scholarly journals Complex-Systems Design Methodology for Systems-Engineering Collaborative Environment

Author(s):  
Guido Ridolfi ◽  
Erwin Mooij ◽  
Sabrina Corpino
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-126
Author(s):  
Laurent Pambaguian ◽  
Eleonie van Schreven ◽  
Ilaria Roma

Advanced Manufacturing is widely used with features and applications playing a game changing role in our daily life. The European Space Agency has initiated in April 2016 a multi-disciplinary approach exploring the impact of infusing Advanced Manufacturing into space practices. A Concurrent Design Facility study was performed investigating potential design methodology amendments produced by introducing Advanced Manufacturing techniques into the design space. Innovative materials and processes were added to the conventional design parameters usually populating the systems design trade-spaces. This enabled multifunctional solutions, previously inconceivable, with a redefinition of interfaces and related requirements, shifted from ‘discipline’ boundaries to ‘units’ or ‘assembly’ boundaries. The Concurrent Design Facility Study identified the core domains of expertise required in a ‘Design for Advanced Manufacturing’ frame, governed by a flexible, open-minded systems engineering coordination. Early involvement of material and process engineers in the design proved to be an essential ingredient of the ‘Design for Advanced Manufacturing’ recipe. The design freedom brought by Advanced Manufacturing calls for unconventional design solutions, creativity becomes a need and infusion from non-space is invaluable. Biomimicry and architecture principles enriched the concurrent design environment, which proved to be very well suited with the needs and objectives of the new design methodology. This article reports the Concurrent Design Facility study conduct, as first attempt to understand Advanced Manufacturing impact on design methodology, the study cases selected for analysis, the observations on the methodology and on the interactions among the specialists in the team. The study outcome is reported, including an overview of benefits, disadvantages and points for further investigation in relation to the study cases assessed. In addition, the paper proposes recommendations for injecting Advanced Manufacturing into the project life cycle, from early design up to procurement phases and ultimately to the assembly, integration and verification phases, indicating required modelling tools, technologies and redefined engineering roles and expertise.


Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Iandoli ◽  
Letizia Piantedosi ◽  
Alejandro Salado ◽  
Giuseppe Zollo

Elegance is often invoked as a characteristic of good design, but it cannot be pursued as a design objective because of the absence of actionable definitions that can be translated into design strategies and metrics. In this work, we analyze elegance in the context of systems engineering using a perspective that integrates visual art, Gestalt psychology, neuroscience, and complexity theory. In particular, we measure elegance as effective complexity and theorize that it can be achieved by a process of complexity resolution based on the adoption of eight visual heuristics. We present an empirical study in which a sample of systems engineers were asked to assess alternative representations of a same system and show that effective complexity is strongly correlated to perceived elegance and systems effectiveness. Our results are consistent with independent findings obtained in other fields including design and psychology of perception showing that good design must embed an effective level of complexity achievable through a mix of familiarity and novelty.


2012 ◽  
pp. 205-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Chen ◽  
Christopher Hoyle ◽  
Henk Jan Wassenaar

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Fowler ◽  
Keith Joiner ◽  
Elena Sitnikova

<div>Cyber-worthiness as it is termed in Australian Defence, or cyber-maturity more broadly, is a necessary feature of modern complex systems which are required to operate in a hostile cyber environment. To evaluate the cyber-worthiness of complex systems, an assessment methodology is required to examine a complex system’s or system-of-system’s vulnerability to and risk of cyber-attacks that can compromise such systems. This assessment methodology should address the cyber-attack surface and threat kill chains, including supply chains and supporting infrastructure. A cyber-worthiness capability assessment methodology has been developed based on model-based systems engineering concepts to analyse the cyber-worthiness of complex systems and present a risk assessment of various cyber threats to the complex system. This methodology incorporates modelling and simulation methods that provide organisations greater visibility and consistency across diverse systems, especially to drive cybersecurity controls, investment and operational decisions involving aggregated systems. In this paper, the developed methodology will be presented in detail and hypothesised outcomes will be discussed.</div>


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