Systems Engineering Design Process Research Articles

Development of an agent-based model incorporating Function–Behavior–Structure framework to enable systems engineering design process evaluation

An important step in the development of any process is evaluation. Evaluation ensures that the process affects effectiveness, efficiency, or other metrics as designed. Without evaluation, processes must stand solely on the theories, axioms, and/or heuristics that formed them. Outcome or objectives-based evaluations are especially useful in seeing if the expected impact is realized. Systems and design engineering present problems for outcome evaluations due to system design efforts being long in duration, expensive, organization/team specific, and environment/context specific. These characteristics make repeating the same effort under the same conditions using different processes difficult, if not impossible. While a comparison of processes for evaluation in a real application may not be feasible, a simulation of the processes with agents that capture system design behaviors may produce findings to support hypotheses. This paper examines the use of agent-based modeling and simulation to compare pseudo-waterfall and pseudo-agile engineering processes for a simple design problem. The Function–Behavior–Structure (FBS) model of design is used along with empirical data from FBS studies to examine the performance of a two-person design team using pseudo-waterfall and pseudo-agile engineering processes. The results of this exercise show possible advantages of agile-like processes in total time to complete the design.

System integration based on packing, piping and harness routing automation using graph-based design languages

The implementation of a fully instrumented, automated and simulation-enabled engineering software platform capable of automating the currently still manual model-based systems engineering (MBSE) design process for physical systems architecture generation and optimization in an aircraft wing is presented. The software platform uses graph-based design languages to integrate and entirely automate the mainly manual packing, piping and harness routing design. This design automation and optimization is achieved by a novel software stack of an optimization software coupled with a design compiler. It is shown that through rule-based model generation by a design compiler in the form of a design graph as a central data model, a cross-domain data consistency is achieved. This allows for automated execution and coupling of engineering tasks over several different domains such as packing, piping and routing design to converge to an optimized wing physical architecture design variant in agreement with given predetermined design constraints.

Design and Application of Building Intelligent Integrated Wiring System

Generic cabling is an important basic work for enterprises to realize networking, automation, digitization, and intelligence. This article introduces the structured integrated wiring system of the network, especially the 6 modules included in the structured wiring system, and the network wiring engineering circuit in a more detailed discussion, and combined with engineering application examples, analyses the structured wiring system Composition and engineering design process.

Factors Affecting Systems Engineering Complexity During Developmental Phase: Systems Practitioners, Developers, and Researchers’ Perspectives

The Systems Engineering design process is challenged to deliver successful complex systems in multidisciplinary and heterogeneous components. Growing human needs and evolving society bring ever greater challenges in the formation of a complex and large engineered system. System complexity is related to lots of parts and large size of the system when there is difficulty in understanding how the system works or in predicting the consequences of any change that may affect the process and systems develop itself. The leadership is performing an important role to manage a complex system. Leaders should be able to set back from immediate focus and look at the desired big picture. In practice, many factors contribute to Systems Engineering complexity in this review. This study intends to explore and analyze the complexities and the factors that contribute to the complexity of the Systems Engineering design approach. The data in this study were collected systematically from several electronic scholarly databases, including the ISI, Web of Science, Scopus, Wiley Online Library. This study quantified the challenges and causes of the Systems Engineer complexity. Then, the challenges were categorized into two groups, managerial and technical causes. Ultimately, seven Systems Engineering complexity factors were identified, and their impact on the Systems Engineering processes was ranked using the Pareto principle. Among the factors, rapidly emerging technology was the most significant factor contributing to Systems Engineering complexity.

Multi-level Decomposed Systems Design: Converting a Requirement Specification into an Optimization Problem

AbstractComplex technological artefacts are often decomposed into smaller components to keep their design manageable. The resulting challenge is to coordinate decisions that involve multiple components and to design components such that high-level targets are met. Analytical Target Cascading (ATC) is an analytical coordination method for the optimization of decomposed systems, which we aim to incorporate in systems engineering design process. To this extent, we relate the domain of engineering optimization to the domain of requirements engineering, and propose a method that constructs an ATC problem from functional specifications and requirements written in the newly developed Elephant Specification Language. The proposed method is demonstrated in the two-level design of an automotive powertrain. This contribution is a step towards design automation and is expected to increase the usability of decomposed optimization techniques.

