A Hetero-functional Graph State Estimator for Watershed Systems: Application to the Chesapeake Bay

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Harris, Megan S., Little, John C., Farid, Amro M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908860389785600
author Harris, Megan S.
Little, John C.
Farid, Amro M.
author_facet Harris, Megan S.
Little, John C.
Farid, Amro M.
contents Regional watersheds are complex systems of systems encompassing hydrology, land-use decision-making, estuarine ecological feedbacks, and overlapping governance jurisdictions. Their effective management underlies many modern societal challenges and therefore requires models that capture interdependencies between natural and institutional systems. Regional-specific models such as the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool, used in this paper's case study, provide valuable nutrient estimates but rely on structurally opaque watershed routing that limits integration into broader systems-level analyses. This paper introduces a modeling framework for watershed systems. First, a region-independent reference architecture is developed. Second, the Weighted Least Squares Error Hetero-functional Graph State Estimator, an extension of Hetero-functional Graph Theory (HFGT), is adapted to estimate nutrient flows from uncertain data. The framework is demonstrated through instantiation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. By establishing a shared ontology grounded in Systems Modeling Language and HFGT, the approach enables integration of economic and governance systems to support sustainable watershed management.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_01931
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Hetero-functional Graph State Estimator for Watershed Systems: Application to the Chesapeake Bay
Harris, Megan S.
Little, John C.
Farid, Amro M.
Systems and Control
Regional watersheds are complex systems of systems encompassing hydrology, land-use decision-making, estuarine ecological feedbacks, and overlapping governance jurisdictions. Their effective management underlies many modern societal challenges and therefore requires models that capture interdependencies between natural and institutional systems. Regional-specific models such as the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool, used in this paper's case study, provide valuable nutrient estimates but rely on structurally opaque watershed routing that limits integration into broader systems-level analyses. This paper introduces a modeling framework for watershed systems. First, a region-independent reference architecture is developed. Second, the Weighted Least Squares Error Hetero-functional Graph State Estimator, an extension of Hetero-functional Graph Theory (HFGT), is adapted to estimate nutrient flows from uncertain data. The framework is demonstrated through instantiation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. By establishing a shared ontology grounded in Systems Modeling Language and HFGT, the approach enables integration of economic and governance systems to support sustainable watershed management.
title A Hetero-functional Graph State Estimator for Watershed Systems: Application to the Chesapeake Bay
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01931