MBSE Tool Selection Process: Feedback from a Railway Case Study

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is an increasingly adopted approach for the development or evolution of software-based systems in many industrial domains. The integrated use of models across the lifecycle offers many benefits for tracing requirements, having deeper and earlier verification and validation, automating testing and code generation. However, to be successful, it requires the proper use of a MBSE methodology and the setup of a supporting toolchain. In this paper, we assume a methodology is selected and focus on the problem of tool selection in order to support both method-related and domain specific requirements. Our work puts into perspective a tool selection proposal from the literature with an industrial selection process conducted independently. This enables to challenge and improve the published results and our own approach.