Development and Application of a Context-free Grammar for Requirements

Requirements form the basis of the systems engineering life cycle activities but creating a good set of requirements is a difficult task. Some difficulties can be reduced through the application of a context free grammar for requirements to reduce the complexity of requirements elicitation. Developing the grammar involved a melding of computer science and natural language that yielded useful insights into the nature of requirements. The grammar was originally developed to empower a case-based assessment system for requirements but the value in using the grammar was such that it inspired the creation of a requirements writing tool, BADGER.