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A Survey of Technology Readiness Level Users
Author(s) -
Tomaschek Katharina,
Olechowski Alison,
Eppinger Steven,
Joglekar Nitin
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2016.00283.x
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , technology readiness level , deliverable , maturity (psychological) , context (archaeology) , computer science , engineering , process management , engineering management , systems engineering , psychology , paleontology , developmental psychology , biology , programming language
The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) method, used to assess the maturity of a technology, has been applied in different industries for over 40 years. TRLs assist engineers in managing risks, communicating development progress and specifying deliverables. As TRLs have been adopted in more industries, the original scope of TRL application has expanded and challenges in use have emerged. Little is known about the TRL user community and its opinions of the method, or of the method's practical challenges. A global industry survey, conducted with professional TRL users, investigated the relative importance of 15 previously identified challenges of TRL use. We find that the top four most critical TRL challenges as identified by our respondents are system‐related; they include the topics of integration, interfaces, system modifications, and overall system maturity. The results reveal a need for an extension of the TRL method from a component‐readiness‐context to a system‐readiness‐context.