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A system concept representation framework and its testing on patents, urban architectural patterns, and software patterns
Author(s) -
Menshenin Yaroslav,
Crawley Edward
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
systems engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.474
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1520-6858
pISSN - 1098-1241
DOI - 10.1002/sys.21547
Subject(s) - computer science , architectural pattern , representation (politics) , software engineering , software , software system , conceptual framework , focus (optics) , encode , software design pattern , software development , data science , systems engineering , software design , engineering , programming language , philosophy , biochemistry , physics , chemistry , optics , epistemology , politics , political science , law , gene
The development of a concept for a system is a key step toward creating the system's architecture. Most previous concept development approaches focus on the procedures for the conceptual design activity—the sequence of activities and tasks. Our work is motivated by the desire to elaborate in details the notional content of a system concept and to provide the means of encoding and analyzing it in a digital environment. The objective of this work is to develop a system concept representation framework that can systematically represent the concept's constituents, their definitions, and interconnections. In order to demonstrate the utility of this framework, we have conducted three studies: mapped eight selected US patents, nine selected urban architectural patterns, and three selected software patterns to the framework. Patents, urban architectural patterns, and software patterns each contain a rich body of knowledge about the system they describe, and therefore they must logically contain a description of the concepts underlying them. We show that the main features of proposed framework can be found in patents, urban architectural patterns, and software patterns. The major utility of the framework is that it provides the means to encode existing system concepts and to inform the conceptual design of new systems, contributing to the INCOSE Model‐Based Conceptual Design initiative.