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11.1.1 Calculations of Flexibility in Space Systems
Author(s) -
Nilchiani Roshanak,
Hastings Daniel,
Joppin Carole
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2005.tb00772.x
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , computer science , context (archaeology) , space (punctuation) , industrial engineering , engineering , mathematics , statistics , paleontology , biology , operating system
One of the important aspects of Engineering Systems design is the measurement of flexibility. In this paper, different measures for flexibility are applied to an orbital transportation network, which provides on‐orbit servicing capability. The paper introduces provider‐side as well as customer‐side flexibility metrics that can be used to evaluate different architectures on the basis of their flexibility. These two sets of approaches to calculating flexibility for space systems highlight the different ways flexibility can be valued, be it in terms of flexibility metrics or real option values. The choice of methodology depends on the context and the engineering system in question, as well as what kind of outputs are expected. While the case studies discussed here are focused on space systems, these measures of flexibility can also be expanded to many other engineering systems.