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Institutionalized scientific research encourages free exploration while emphasizing the organization and coordination of research activities. Nevertheless, overcoming dispersion and repetition in the research process is an urgent problem to be addressed. Taking computer science as an example, to implement the problem-oriented concept, this study proposes constructing problemology that is symmetrical to methodology. Methodology is the important manifestation of scientific and technological achievements, and symmetrically, problemology is needed by the scientific research community. The problematique is a crucial component of problemology, representing the level of understanding of problems within the scientific research community. Through problematique as a medium, it connects, bridges, and aggregates various links among industry, education, academia, and users, improving the quality and efficiency of institutionalized scientific research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accidents in engineered systems are usually generated by complex socio-technical factors. It is beneficial to investigate the increasing complexity and coupling of these factors from the perspective of system safety. Based on system and control theories, System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) is a widely recognized approach for accident analysis. In this paper, we propose a STAMP-Game model to analyze accidents in oil and gas storage and transportation systems. Stakeholders in accident analysis by STAMP can be regarded as players of a game. Game theory can, thus, be adopted in accident analysis to depict the competition and cooperation between stakeholders. Subsequently, we established a game model to study the strategies of both supervisory and supervised entities. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed game model allows for identifying the effectiveness deficiency of the supervisory entity, and the safety and protection altitudes of the supervised entity. The STAMP-Game model can generate quantitative parameters for supporting the behavior and strategy selections of the supervisory and supervised entities. The quantitative data obtained can be used to guide the safety improvement, to reduce the costs of safety regulation violation and accident risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing new mobility services such as electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles services requires not only the interaction and interoperation of independent systems such as electric vehicles, electric infrastructure, or off‐board servers, but also the collaboration of independent business partners, namely, car manufacturers, energy providers, and service providers, developing, managing and operating these systems. Such services show both Product Service Systems and Systems of Systems characteristics and, as such, can be defined as Product‐Service Systems of Systems. While extensive literature exists on developing and managing PSS product and service elements and SoS constituent systems, little research explicitly focuses on PSSoS stakeholders. In particular, the analysis of PSSoS stakeholder business partnerships and involvement in PSSoS development. PSSoS development is seen as the development, operation, and management of constituent systems. This paper contributes to addressing this gap and proposes an approach to manage stakeholder participation in the PSSoS business partnership and PSSoS development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Military program management and system engineering re quire the expression of costs and delay trade‐off with respect to system architecture. If architecture frameworks (AF) such as NATO (NAF) were designed to fill this common need, their current state is essentially descriptive. As it turns out, building defense systems architectures using those frameworks in a properly anticipated cost/delay budget envelope would require to have all system engineering already solved, because the architecture frameworks are designed to provide an explicit representation of the operational domain that can be used in analysis, for articulation of issues and requirements, as support to planning, and as a means of solution design and validation, among other things. Thus Quality‐Resource‐Time optimality in a regularly evolving environment cannot be represented in acceptable delay without automated optimization assistance. Our contribution in this article explores coupling architecture framework with operation research (OR) models to enable computer assisted design and evaluation of heterogeneous views in NATO Architecture Framework (NAF). Our illustrative example is a Linear Programming based bridge between program management and system engineering to anticipate optimal trade‐offs. This article presents promising results, with which we hope to show how OR and AF will be indivisible in architecture evaluation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality farmers are an important human capital to promote the development of modern agriculture. To achieve rural revitalization, we must accelerate the cultivation of high-quality farmers who adapt to the needs of the times and new trend of agricultural and rural development. Therefore, it is of practical significance and theoretical value to summarize the general laws of cultivating high-quality farmers. This paper combed the main influencing factors of the current cultivation of high-quality farmers and the main characteristics of the cultivation mode of high-quality farmers. From the perspective of system engineering, the experience and practice of cultivating high-quality farmers in Suzhou were analyzed from the perspective of the key elements of cultivating high-quality farmers, including the cultivation concept, cultivation subject, cultivation object, cultivation goal, cultivation approach, cultivation mode and cultivation system. On this basis, relevant countermeasures and suggestions were put forward to promote high-quality farmers to become the leading force of modern agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise system engineering is a new practice that has emerged over the last few decades, promising to achieve better enterprises by improving cross‐enterprise