The Function Analysis Diagram

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Aurisicchio ◽  
Rob Bracewell ◽  
Gareth Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Design Rationale ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
Simple Notation ◽  
Complex System Design

Understanding product functions is a key aspect of the work undertaken by engineers involved in complex system design. The support offered to these engineers by existing modeling tools such as the Function Tree and the Function Structure is limited as they are not intuitive and do not scale well to deal with real world engineering problems. A research collaboration between two universities and a major power system company in the aerospace domain has allowed the authors to further develop a method for function analysis known as Function Analysis Diagram (FAD) which was already in use by line engineers. The capability to generate and edit these diagrams was implemented in the Decision Rationale editor (DRed) a software tool for capturing design rationale. This article presents the main beneficial characteristics of the method and justifies them using two engineering case studies. The results of the research have shown that the FAD method has a simple notation, permits the modeling of product functions together with structure, allows the production of rich and accurate descriptions of product functionality and is suitable to represent complex problems.

The function analysis diagram: Intended benefits and coexistence with other functional models

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Aurisicchio ◽  
Rob Bracewell ◽  
Gareth Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Design ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Diagram Method ◽  
Functional Models ◽  
Simple Notation

AbstractUnderstanding product functions is a key aspect of the work undertaken by engineers involved in complex system design. The support offered to these engineers by existing modeling tools such as the function tree and the function structure is limited because they are not intuitive and do not scale well to deal with real-world engineering problems. A research collaboration between two universities and a major power system company in the aerospace domain has allowed the authors to further develop a method for function analysis known as function analysis diagram that was already in use by line engineers. The capability to generate and edit these diagrams was implemented in the Decision Rationale editor, a software tool for capturing design rationale. This article presents the intended benefits of the method and justifies them using an engineering case study. The results of the research have shown that the function analysis diagram method has a simple notation, permits the modeling of product functions together with structure, allows the generation of rich and accurate descriptions of product functionality, is useful to work with variant and adaptive design tasks, and can coexist with other functional modeling methods.

DRed and Design Folders: A Way of Capturing, Storing and Passing On Knowledge Generated During Design Projects

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob H. Bracewell ◽  
Saeema Ahmed ◽  
Ken M. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Software Tool ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Design Rationale ◽  
Knowledge Model ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Design Work ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Design Case Study ◽  
Or Team

This paper describes a software tool called DRed (the Design Rationale editor), that allows engineering designers to record their design rationale (DR) at the time of its generation and deliberation. DRed is one of many proposed derivatives of the venerable IBIS concept, but by contrast with other tools of this type, practicing designers appear surprisingly willing to use it. DRed allows the issues addressed, options considered, and associated arguments for and against, to be captured graphically. The software, despite still being essentially a research prototype, is already in use on high profile design projects in an international aerospace company, including the presentation of results of design work to external customers. The paper compares DRed with other IBIS-derived software tools, to explain how it addresses problems that seem to have made them unsuitable for routine use by designers. In addition to the capture and presentation of the DR itself, the set of linked DR graphs can be used to provide a map of the contents of an electronic Design Folder, containing all the documents created by an individual or team during a design project. The structure of the knowledge model instantiated in such a Design Folder is described. By reprising a design case study published at the DTM 2003 conference, concerning the design of a Mobile Arm Support (MAS), the DRed knowledge model is compared with the previously proposed Design Data Model (DDM), to show how it addresses the shortcomings identified in the DDM. Finally the methodology and results of the preliminary evaluation of the use of DRed by aerospace designers are presented.

scholarly journals Biased Information Passing Between Subsystems Over Time in Complex System Design

2015 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Austin-Breneman ◽  
Bo Yang Yu ◽  
Maria C. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
System Design ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
System Level ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Early Stage Design ◽  
Complex System Design ◽  
Biased Information

During the early stage design of large-scale engineering systems, design teams are challenged to balance a complex set of considerations. The established structured approaches for optimizing complex system designs offer strategies for achieving optimal solutions, but in practice suboptimal system-level results are often reached due to factors such as satisficing, ill-defined problems, or other project constraints. Twelve subsystem and system-level practitioners at a large aerospace organization were interviewed to understand the ways in which they integrate subsystems in their own work. Responses showed subsystem team members often presented conservative, worst-case scenarios to other subsystems when negotiating a tradeoff as a way of hedging against their own future needs. This practice of biased information passing, referred to informally by the practitioners as adding “margins,” is modeled in this paper with a series of optimization simulations. Three “bias” conditions were tested: no bias, a constant bias, and a bias which decreases with time. Results from the simulations show that biased information passing negatively affects both the number of iterations needed and the Pareto optimality of system-level solutions. Results are also compared to the interview responses and highlight several themes with respect to complex system design practice.

