Defining Relationships Between Model Elements in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE): The DREME Framework

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies for system design are widely discussed in the literature and commonly adopted in industrial contexts. However, there is a lack of methods to support the construction of a consistent set of models representative of the System of Interest (SoI). The establishment of dependencies among model elements (i) within each model, (ii) at each level of system decomposition, and (iii) through different levels of system decomposition is a critical enabling activity. The present paper proposes the DREME (Definition of RElationships among Model Elements) framework to define relationships among model elements within a MBSE methodology. The DREME framework has been defined by using the knowledge-based approach (KBA). Finally an example of its application is demonstrated with the Requirement-Functional-Logical-Physical method for mechatronic system design. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.