Design and Development of a Tactile Wind Tunnel for Educational Purposes [University of Alabama in Huntsville

The purpose of the Tabletop Wind Tunnel Capstone Project for Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) STEM Education is to design a wind tunnel for K-12 classroom demonstration by the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Student Section and North Alabama ASME Section. The wind tunnel is designed to be easily replicable in any nation, using readily available materials and manufacturing processes. The UAH Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) undergraduate student design team incorporated the NASA Systems Engineering Design Process to meet the requirements of the project customers and faculty advisor, as well as ensure the design process resulted in a high quality deliverable. The tabletop wind tunnel will be the 6th generation of wind tunnels within the MAE Product Realization Capstone Design Class. After rigorous analysis and testing, the design team has determined that the best design will utilize a square cross-section throughout the wind tunnel, a pull through fan system, and a sliding stinger in order to allow for an easy and tactile procedure for measurement of lift. The primary purpose of having a sliding stinger is that children as young as Kindergarten and 1st grade will be able to have hands-on interaction with a wind tunnel and peak their interest in the area of STEM education early in life. Additionally, middle school and high school students will be able to evaluate the flow streamlines via tufts on the airfoil in order to observe flow separation as the velocity and angle of attack are varied. The UAH team's process for designing the wind tunnel included not only detailed Computer Aided Design and Finite Element Analysis, but also hands-on testing with mock ups of the intended design to ensure a test section velocity above 20 miles per hour.

Applying Systems Thinking to Engineering and Design

The application of Systems Thinking principles to Systems Engineering is synergistic, resulting in superior systems, products, and designs. However, there is little practical information available in the literature that describes how this can be done. In this paper, we analyze 12 major Systems Engineering failures involving bridges, aircraft, submarines, water supplies, automobiles, skyscrapers, and corporations and recommend Systems Thinking principles, tools, and procedures that should be applied during the first few steps of the System Engineering design process to avoid such catastrophic Systems Engineering failures in the future.

Increasing System Failure Analysis Effectiveness Through Architecture Modeling

This research demonstrated that the quality of the classic Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) method could be improved through the use of system architecture models. While existing work demonstrates use of simplified system models in FTA using methods that combine existing tools, this research uniquely addresses the value of using a single tool to generate stochastic behavior models of more complex systems, together with their normal and failure mode events, from existing system specification documents. Use of a single tool is desirable for organizations wishing to limit investment and simplify management of architecture data and analysis. The Innoslate tool is used show how classic failure analysis methods such as FTA can be emulated in the Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) design process. For a simple demonstration example, a fault tree is distilled from behavior models captured in action diagrams. A comparison of the classic FTA approach with the model based approach shows potential for increase in failure analysis accuracy and efficiency.

The Process Simulation Complex of Cell Phone Casing Model Injection Molding

Structural optimization model is the key problem of a systems engineering design process. This paper, based on the core of the Moldflow software, with complex cell phone casing injection model as an example, studies the analog simulation problems of the injection molding process, and the optimization of the proposed system engineering design optimization method and the optimum algorithm.

11.2.2 Reducing the Gap Between Formal and Informal Worlds in Automotive Safety‐Critical Systems

AbstractThe upcoming ISO26262 standard, which deals with the functional safety of road vehicles, will induce car manufacturers to adapt the way in which vehicle systems are usually developed. To achieve this, more rigorous development processes along with new tools and techniques will most certainly be necessary. This paper presents an overview of current initiatives at Renault dealing with the improvement of development processes for mechatronic systems to comply with ISO 26262. It focuses on introducing more formalization in the systems engineering design process via the definition of an ontology to formalize the concepts and knowledge of the systems engineering, functional safety and automotive specialty domains (e.g. braking, energy management). The ontology is at the heart of our improvement initiatives since it allows establishing logical consistency of the whole design process. A regenerative hybrid braking system integrated into a full electrical vehicle will serve as the case study for the evaluation of the improvements made possible by the approach.