processes. However, enterprises have a unique property as a system of unsynchronized arrays of systems. This property can lead to severe problems and anomalies, such as cross‐enterprise failures. These issues become even more drastic in supporting cross‐enterprises processes like transportation. The transportation arena is a complex system in itself. It comprises a variety of enterprises and systems supported by different technologies and vendors. Moreover, it involves governmental, municipal, and private stakeholders. Therefore, planning and designing a coordinated and integrated architecture is difficult. A new enterprise system engineering framework called EPIC addresses these issues by enabling better coordination of unsynchronized arrays of systems across enterprises. This research explores the application of an architectural framework to the transportation arena, where existing methods have not adequately addressed its unique properties. Deploying it in the "real world" plants the seeds to improve the transportation processes, their performance, efficiency, and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System engineering (SE) methods and principles are nowadays widely adopted in the product development processes, especially in the industrial sector, where saving production time and costs are primary goals. This work describes an application of a particular SE methodology, the V-model-based design, in which the system development lifecycle is divided on the basis of a graphical V-shaped scheme, called V-model. Following this approach, a new concept of charging arm for Robotic Train Inspection Monorail (TIM) of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) has been developed. The current charging arm version is affected by several issues and limits that have led to the necessity of a new solution. Starting from the first stages of functional requirements (FRs) definition and decomposition (left side of the "V"), a new concept has been implemented, in order to be tested for its verification and validation (right side of the "V"). As part of the principles of SE, the process has been based on virtual models of the product and on virtual simulations of its operation, rather than on the realization of time-consuming and expensive physical models and tests, even if a final physical prototype has also been built and some physical operative tests have also been carried out on it. These tests have showed that the new product appears to fulfill each one of its FRs and overcome the limits imposed by the previous version. The future commissioning and operative tests in the real operating condition and location shall definitely validate the new product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing number of educational CubeSat projects, there is a lack of available literature related to analysis of good practices and lessons learned associated with learning environment of such university student projects, their internal organisational, and management issues. Difficulties arise when international standards, procedures and practices from professional satellite development projects must be adopted by student teams to their local projects. This paper discusses educational, organisational, and human factors that contribute to the success of the master student space projects at Luleå University of Technology, Kiruna Space Campus. The authors focus on project structure, management, working, and learning environment of the ongoing student CubeSat project APTAS and analyse problems and difficulties encountered in relation to the other actual student space projects at LTU. The result of quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaires, interviews, reflections and observations of the national and international master students is presented, and provides practical advice for university student teams and their supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Container terminals are complex systems where containerized cargo undergoes a set of processing and handling operations to be delivered to their outgoing modes. A pool of decision support methods and simulation models has been developed to assist planners and managers in making decisions about daily operations. Nevertheless, most are designed for a particular terminal and not generic types. Indeed, a generic model serves as a conceptual factory to create specific models which greatly reduces the time and efforts of development; however, building such a model is no mean feat. To this aim, the paper on hand discusses the complexity of applying genericity, flexibility, and modularity in system modeling and proposes a generic architecture to build modular and flexible simulation models for container terminals. This architecture is split into a set of smaller, manageable, well-connected, and generic modules that facilitate the creation of highly parametrized specific models. An illustrative example of the architecture usage is presented in a case study, the new container terminal of Stockholm, and the resulting models were validated by subject matter experts. Finally, to prove its efficiency, a numerical study fed with real data is conducted to investigate the handling capacity of the studied system under different handling and flow scenarios. The obtained results show that the terminal handling capacity can be increased by around 50% if three to four more straddle carriers are added to the existing fleet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the baseline conceptual design of the Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) for the Very Large Telescope. CUBES will provide unprecedented sensitivity for spectroscopy on a 8 – 10 m class telescope in the ground ultraviolet (UV), spanning a bandwidth of ≥ 100 nm that starts at 300 nm, the shortest wavelength accessible from the ground. The design has been optimized for end-to-end efficiency and provides a spectral resolving power of R≥ 20000, that will unlock a broad range of new topics across solar system, Galactic and extraglactic astronomy. The design also features a second, lower-resolution (R ∼ 7000) mode and has the option of a fiberlink to the UVES instrument for simultaneous observations at longer wavelengths. Here we present the optical, mechanical and software design of the various subsystems of the instrument