A Set-Based System for Eliminating Infeasible Designs in Engineering Problems Dominated by Uncertainty

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Finch ◽  
Allen C. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Circuit ◽  
Predicate Logic ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Engineering Systems ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Engineering Design Problems ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
Prototype Software

Abstract This paper gives an overview of a system which eliminates infeasible designs from engineering design problems dominated by multiple sources of uncertainty. It outlines methods for representing constraints on sets of values for design parameters using quantified relations, a special class of predicate logic expressions which express some of the causal information inherent in engineering systems. The paper extends constraint satisfaction techniques and describes elimination algorithms that operate on quantified relations and catalogs of toleranced or adjustable parts. It demonstrates the utility of these tools on a simple electronic circuit, and describes their implementation and test in a prototype software tool.

Software Tool for Assessment of Complexity and Variability in Physiological Signals of Respiration

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-53
Author(s):  
Ireneusz Jablonski ◽  
Kamil Subzda ◽  
Janusz Mroczka
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Experimental Data ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Input Signal ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Software Implementation ◽  
Physiological Signals ◽  
Event Time

In this paper, the authors examine software implementation and the initial preprocessing of data and tools during the assessment of the complexity and variability of long physiological time-series. The algorithms presented advance a bigger Matlab library devoted to complex system and data analysis. Commercial software is unavailable for many of these functions and is generally unsuitable for use with multi-gigabyte datasets. Reliable inter-event time extraction from input signal is an important step for the presented considerations. Knowing the distribution of the inter-event time distances, it is possible to calculate exponents due to power-law scaling. From a methodology point of view, simulations and considerations with experimental data supported each stage of the work presented. In this paper, initial calibration of the procedures with accessible data confirmed assessments made during earlier studies, which raise objectivity of measurements planned in the future.

scholarly journals EVR: reconstruction of bacterial chromosome 3D structure models using error-vector resultant algorithm

BMC Genomics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang-Jian Hua ◽  
Bin-Guang Ma
Keyword(s):  
Parallel Implementation ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Bacterial Chromosome ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Computing Power ◽  
Error Vector ◽  
Contact Frequency ◽  
Simple Error

Abstract Background More and more 3C/Hi-C experiments on prokaryotes have been published. However, most of the published modeling tools for chromosome 3D structures are targeting at eukaryotes. How to transform prokaryotic experimental chromosome interaction data into spatial structure models is an important task and in great need. Results We have developed a new reconstruction program for bacterial chromosome 3D structure models called EVR that exploits a simple Error-Vector Resultant (EVR) algorithm. This software tool is particularly optimized for the closed-loop structural features of prokaryotic chromosomes. The parallel implementation of the program can utilize the computing power of both multi-core CPUs and GPUs. Conclusions EVR can be used to reconstruct the bacterial 3D chromosome structure based on the contact frequency matrix derived from 3C/Hi-C experimental data quickly and precisely.

Understanding the Impact of Decision Making on Robustness During Complex System Design: More Resilient Power Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Piacenza ◽  
Kenneth John Faller ◽  
Mir Abbas Bozorgirad ◽  
Eduardo Cotilla-Sanchez ◽  
Christopher Hoyle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
System Design ◽  
Robust Design ◽  
System Performance ◽  
System Level ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Cascading Failure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Complex System Design

Abstract Robust design strategies continue to be relevant during concept-stage complex system design to minimize the impact of uncertainty in system performance due to uncontrollable external failure events. Historical system failures such as the 2003 North American blackout and the 2011 Arizona-Southern California Outages show that decision making, during a cascading failure, can significantly contribute to a failure's magnitude. In this paper, a scalable, model-based design approach is presented to optimize the quantity and location of decision-making agents in a complex system, to minimize performance loss variability after a cascading failure, regardless of where the fault originated in the system. The result is a computational model that enables designers to explore concept-stage design tradeoffs based on individual risk attitudes (RA) for system performance and performance variability, after a failure. The IEEE RTS-96 power system test case is used to evaluate this method, and the results reveal key topological locations vulnerable to cascading failures, that should not be associated with critical operations. This work illustrates the importance of considering decision making when evaluating system level tradeoffs, supporting robust design.

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