Military Communications and Information Technology: A Trusted ...

204 Military Communications and Information Technology...
• The pragmatic layer recognizes the patterns in which data are organized for
the information exchange, which are in particular the inputs and outputs
of procedures and methods to be called. This is the context in which data
are exchanged as applicable information. These groups are often referred
to as (business) objects. This is the highest level still supporting the realm
interoperability; the relations between functions and there input and output
parameters are captured.
• The dynamic layer recognizes various system states, including the possibility
for agile and adaptive systems. The same business object exchanged with
different systems can trigger very different reactions. It is also possible that
the same information sent to the same system at different times can trigger
different responses. This level is the first level in the realm of composability,
as it requires the alignment of assumptions and constraints.
• Finally, general assumptions, constraints, and simplifications need to be captured.
This happens in the conceptual layer. Here, we capture the abstractions
and simplifications of the perception of reality that constraint the model.
The following figure shows the levels and their relation to the governing
interoperation concepts.
Figure 1. Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model
This model already implies that more than data mediation is needed to support
composability. The context needed to support meaningful use of information to be
exchanged must address the higher levels of interoperation as well.
Interoperability design
The main idea behind most interoperability engineering approaches was the requirement
that the original systems that shall contribute to a distributed application