after the Phase A study of the project. We discuss the expected performances for the layout choices and highlight some of the performance trade-offs considered to best meet the instrument top-level requirements. We also introduce the model-based system engineering approach used to organize and manage the project activities and interfaces, in the context that it is increasingly necessary to integrate such tools in the development of complex astronomical projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensor networks are emerging in many applications with the availability of the spreading IoT (Internet of Things) technologies. These applications having sensor networks generally do not require big data transfers, but instead, they need to send a small amount of data from time to time. Long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) is a very good solution for this kind of communication since LoRaWAN offers long-range transmission with deep-sleep mechanism between the transmissions. However, these networks must be reliable, and from the point of energy supply for a long period of time, they should be sustainable. Since the nature of sensor-based IoT devices is being small and placable anywhere, they are generally battery-powered. With the usage of batteries, many disadvantages including limited power, cost of replacement of the dead battery, especially in rural areas, environmental concerns, etc. arise. Therefore, energy harvesting from different sources depending on the application and location of the sensor network may eliminate these problems. In this study, firstly, we focused on how the energy is consumed by the LoRAWAN communication systems by analyzing the power consumption during the transmit phase and providing necessary formulas. Secondly, by looking at the formulas, a possible optimization is recommended on the power consumption in LoRAWAN systems in order to have longer battery life. Thirdly, we have searched and analyzed energy harvesting methods and applications used by the researchers in recent years, as well as elaborating power consumptions, in typical micro contr oller-controlled sensor nodes with LoRaWAN communication ability in order to provide comparative information on energy-harvesting battery-less LoRAWAN nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a model-based firmware generator is presented towards complex sampling schemes. The framework is capable of automatically generating a fixed-rate Shannon-compliant acquisition scheme, as well as a variable-rate compressive sensing acquisition scheme. The generation starts from a model definition, which consists of two main components, namely an acquisition sequence to implement and the platform on which the sequence should be implemented. This model is then combined with the specifications to be transformed into a functional firmware. When generating firmware for compressive sensing (CS) purposes, the defined acquisition sequence is automatically generated to implement a pseudo-random sampling scheme in agreement with the defined undersampling factor. The evaluation of the generated firmware is done by means of an example use-case, including a proposed strategy for synchronization between CS setups. This research attempts to reduce the development complexity for embedded CS to lower the threshold towards effective usage in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original innovation is the fundamental source of China’s aerospace industry development. This paper summarizes the experience and approach of science and technology innovation by analyzing the practices in aerospace engineering. Furthermore, some concepts applicable to the breakthrough in aeronautical and aerospace engineering are put forward, including independent exploration of scientific problems, dialectical analysis of technical connotation, and system engineering approach to performance improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As energy-related issues increase significantly, interest in ammonia (NH3) and its potential as a new eco-friendly fuel is increasing substantially. Accordingly, many studies have been conducted on electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (ENRR), which can produce ammonia in an environmentally friendly manner using nitrogen molecule (N2) and water (H2O) in mild conditions. However, research is still at a standstill, showing low performances in faradaic efficiency (FE) and NH3 production rate due to the competitive reaction and insufficient three-phase boundary (TPB) of N2(g)-catalyst(s)-H2O(l). Therefore, this review comprehensively describes the main challenges related to the ENRR and examines the strategies of catalyst design and TPB engineering that affect performances. Finally, a direction to further develop ENRR through perspective is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to offer huge improvements both to the performance and the efficiency of systems. When engineering any system, it is important to ensure that the user of the system can be confident that the behaviour and performance of that system is as needed. AI presents challenges to achieveing this confidence when introduced into a system. This paper broadly considers these challenges, including the new failure modes exhibited by AI, the unpredictable and evolving behaviour of AI systems and the inability to explicitly validate due the level of trust in the systems and its robustness to future environments. Traditional system assurance techniques have proved ineffective to address these challenges. The paper then looks at potential solutions that are currently being developed that have the potential to address this need and assist in the assurance of the performance of AI enabled systems throughout their lifecycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work shows the results of the experimental assessment of the HI-SEA joint laboratory between Fincantieri, the main Italian shipbuilder, and the University of Genova. The HI-SEA system is a 240 kW real-scale test rig complete of auxiliaries, made up of 8 Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell stacks installed on two parallel branches, which can operate independently or in parallel by means of two dedicated DC/DC converters. The experimental assessment is performed by considering: (i) Stationary performance; (ii) dynamic performance; (iii) a maritime operative profile defined together with Fincantieri. The experimental results obtained in this work demonstrated that the system can successfully respond to static, dynamic, and typical maritime operative load profiles. It was also assessed the ability of the system to work simultaneously with two parallel branches, by means of two DC/DC converters, which represents a clear advantage in terms of load sharing and redundance onboard for security issues. Furthermore, the present study gives important advice and criteria for the design, construction, and control of similar Fuel Cell complete systems for maritime applications, which is particularly relevant considering that experimental studies on complete Fuel Cell systems is still limited. • Experimental results of testing a 240 kW PEM fuel cell system are reported. • System is provided with components constituting the Balance of Plant. • Stationary, dynamic, and real operative profiles successfully tested. • Successful parallel branches operation. • Adequacy of the PEMFC system for maritime application is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEC 61850 standard has driven the development of power systems Protection, Automation, and Control Systems (PACS) over the past years. Although it is well-known for its communication protocols, several concepts and features are underused. This paper presents a new engineering and validation methodology applying the IEC61850 standards concepts to optimize the project life cycle by standardizing and enhancing engineering and testing. An electrical specification has been defined according to the IEC 61850 data modeling, reducing misinterpretations at the specification and configuration stage. The proposed top-down configuration approach establishes a user's profile and product naming to eliminate the vendor's dependability. The validations were performed using modern commercial tools. The results show that the proposed methodology makes it possible to have a reliable engineering process where the output of the previous stage provides all required information is independent of the next one. The project naming approach makes it possible to validate the system integration based on the agnostic system specification files in an early project stage. Thus, the protection devices and supervision systems can be validated independently, reducing integration issues in the later stages without affecting interoperability and making it possible to achieve interchangeability. • Novel IEC 61850 Engineering Process. • Agnostic validation for IEC 61850 compliant systems. • Human-error mitigation. • Electrical Design Enhancement. • Reduced Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) and Site Acceptance Tests (SAT) times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A strategy to systematically design and deploying the ITER Plasma Control System is proposed. • This strategy allows one to disentangle to complex coupling between the multitude of functions that together build up the ITER Plasma Control Functions. • It relies on a flexible implementation strategy, the availability of a simulation platform that can be used to model the expected control behaviour and compare it to the requirements, and finally a system-engineering database that organizes all artefacts related to the design of a single version of the ITER Plasma Control System. • The strategy establishes clear understanding of the interconnected steps involved in designing, implementing, commissioning, and operating the system, a more systematic approach is achieved. This ensures the completion of a comprehensive design that can be deployed efficiently. The paper details the process of developing the ITER Plasma Control System (PCS), that is, how to design and deploy it systematically, in the most efficient and effective manner. The integrated nature of the ITER PCS, with its multitude of coupled control functions, and its long-term development, calls for a different approach than the design and short-term deployment of individual controllers. It requires, in the first place, a flexible implementation strategy and system architecture that allows system re-configuration and optimization throughout its development. Secondly, a model-based system engineering approach is carried out, for the complete PCS development, i.e. both its design and deployment. It requires clear definitions for both the PCS role and its functionality, as well as definitions of the design and deployment process itself. The design and deployment process is shown to allow tracing the relationships of the many individual design and deployment aspects, such as system requirements, assumed operation use-cases and response models, and eventually verification and functional validation of the system design. The functional validation will make use of a dedicated PCS simulation platform that includes the description of the control function design as well as plant, actuator and sensor models that enable the simulation of these functions. By establishing a clear understanding of the interconnected steps involved in designing, implementing, commissioning, and operating the system, a more systematic approach is achieved. This ensures the completion of a comprehensive design that can be deployed efficiently, hence preventing the loss of precious operational time needed to debug and retune control functions and more importantly avoiding tokamak discharge disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technologies, evolving at an ever faster pace, particularly in the electronics and IT sectors, lead inevitably systems to face the problems generated by obsolescence. Clearly, the manufacturer must be able to design systems so that an obsolescence problem has the least possible damaging or undesired consequences. The fact that a system remains as long as possible unaffected by changes imposed by obsolescence is called resilience. It, therefore, determines the ability of the system to continue providing its services while having at least one obsolete component, function or technology. The objective of this research work is to propose a modeling methodology and tools to ensure resilience to obsolescence; this resilience being directly defined by design choices. The methodology