Application of Systems Modeling Language (SySML) for Cognitive Work Analysis in Systems Engineering Design Process

Application of Systems Modeling Language (SySML) for Cognitive Work Analysis in Systems Engineering Design Process

The role of cognitive systems engineering in the systems engineering design process

AbstractThe article is intended to aid students and consumers of Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) in learning about CSE. A proliferation of terms describing CSE and related constructs makes it difficult to sort out differences and similarities across approaches. To aid the reader in exploring CSE, we examine areas of confusion surrounding CSE, define CSE, and discuss the role of CSE in the systems engineering design process. We advocate the use of CSE principles and methods as a means to incorporate worker needs, expertise, cognitive demands, constraints, and goals throughout the design process. Articulation of the value case for CSE is offered as a vehicle to foster collaboration across disciplines. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng

The role of service oriented architectures in systems engineering

Notions of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) have recently become popular and potentially very useful in the management, business and engineering worlds as the enterprise-focused Information Technology (IT) architecture of choice. SOA is an approach to defining integration-architectures based on the concept of services, where a service is defined as a mechanism that enables access to one or more capabilities using a prescribed interface. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a way of organizing services and associated hardware and software so that it is potentially possible to respond quickly to the changing requirements of the marketplace. Recognizing the significant advantages of service oriented architecture applied to a business enterprise, we ask: Can an engineering organization, specifically a systems engineering organization, realize similar benefits? This paper will attempt to answer that question by exploring the possibility and advantages of applying SOA to the systems engineering design process, specifically as a key enabler of the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) paradigm.

Expert Elicitation for Reliable System Design

This paper reviews the role of expert judgement to support reliability assessments within the systems engineering design process. Generic design processes are described to give the context and a discussion is given about the nature of the reliability assessments required in the different systems engineering phases. It is argued that, as far as meeting reliability requirements is concerned, the whole design process is more akin to a statistical control process than to a straightforward statistical problem of assessing an unknown distribution. This leads to features of the expert judgement problem in the design context which are substantially different from those seen, for example, in risk assessment. In particular, the role of experts in problem structuring and in developing failure mitigation options is much more prominent, and there is a need to take into account the reliability potential for future mitigation measures downstream in the system life cycle. An overview is given of the stakeholders typically involved in large scale systems engineering design projects, and this is used to argue the need for methods that expose potential judgemental biases in order to generate analyses that can be said to provide rational consensus about uncertainties. Finally, a number of key points are developed with the aim of moving toward a framework that provides a holistic method for tracking reliability assessment through the design process.

Assessing and managing risks to information assurance: A methodological approach

AbstractRecent events such as the September 11th attack, the Yahoo! denial‐of‐service attack, the I Love You virus, and the Code Red worm have sparked a dramatic interest in assuring the future security of information infrastructures. Information systems are increasingly interconnected, interdependent, and complex. Information assurance (IA) attempts to answer critical questions of trust and credibility associated with our digital environment. It presents myriad considerations and decisions that transcend many dimensions: technological advancement, legal, political, economic, social, cultural, institutional, organizational, and educational. Despite the millions of dollars spent on firewalls, encryption technologies, and intrusion detection software, information infrastructure vulnerabilities and disruptive incidents continue. These trends have a significant impact on military operations now and for the next decades. This paper identifies and develops a methodological framework for assessing and managing IA risks. The methodology is based on the systems engineering design process as well as on the guiding principles of risk assessment and management. It builds on hierarchical holographic modeling (HHM) and risk filtering, ranking, and management (RFRM). HHM identifies a plethora of risk scenarios and sources of risk that are innate in current complex information systems. The flexibility of the HHM philosophy permits limitless representations of systems perspectives, constrained only by the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the analyst and the appropriateness of the modeling efforts. RFRM is an eight‐phase process that filters the hundreds of risk scenarios down to a manageable few (10–20), and ranks them. The risk management phase then identifies the acceptable policy options and analyzes the tradeoffs among them by using quantifiable risk management tools. This process analyzes the wealth of statistical data on losses due to system failures, to intrusions, or to vulnerabilities of information assurance. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 5: 286–314, 2002

