Automating the interoperability of conceptual models in specific development domains

An increasing number of modeling approaches for representing concepts related to a wide variety of domains can be clearly observed in software engineering. In this context, the definition of sound interoperability mechanisms to reuse knowledge and share ideas among existing conceptual models, and also apply them into concrete development processes, is an important challenge to be faced. Thus, different modeling approaches, tools, and standards can be integrated and coordinated to reduce the implementation and learning time of development processes as well as to improve the quality of the final software products. However, there is a lack of approaches to support automatic interoperability among modeling approaches. For tackling this situation, this chapter presents an interoperability approach focused on the characterization of different modeling approaches in a common software development domain. For putting in practice and automate the interoperability the approach proposed, existing modeling technologies and standards are considered. All these elements comprise a reference interoperability model, which can be used to implement specific interoperability solutions.