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Insights from Model-Based Engineering — Tools and Methods

Methodological excellence and tailored tools for model-based system and software engineering.

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AI Agents Meet Projectional Editing: Portalon for MPS
Blog Custom tools

AI Agents Meet Projectional Editing: Portalon for MPS

How the Portalon plugin connects AI coding agents like Claude to the live model of a JetBrains MPS project via MCP — structurally safe edits, validation, and language-engineering skills, on your current MPS version.

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Dr. Klaus Birken Dr. Klaus Birken 10 min read
Tailoring Enterprise Architect with Add-ins
Blog Toolchain integration

Tailoring Enterprise Architect with Add-ins

How to extend Enterprise Architect with add-ins: model assistants, integrity checks, and installer-based rollout — and which tasks are better handled by external tools like the EA-Bridge.

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Dr. Patrick Könemann Dr. Patrick Könemann 7 min read
It's not MBSE when you use draw.io or Visio
Blog Systems engineering

It's not MBSE when you use draw.io or Visio

Collaborative modeling workshops are valuable — but drawing pictures isn't MBSE. If you can't validate, derive, or generate from your models, you're missing the point.

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Dr. Alexander Nyßen Dr. Alexander Nyßen 6 min read
Formal Error Detection on State Machines: What Works and What Doesn't
Blog Model driven software development

Formal Error Detection on State Machines: What Works and What Doesn't

An unreachable transition, an unsatisfiable guard, a numeric overflow: these bugs hide in the model long before any test reveals them. A results report from two master's theses on formal error detection for state machines using symbolic execution and SMT solvers.

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Andreas Mülder Andreas Mülder 9 min read
Variant Management: More Than Feature Strings
Blog Custom tools

Variant Management: More Than Feature Strings

Loosely coupling feature models to development artifacts is convenient – but it has hidden risks. This article shows the advantages of tight integration: early error detection, implicit variation points, and automatic consistency checks.

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Dr. Klaus Birken Dr. Klaus Birken 6 min read
State Machine Origami
Blog Custom tools

State Machine Origami

How Franca IDL and itemis CREATE can be integrated to validate embedded software components against interface contracts interactively during development.

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Dr. Klaus Birken Dr. Klaus Birken 9 min read
Taking SCXML to the next level
Blog Model driven software development

Taking SCXML to the next level

How itemis CREATE adds higher-level modeling, simulation and unit testing on top of the SCXML standard.

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Andreas Mülder Andreas Mülder 5 min read
Modeling with State Machines – Part 1
Blog Model driven software development

Modeling with State Machines – Part 1

How do state machines work and why should you use them? This post illustrates the modeling of a finite state machine using the example of a blind controller.

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Rainer Klute Rainer Klute 6 min read
AI meets MBSE
Webinar Systems engineering

AI meets MBSE

Discover how AI and model-based systems engineering converge to set new industry standards in transportation.

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Connecting the Dots
Webinar Toolchain integration

Connecting the Dots

Discover how to map threat intelligence with TARA, enable dynamic risk assessments, and reduce mistakes while saving time and cost.

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Florian Antony Florian Antony
10 Ways to Improve Systems Engineering – Whitepaper
Whitepapers Systems engineering

10 Ways to Improve Systems Engineering

Most SE failures aren't caused by wrong tools — they're caused by wrong practices. Dr. David Akehurst distills years of field experience into ten concrete, actionable improvements that transform how engineering teams specify, model and deliver complex systems.

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MBSE with Natural Language – Whitepaper
Whitepapers Systems engineering

MBSE with Natural Language

The biggest barrier to MBSE adoption isn't tooling — it's the SysML learning curve. This whitepaper shows how natural language patterns and model generation turn your existing requirements into formal SysML v2 models, without training your entire engineering team.

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