is based on the exploitation of modeled dependencies in the architecture of a system. The mapping of dependencies is done using different models obtained by applying a system engineering methodology, ARCADIA. The dependency model is then transformed into Bayesian networks to predict quantitatively not only the consequences of possible obsolescence issues in a given architecture but also to qualify the alternatives. This methodology, called Obsolescence Resilience By Construct, ORByC, is applied to the study of the rail signaling system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancement of AI technology, the successful AI adoption in organizations has become a top priority in modern society. However, many organizations still struggle to articulate the necessary AI, and AI experts have difficulties understanding the problems faced by these organizations. This knowledge gap makes it difficult for organizations to identify the technical requirements, such as necessary data and algorithms, for adopting AI. To overcome this problem, we propose a new AI system architecture design methodology based on the IMO (Input-AI Model-Output) structure. The IMO structure enables effective identification of the technical requirements necessary to develop real AI models. While previous research has identified the importance and challenges of technical requirements, such as data and AI algorithms, for AI adoption, there has been little research on methodology to concretize them. Our methodology is composed of three stages: problem definition, system AI solution, and AI technical solution to design the AI technology and requirements that organizations need at a system level. The effectiveness of our methodology is demonstrated through a case study, logical comparative analysis with other studies, and experts reviews, which demonstrate that our methodology can support successful AI adoption to organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the development of an interdisciplinary Geriatric Engineering 5‐year Bachelor of Science degree program. The process evolved over 5 years and began with exploring the need, precedents, and data acquisition from target individuals 60 to 92 years of age. The economics of aging necessitates training engineers to design and implement systems that drastically reduce costs. The literature search confirmed the need for medical and engineering collaboration. The precedents for a medical‐engineering curriculum were found to exist in several graduate MD/MS Engineering programs. Finally, data were gathered from several hundred over 60‐year olds, via a research questionnaire and interviews that supported that technology assistance to promote independent living was desired by a significant portion of older individuals. With confirmatory data in hand, geriatric engineering courses were introduced in 2017 at an engineering college. Feedback of more than 100 students who completed these courses was positive. An Advisory Board, composed of medical companies, hospitals, and target population individuals, supported a Geriatrics Engineering minor. The college's undergraduate curriculum committee then established a minor in Geriatric Engineering in 2019, as the next logical step in the process toward developing a bachelor's degree. In conclusion, student feedback from several years of Geriatric Engineering courses, data from individuals over 60 and an advisory board support the next step of creating a Geriatric Engineering Bachelor's degree. Student evaluations/perceptions of the courses were positive. Data and feedback indicate that there is a need for a dedicated undergraduate Geriatric Engineering program. See related editorial by Herr et al. in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the design and development process for the L75 liquid propellant rocket engine (LPRE) foreseen as upper stage of a satellite launch vehicle application. Emphasis is put on the choice of available technologies, an adequate operational cycle, and the most suitable propellant combination. Problems encountered during the development and resulting solution approaches are described. Furthermore, a survey of upper stages including their main performance data currently in operation worldwide is presented. Since economical constraints are more important today compared to previous developments schedule and cost figures and their drawbacks are investigated as well. Finally, a summary regarding the development status of the Brazilian L75 engine is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper undertakes a critical review of the solution approaches, methods and techniques applied to model municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems over the last decade (2007-2018). Sustainability and integration concepts are explored to evaluate the effectiveness of advanced models in achieving sustainable MSW management practices. Papers published are categorized into three main classes with respect to the methods applied to evaluate the operational efficiency and performance of IMSW systems. These include System Assessment (SA), Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Operation Research (OR) techniques. Each class is then analyzed by reviewing the key studies as the representatives of the class and potential improvements are suggested to achieve a sustainable Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose the system design of a small orbiter of the Jovian moon Europa (Europa Tomography Probe, ETP in short) aimed at unveiling its interior structure. ETP is conceived as a piggyback probe of a larger spacecraft to the Jovian system (such as Europa Clipper). Its payload comprises only a magnetometer and transponder. The former will be used to measure the time-varying, induction magnetic field of the moon at different orbital and rotational frequencies, a measurement inaccessible to a flyby spacecraft. An Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) between ETP and the main spacecraft, enabled by the on-board transponder, will be used to accurately determine Europa's gravity field, rotational state and tidal deformation. By combining magnetic and gravity field measurements, ETP could characterize the interior structure of Europa with an accuracy only attainable by a low-altitude orbiter, thus constraining the thickness