Capella (engineering)


Capella is an open-source solution for model-based systems engineering. Hosted at polarsys.org, this solution provides a process and tooling for graphical modeling of systems, hardware or software architectures, in accordance with the principles and recommendations defined by the Arcadia method. Capella is an initiative of PolarSys, one of several Eclipse Foundation working groups.

Usage

Capella is mainly used for modeling complex and safety-critical systems in embedded systems development for industries such as aerospace, avionics, transportation, space, communications and security and automotive.

History

Capella was created by Thales in 2007, and has been under continuous development and evolution since then.
The objective is to contribute to the transformation of engineering, providing an engineering environment which approach is based on models rather than focused on documents, piloted by a process, and offering, by construction, ways to ensure effective co-engineering. Operational experts from engineering then defined a unified language for modeling architectures in the group and specified the associated tooling, Capella.
Capella provides ergonomics that are similar to PowerPoint / Visio and Excel tools. Hence, the resulting environment is actually intuitive and allows engineers to focus on defining their architectures instead of learning and operating complex generic modeling languages, such as UML or SysML, to capture their design requirements. Because it is based on the Arcadia method, it also guides engineers in their activities, which generic modeling tools in general, do not do. In 2015, Capella was released as an Eclipse open source project by PolarSys, a Working Group of the Eclipse Foundation through the French collaborative project Clarity, supported by the Banque Publique d’Investissement.
Capella has its own life cycle. A major release, providing new functionality is delivered each year end while several versions called minor, including bugs fixes, are generally delivered over the course of the year.

Principles

Capella comes with its own metamodel, which defines the language concepts the user can enable in a Capella project. The user creates an instance of this metamodel and can then view the model from various perspectives through diagrams, according to his/her concerns. The user can also, via the palette associated with diagrams, create new model elements. A Capella project consists of a model part and a graphic part.
When a Capella project is created, the workbench interface is presented to the user. It contains various areas:
Through Capella, the user can handle several types of diagrams. The representation of elements in diagrams is governed by a color code specific to each type of analysis.
Some examples of diagrams:

Extensibility

The workbench can be enhanced or specialized for a given business need, according to the concept of "Point of View", defined by the standard ISO/IEC 42010. These extensions provide, for example:
Capella is supported on environments based on Java 7 and higher on the following platforms:
The latest version of Capella is based on:
Links to the community and more information are available on the PolarSys website. Capella documentation is available for download from the website.
Capella was presented at several events:
ConferenceTitleDatePlace
SiriusCon 2016Collaborative modeling with Capella and Sirius15/11/2016Paris
Incose 2016Simplifying SysML to perform functional analysis and model instances18/06/2016Edinburgh
EclipseCon FranceHands-On Systems Modeling with ARCADIA / Capella07/06/2016Toulouse
Dutch Eclipse DayModel-based engineering with Capella: Status and perspectives18/04/2016Eindhoven
EclipseCon North AmericaMars exploration guided by PolarSys07/03/2016Reston
ERTSMBSE with ARCADIA Method and Capella Tool27/01/2016Toulouse
MODELSCLARITY: Open-Sourcing the Model-Based Systems Engineering Solution Capella29/09/2015Ottawa
SPLCTooling Support for Variability and Architectural Patterns in Systems Engineering23/07/2015Nashville
MODELSCLARITY: Open-Sourcing the Model-Based Systems Engineering Solution Capella29/09/2015Ottawa
INCOSE International SymposiumImplementing the MBSE Cultural Change: Organization, Coaching and Lessons Learned14/07/2015Seattle
INCOSE International SymposiumFrom initial investigations up to large-scale rollout of an MBSE method and its supporting workbench: the Thales experience14/07/2015Seattle
EclipseCon FranceCapella time-lapse: A system architecture model in 30 minutes25/06/2015Toulouse
EclipseCon FranceSystems Modeling with the ARCADIA method and the Capella tool24/06/2015Toulouse
Nouvelle France IndustriellePresentation of Clarity and Capella to Emmanuel Macron18/05/2015École des Mines of Nantes
EclipseCon North AmericaCapella time-lapse: A system architecture model in 30 minutes12/03/2015San Francisco
EclipseCon EuropeCapella on the field: Model-based system engineering use cases29/10/2014Ludwigsburg
Model-Based System Engineering SymposiumThe Challenges of Deploying MBSE Solutions28/10/2014Canberra
Model-Based System Engineering SymposiumArcadia and Capella in the Field27/10/2014Canberra
EclipseCon FranceArcadia / Capella, a field-proven modeling solution for system and software architecture engineering19/06/2014Toulouse
EclipseCon North AmericaArcadia / Capella, a field-proven modeling solution for system and software architecture engineering20/03/2015San Francisco
Complex Systems Design & Management Model-Based Collaboration for System, Software and Hardware Engineering04/12/2013Paris