UAF® Summit 2025

Leadership Spotlight: UAF Development Status

Presenter: Dr. Aurelijus Morkevicius, MBSE Consulting Director, Dassault Systemes.

This presentation provides an introduction to the event, its hosts, and the Unified Architecture Framework (UAF), covering its purpose, adoption, and roadmap. It highlights upcoming features in UAF 1.3 and examines the development status, key additions, and challenges of UAF V2.

KEYNOTE: Accelerating Developmental Test and Evaluation (DT&E): Using UAF for Collaborative Innovation and Standards-Based Integration

Presenter: Kyle G Snow, DAF 96 Test Wing Digital Engineering Lead

The Developmental Test, Evaluation and Assessment (DTE&A) office of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) Mission Capabilities group convened a Hack-a-Thon 23-26 September in order to exercise several core aspects of the developmental Test and Evaluation as a Continuum (dTEaaC) concept. This event not only served as outreach to over 200 members of the developmental Test and Evaluation (T&E) community but also functioned as an accelerated learning environment across the DoD enterprise for government, industry, and academia. This presentation will discuss the findings from this event, in particular, how Capability-Based Acquisition Reference Architecture (CapyBARA)—a standards-based approach to integrating Model-Based System's Engineering activities across the domains from Mission Engineering (UAF), Systems Engineering (SysML), and Test & Evaluation (UML Test Profile v2)— where used to demonstrate traceability from capability gap identification through verification and validation of system performance.

The Systems Engineering Reference Enterprise Architecture (SEREA) modeled in UAFML and based on ISO15288

Presenter: Hugo Ormo, NTT DATA Deutschland SE, Senior Managing Technical Consultant

Join us for an insightful presentation on the Systems Engineering Reference Enterprise Architecture (SEREA), designed to support enterprises in adopting the Unified Architecture Framework (UAF). SEREA is an architecture description modeled in UAFML and based on ISO15288, providing a template for an operational model for any enterprise that develops, uses, maintains, or retires systems. This presentation will explore how SEREA facilitates the adoption of UAF, resulting in a standardized enterprise architecture description that enhances internal and external communication. We will discuss the benefits of tracing operations from the vision and drivers through operational and resource architectures down to the specification of enabling and supporting systems. Additionally, we will highlight the combined use of SysML to trace this chain of effects further down through the architecture description of enabling and supporting systems until the specification of their components. This comprehensive approach provides AI-agents with structured data to understand the enterprise and the systems it uses and produces, setting a comprehensive context to support the operations of the enterprise. Notably, SEREA is being developed within a working group of the Gesellschaft für Systems Engineering (GfSE), fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among experts.

Enabling Enterprise Transformation in the Department of the Air Force with a UAF-based Enterprise Architecture Model

Presenter: James N Martin, PhD, Distinguished Engineer, The Aerospace Corporation

At the UAF Summit in 2024, Mr Jeffrey Eggers, Air Force ISR Chief Architect, presented his vision for how to optimize Force Design for the USAF using concepts and principles of enterprise architectural design. This is to ensure the forces and supporting organizational elements are well integrated at both the mission and technical levels. An enterprise architecture (EA) model developed using UAF, he says, can help the USAF develop and enhance its capabilities across AF mission areas and across the community involved in joint force operations.

This talk will present the results from building an EA model using UAF for the ISR Chief Architect for the Air Force. This was accomplished through several steps of architecture model development: (1) problem framing, (2) methodology design, (3) data collection, (4) model creation, (5) model deployment, and finally to step (6) model utilization. The methodology design focused on creating modeling patterns based on the UAF metamodel elements, generating model queries to interrogate the model to answer key questions from senior decision makers, and building a pathfinder model to test the methodology and determine its ability to provide timely and accurate alternative proposed solutions to the hard problems that face the USAF and its mission partners. The EA model is initially focused on the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission but will eventually be expanded to cover the other AF core missions: Air and Space Superiority, Rapid Global Mobility, Global Strike, and Command and Control. We will discuss our lessons learned, end user experiences, and plans for future development.

Application of UAF to Digital DoD Acquisitions: Breaking the Sound Barrier, One Mach at a Time

Presenter: Leonard Brownlow, Booz Allen Hamilton

There has been talk about doing Model-Based Acquisition for a number of years. So, we decided to make a run for it by applying the tried-and-true Systems Engineering approach to lay out the architecture for the Acquisition approach. And then we applied standard Enterprise Modeling methods and tools using the Unified Architecture Framework (UAF). We then devised a set of models and other SE artifacts to serve as the basis for Digital Acquisition. We will share lessons learned and special challenges that we encountered.

Modeling the FAA's National Airspace System

Presenter: Chris Massey,System Engineer, Noblis

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Airspace System (NAS) Enterprise Architecture Models (EAM) are in the process of being transformed from a user-modified version of the Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) 1.5 to a Unified Architecture Framework (UAF). During this transformation, the FAA will link the developed UAF Architecture models with their Enterprise Data Architecture models to capture and decompose the complex NAS into its constituent parts and identify internal and external data flows. Combining the FAA's Enterprise level UAF with its data models provides detailed data thread traceability through the UAF views and analysis across the enterprise. This presentation provides an overview of the FAA's UAF modeling approach and how the Enterprise Data architecture models, captured in UML class diagrams, are linked to the Operational Information (Op-If) and Resource Information (Rs-If) view specifications in UAF. This also allows the FAA to apply data tagging templates to the architecture enforcing zero-trust data security at the data layer.

