Model Formulation and Configuration of Technical Systems

Each configuration process relies on a particular component model. A component model is a useful abstraction of the domain and the technical system to be composed, and it must be tailored to the configuration problem. The formulation of adequate component models is a highly creative job and cannot be automated in its universality. However, model formulation can be automated to some extent. This paper elaborates on three concepts of model formulation support within configuration tasks: component model refinement, component model compilation, and component model synthesis. To each concept a configuration problem along with the realized model formulation support is sketched out.