Technology Title
ReqCity++: A GenAI Powered City of Requirements for Aircraft System Requirements Integration and Verification for conformance to ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018
Tech Focus Area
Aircraft Data Integration
Abstract
Problem Statement:
Aerospace systems rely on massive, complex technical specifications written in natural language (NL). NL introduces ambiguity, inconsistency, and lack of traceability—complicating maintenance and risking mission readiness.
The 2024 Boeing 737 door plug failure highlights the role of requirements. The FAA traced the incident to poorly specified installation requirements that were unverifiable, missing quality records and data traceability. This underscores the urgent need for robust requirements engineering in aircraft data integration.
The ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018 standard prescribes three pillars to prevent such failures:
- Requirement allocation across system levels to ensure lower-level requirements fulfill higher-level ones.
- Traceability between requirements and other artifacts.
- Verification of requirements to support validation and testing.
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Managing these aspects in large-scale systems leads to information overload and critical oversights.
Innovation Solution:
We developed ReqCity++, a City of Requirements, to manage, verify, and visualize system requirements. Powered by Generative AI (GenAI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and graph theory, ReqCity++ automates:
Processing requirement specifications
Evaluating conformance to 14 ISO characteristics via 42 INCOSE rules
Building requirement trees and traceability graphs
An interactive 3D city metaphor visualizes requirements as buildings, where shape, color, and layout/links reflect their quality, structure, and traceability. Engineers intuitively explore verification status, locate poor requirements, and assess traceability.
Benefits to the DoD:
ReqCity++ enables:
Data integration across AFC, AFB, LES, and other sources
Contextual organization of complex requirement artifacts
Automation and efficiency in verification and traceability
Real-time updates and collaboration through an intuitive interface
Compliance acceleration with ISO 29148 and DoD cybersecurity/data standards
A user study validated ReqCity++, showing 29% faster verification and 9% higher accuracy than traditional tools, with System Usability Scale (SUS) scores confirming user satisfaction.
Innovation Challenges:
Managing information overload from vast data sources
Ensuring traceability and verification across system levels
Maintaining scalability and flexibility with evolving standards
Reducing the learning curve without losing functionality
Technical Maturity:
ReqCity++ is a modular, scalable, extensible platform, validated on real-world projects. Its GenAI-NLP pipeline supports automated analysis, dynamic updates, and modular data integration.
ReqCity++ is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6-7, validated in operational environments. It is designed for seamless integration with existing DoD systems. The platform is standards-aligned, cost-effective, and ready to support DoD’s aircraft systems engineering, maintenance operations.