3.7.3 The Architecture View Set in Action

AbstractArchitecture Based Design™ (ABD™) is a system engineering design process being used at Lockheed Martin Management & Data Systems (LM M&DS). This process is based on the use of an Architecture View Set (AVS) to capture the executing architecture of a system This paper provides a case study of the use of the ABD™ process and the AVS to design and develop a system on a current program. These experiences are presented through a series of observations and conclusions about the impact of this methodology and its relationship to the following topics: Incremental Development Cycle Use of Composite Views Power of the Meta‐CASE Tool Customer Presentations Requirement Traceability Documentation Methods Relationships between the Views Executing vs. Construction Aspects Test Program

1.2.3 Web‐based Aerospace System Evaluation Software: The Development and Assessment of Conceptual Space Missions

AbstractThe conceptual design of aerospace missions occurs when resources are at minimum, the trade space is vast, and experts are distributed. GINAware provides a quantitative methodology to evaluate vastly different mission architectures and offers a collaborative environment to share resources. This paper outlines the GINAware methodology: a model driven system engineering design process that develops, assesses, compares and optimizes conceptual space based missions. The process utilizes some established design tools, information technology and applies the Generalized Information Network Analysis (GINA) framework. Together, these tools help the end‐user systematically define the design, capability, and performance metrics of a mission. This process has been published on the World Wide Web in an effort to encourage collaboration and to foster productivity. A case study of NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission is developed to illustrate the process.

A CONCURRENT METHODOLOGY FOR THE SYSTEM ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS

AbstractThe system engineering design process as detailed in MIL‐STD 499 does not adequately address the incorporation of design issues relevant to specialty engineering disciplines. This paper details a process by which the concerns of specialty engineers are addressed and incorporated into the system design in a consistent and efficient manner. The paper also introduces an incremental system engineering process (The Onion Model) which allows complete interim solutions at increasing levels of detail during the system specification process.Along with the three standard concurrent engineering focuses of requirements analysis, functional analysis, and architecture definition, the process includes concurrencies for specialty engineering. Each specialty engineer assesses the implications of the system engineering design process in relation to the specific specialty requirements and evaluates the implications of the system functional and physical architectures on the realization of an adequate specialty engineering solution. Once an integrated solution achieves the approval of the acquisition agency, it is refined to the next level of detail. When the system level design is sufficiently refined to generate the System/Segment Specification, the segment development process may begin.

A framework for systems engineering design

This paper follows on from the previous paper in the series and attends to the methodology of design as conceived within the whole-system whole-life dimensions of systems engineering. It assumes the concepts and general structure of systems engineering as outlined in the previous paper and goes on to elaborate the form and content of systems engineering from a design perspective. The paper begins by considering the systems engineering organization within the hierarchical structure for project design and management that has evolved from the one-time individual project engineer. Then the important relationships between entrepreneur/contractor, customer/owner, user are explored to illustrate why design in the system engineer's hands is dominated by overall cost-effectiveness optimized with respect to the future whole-life operations. The systems engineering design process is very similar to multiple-objective decision analysis as both designer and decision maker are faced by a similar problem: to find a way of organizing action and deploying resources so that a desirable future state is realized efficiently. The decision analytical process is structured to provide a framework for the systems design methodology itself. This follows using a top-down (hierarchical) approach in which overall system worth is determined with respect to clearly articulated objectives and evaluated with respect to a comprehensive multiattribute value criteria. Cost-effectiveness is disaggregated into its components of availability, dependability, capability and discounted whole-life cost. These in turn are related to the sub-design problems of operational performance, reliability, maintenance, logistic support, risk and impact analysis.