Securing Your Eggs in Multiple Baskets

Presenter: Mitchell Brooks, SystemX; Matthew Hause, SystemX

The global supply chain is a complex system of systems made up of and relying on other complex systems of systems (SoS) to achieve its goals. To take a typical example, Enterprise A is supplied essential parts on a regular basis to manufacture its products. To place the order requires global financial systems, integrated email systems, the internet, multiple telecommunications systems, and supply software provided by large companies. To deliver the parts may require air and maritime transportation systems, the rail network, interstate highway systems, road haulage companies, state and local transportation systems and so forth. When any of these complex systems fail, the impact can be global, and the results catastrophic. Recent examples include the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the COVID pan-demic, computer chip shortages delaying the assembly and sales of cars, and, most recently, the baby formula shortage. These were due to disruptions in the supply chain caused by an overreliance on single sourced suppliers who failed to deliver, transportation disruptions, outsourcing of critical parts, supplies, medicines to distant countries, and/or an overreliance on "Just In Time" for inventory management. This is the case of placing too many eggs in too few baskets, and often just one basket. Counterfeit or substandard parts and products can enter the supply chain via graft, breaks in chain of custody, or carelessness. This has included critical mechanical parts on aircraft, chips containing spyware, and substandard or out of date medicines substituted for the real thing resulting in serious illness and death. This complex SoS needs to be examined, studied, and understood in the same way as a mission critical system; threats, vulnerabilities, and risks need to be identified and mitigated and assurance cases defined to ensure a solid and reliable supply chain. This paper will look at the supply chain of an example factory system to determine how some of these problems can be predicted, prevented, mitigated, and solved using the UAF, RAAML and assurance case techniques.

Driving Quality in UAF 1.2: A Path Toward Better Enterprise Modeling in Large Organization

Presenter: Guillermo Pischansky, Principal Systems Engineer, Linquest / KBR

The Unified Architecture Framework (UAF) provides a comprehensive structure for modeling complex enterprise systems across Strategic, Operational, and Resource domains. However, ensuring the quality, consistency, and structural integrity of these models presents a significant challenge in aligning architectural descriptions with enterprise goals.

This presentation explores a practical approach to advancing model quality in UAF 1.2, offering actionable insights into improving model fidelity and ensuring adherence to UAF standards. By leveraging overlays on the UAF grid, such as heat maps and dashboards, this approach provides a dynamic view of quality attributes, including semantic alignment, structural integrity, and cross-view consistency. It identifies defects such as misalignments, underutilized View Specifications, improper usage, among other characteristics, enabling enterprises to address these issues effectively.

Key areas of discussion include:
1.  Domain Modeling Trends: Analyzing how enterprises model across various domains to uncover patterns, such as overrepresentation or underutilization of specific View Specifications, and identifying trends that may suggest areas for improvement. (Domain Appropriateness, proficiency and others) 
2.  Validation with Temporal Context: Incorporating the maturity and evolution of architectural descriptions into validation efforts, ensuring compliance with UAF specifications while aligning with enterprise goals over time. (as they go thru milestone and decision gates) 
3.  Adherence to View Specification Standards: Introducing stricter rules for allowable representations within each View Specification to align more closely with the UAF Domain Meta-Model (DMM) and maintain model clarity. 
4.  Root Cause Analysis of Defects: Investigating the origins of common modeling issues, such as missing or underdeveloped View Specifications, using structured heuristics and dependency mappings.
5.  Quality Insights at Scale: Applying metrics and dashboards to evaluate large-scale enterprises comprising hundreds of interrelated models, providing clarity on common defects, domain-specific challenges, and opportunities for enhanced training and guidance.

Additionally, this approach demonstrates the applicability of UAF in capturing and managing not only tangible systems but also non-tangible systems, such as Quality Management Systems used to represent and plan this effort. Through practical examples, the presentation showcases how these methods foster iterative improvement, enhance communication precision, and drive greater alignment between enterprise models and organizational objectives.

Space Domain Enterprise Architecture Reference Model

Presenter: Kyle Alvarez, Senior Member of Technical Staff, The Aerospace Corporation

As Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) becomes more widely accepted across disciplines and specifically within the space domain a common approach towards modeling enterprise architectures in that domain is critical. Having a common approach ensures consistency in what is delivered and what is shared across groups to promote inter-organizational collaboration. This presentation is on the Space Enterprise Architecture (SEA) references models. The SEA reference model comprises nine separate model libraries built using the Unified Architecture Framework (UAF). When these model libraries are used together, they can capture space system characteristics such as physical location, operational status, operators, networks etc. It also helps enterprise modelers to document space enterprises in a consistent fashion. The SEA models provide a baseline set of features for space systems and how they interface with one another as well as a model pattern for how to address what-if mission threads and kill chain analyses for the space domain. The SEA's focus on space enterprise modeling for the completion of mission engineering studies is a case study in capturing the needs and lingo of a customer and translating it into a methodology powered by a generic modeling language that was not designed explicitly for the customer's lingo. Defense and nondefense government organizations and their contractors who do work on mission architecting modeling would find interest in the approach taken to develop a methodology to standardize the creation of the customer's desired mission architecture views. This presentation's goal is to provide the approach the SEA models have taken to capture space systems in a federated digital ecosystem to promote enterprise modeling reuse via an example mission thread analysis leveraging SEA. Through this, the presenters' goal is for other model practitioners to leverage the SEA model pattern or concepts in their own mission thread or kill chain analyses.