem: thinking about the system before modeling it in SysML. The authors of this paper propose to ease that elaboration process by using mind maps. With their graphic form and rather flexible way of organizing ideas, mind maps turn out to be a good candidate to help thinking about the system. Unlike approaches that directly switch from mind maps to SysML diagrams dedicated to one specific system, this paper introduces an intermediate step: mind maps first enable elaboration of diagrams patterns. The latter may in turn be instantiated onto one or several systems. Without loss of generality, the proposed approach is step-wise illustrated on real-time systems monitored by software controllers. Patterns are proposed to cover need expression, requirement capture, use case driven analysis and design.

This paper proposes a novel model-based approach to technology planning and roadmapping, consisting of two complementary steps: technology forecasting and game-theoretic planning. The inherent uncertainty of target technology performances, timelines and risks impact the roadmapping process. Reducing this uncertainty is a major challenge and allows elaborating different options and scenarios. A formal methodology is proposed for quantitative forecasting in a multi-dimensional space (different performance metrics and time) based on past technology development trend information. The method adopts concepts and approaches from econometrics and is formulated as a convex optimization problem with different constraints on the frontier’s shape. It provides useful product line assessment benchmarks and helps to set reasonable goals for future technology developments. Game-theoretic planning allows addressing the strategic decisions to take, considering the technology land-scape, markets, and competition. The strategic decisions affect in turn other companies as well, which is the basis for the application of game theory, in the form of best-response functions to determine the subsequent reactions and movements of rivals in a technological landscape. The result is a simulation of a sequential game in tech-nology space, allowing evaluating possible technological development pathways and determining optimal models on the Pareto frontiers, potential targets for technology roadmapping.