Structural Allocation: USB - Progressive refinement using Allocations

That describes the following structural allocation refinement example nicely, where a cable connection between Ports of a USB host and USB device is initially represented by a single Connector, and is then later represented by a part Property with Ports and 2 Connectors:

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All of these allocations could be made easily directly in the BDD:

MagicDraw/Cameo: The Allocate relationship is available in all SysML diagram types under the Common sidebar menu group (but you can only use it to make allocations between elements that both appear in a given diagram).

But graphical views of allocations only tell part of the story. We see next how we can use an interactive allocation matrix in the tool to get a nice overview.

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Allocation matrix in the MagicDraw/Cameo tool

Notes

[ISSUE, TOOL] MagicDraw/Cameo 19SP3: The property path in callout does always correspond to the SysML spec examples.

[FEATURE, TIP, TOOL] MagicDraw/Cameo: The Allocate relationship is available in all SysML diagram types under the Common sidebar menu group (but you can only use it to make allocations between elements that both appear in a given diagram).

[FEATURE, TIP, TOOL] MagicDraw/Cameo: You can allocate an Action to any NamedElement in the model via its specification box under the Allocations section by dragging and dropping an element (such as a part Property) from the model browser onto the Allocate To field.

[FEATURE, TIP, TOOL] MagicDraw/Cameo: The Allocate relationship is available on many element kinds on most SysML diagram types as a smart manipulator (click symbol once then look at right of symbol).

[NAMING, POLICY]{OPTION} Use of 'this-that' with a hyphen in Connector names is admissable (where 'this' and 'that' indicate Connector ends or their types)

Snippets (quotes/extracts)

[SysML-1.6] Allocation is the term used by systems engineers to denote the organized cross-association (mapping) of elements within the various structures or hierarchies of a user model.

[SysML-1.6] System modelers often associate various elements in a user model in abstract, preliminary, and sometimes tentative ways. Allocations can be used early in the design as a precursor to more detailed rigorous specifications and implementations.

[SysML-1.6] ... does not try to limit the use of the term “allocation,” but provides a basic capability to support allocation in the broadest sense. It does include some specific subclasses of allocation for allocating behavior, structure, and flows.