Work

The Design Multiverse: A Scientific Model for Design Evolution and Co-evolution

Year: 2026

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Model-Based Systems Engineering lacks a formal model that treats design evolution, with its inherent branching, rework, and context-sensitivity, as a first-class citizen. Current approaches reduce rich design trajectories to repository artifacts, losing the semantics of design decisions. This paper calls for a scientific model for design evolution and introduces the Design Multiverse that frames design dynamics as a context-sensitive, nondeterministic transition system, while orthogonally separating observational link theories (e.g., conformance, refinement) for consistency reasoning. We demonstrate the model’s explanatory power through co-evolution. Furthermore, we outline a research agenda grounded by Design Multiverse Experiments (DMX), which enable empirical validation and pave the way for scalable, history-aware modeling environments.

Source: IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)

DOI: 10.1145/3786582.3786830

Authors: Ciprian Teodorov, Joeri Exelmans, Salvador Martínez, Sylvain Guérin, Hans Vangheluwe

Institutions: École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées, Laboratoire des Sciences et Techniques de l’Information de la Communication et de la Connaissance, University of Antwerp, IMT Atlantique, Flanders Make (Belgium)

Language: English

Topic: Systems Engineering Methodologies and Applications

Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Agence de l'innovation de Défense, CHIST-ERA

Award: Model-Driven Evolution for Secured Systems