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APPLICATIONS OF MODERN SYSTEMS ANALYSIS PARADIGMS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS
Author(s) -
Biernacki J.,
Bodi R.,
Wagner R.,
Juhasz J.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1992.tb01546.x
Subject(s) - computer science , software engineering , systems engineering , variety (cybernetics) , system of systems , requirements management , traceability , requirements engineering , systems design , software , engineering , artificial intelligence , programming language
The overwhelming volume of requirements and specifications associated with large complex multi‐disciplinary system development projects pose exceptional challenges to project engineers in their efforts to track and manage the hardware design response to the requirements and specifications. Previous systems engineering approaches using available methodologies and automated computer tools have been increasingly difficult to apply as the project complexity grows. Without effective methodologies and tools ensuring that system functional requirements are accurately interpreted and flowed down to the specification level has been difficult. Likewise, the allocation of functions to the architectural components, assemblies, and software including the interfaces among interacting systems has been hampered by inadequacy of conventional tools. This traceability extends to the identification of verification requirements associated with all elements of the system. The demand for increasingly complex systems, coupled by the ever‐increasing sophistication of available supporting engineering and management tools, has spawned a variety of modern methodologies for addressing complex development tasks. These new paradigms, aided by powerful computer‐based software tools, provide a structured development framework to:‐ Instill a disciplined focus on system engineering based on requirements ‐ Establish a comprehensive, unambiguous path of trace‐ability from top‐level requirements to detailed design ‐ Provide a common means for communicating complex system behavior to all program participants via graphical depictions ‐ Develop a platform for the systematic support of the verification and test planning activities ‐ Analyze the failure propagation behavior of the system for assessment of multiple failure modes and effects, safety and hazards analyses, redundancy management and failure tolerance ‐ Create a simulation environment to study system behavior for analysis of performance, interfaces, and anomalies given a variety of hypothetical operational scenarios. This paper discusses the application of such a methodology, known as Enhanced Modern Structured Analysis (EMSA), which is being used in the analysis of the Space Station Freedom. The EMSA method has been derived from the methodologies of leading experts in the field of systems analysis, with suitable enhancements which were found necessary to accommodate the Space Station Program needs. The software to support this particular analysis is the RDD‐100 (TM) package from Ascent Logic Corporation, as well as the Failure Environment Analysis Tool (FEAT) developed by Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company. The hardware platform is an Apple Mactinosh IIfx(TM). Due to the prolific nature of general systems analysis, coupled with the power of a sophisticated computer platform and the flexibility of the methodology, this paradigm is recognized as having a wide applicability for analysis.