and conductivity of the subsurface ocean. Following the announcement that a 250-300-kg mass allowance was available on the upcoming NASA Europa Clipper spacecraft, we propose ETP's mission and spacecraft design assuming Clipper's nominal trajectory as a baseline. The concept can be adapted to a class of missions to the Jovian and Saturnian systems based upon a mother-daughter spacecraft system. The spacecraft design has been pursued under the philosophy of determining the minimum required total mass and volume that allows to meet the scientific requirements, rather than finding out what science return could be obtained with pre-assigned system constraints. Since ETP shall autonomously reach its final orbit, the propulsion system has been one of the primary focuses. The radiation analysis has also been essential because the shielding structure affects both the mission duration and the mass budget. We show that the ETP concept could be, indeed, technically feasible with an overall system mass budget just above 250 kg, thus providing a valuable yet affordable augmentation to a larger flyby mission to Europa. • ETP is a small piggyback probe for the determination of Europa's interior structure. • Europa's subsurface ocean is crucially related to its habitability. • ETP can greatly enhance the science return of a flyby mission to Europa. • ETP's concept is technically feasible with a total wet mass of about 250 kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expected benefits of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) include assistance to the system designer in finding the set of optimal architectures and making trade-off analysis. Design objectives such as cost, performance and reliability are often conflicting. The SysML-based methods OOSEM and the ARCADIA method focus on the design and analysis of one alternative of the system. They freeze the topology and the execution platform before optimization starts. Further, their limitation quickly appears when a large number of alternatives were evaluated. The paper avoids these problems and improves trade-off analysis in a MBSE approach by combining the SysML modeling language and so-called "decision points." An enhanced SysML model with decision points shows up alternatives for component redundancy and instance selection and allocation. The same SysML model is extended with constraints and objective functions using an optimization context and parametric diagrams. Then, a representation of a constraint satisfaction multi-criteria objective problem is generated and solved with a combination of solvers. A demonstrator implements the proposed approach into an Eclipse plug-in; it uses the Papyrus and CSP solvers, both are open-source tools. A case study illustrates the methodology: a mission controller for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle that includes a stereoscopic camera sensor module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The occurrence of failures in the jet engine turbine hot section blades have different causes, each cause can lead to different failures, or one failure can be affected by several causes. • The Cybernetic structure that relates each cause to each failure could be used in upper-level constructions held by MRO to reduce the risk of failure. • The allocated architecture of the cause-failure process demonstrates the interrelations between both process dimensions. The concept of Systems Engineering (SE) is widely used in modern times, with approaches based on analyzing the levels and processes of a system. SE approaches are elaborate based on the interpretation of the system's levels and analyzing the whole process. Although such methods are usually used in the analysis of organizations or enormous systems, this effort attempts to show that the same SE analytical tools can be useable in the deepest level of a system. The study focuses on investigating the failure process of a turbine blade, which is considered a system component. The first essential issue in analyzing a system is its interactions with the environment and its effects on the system's internal cybernetics. The study identifies failure processes that cause structural damage as well-defined and tangible processes of microsystem interactions. The research provides a comprehensive architecture of possible failures in an aircraft's jet engine's hot section turbine blades, utilizing a systemic approach and SE tools such as SysML-based models and Domain Mapping Matrices (DMM) to allocate causes of these failures. This research aims to propose an allocated SE-oriented architecture of Failure-Causes in jet engine turbine blades that is more suitable for use in programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open system architectures have been proposed as a solution to addressing issues surrounding the acquisition of mission-critical platforms and critical infrastructure. These issues relate to the extended timeframes associated with introducing advanced and complex systems at a rate commensurate with technological and threat advancement. Adopting an open system architecture helps to address these issues but comes with considerations that influence the capacity for those systems to maintain cyber resilience. Generally, these considerations relate to the use of openly available interface standards, the capability for dynamic network management, maturity of processes and, the ability for platforms to evolve in response to emerging cyber threats. This paper discusses advantages and disadvantages of a bespoke or open architecture and highlights the impact of each approach on mission-critical platforms. The resulting recommendations focus on using a project's projected lifecycle to indicate the most suited architecture and therefore leverage the relative benefits of each methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the approach taken by the Australian Department of Defence – Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) to define its Systems Engineering Competency Model. This paper describes how this model has been developed and aligned to the INCOSE Framework and synthesised with a range of other frameworks, emerging theories and bodies of knowledge. As there is no 'one-size-fits-all' model for systems engineering competency, best practice for any individual organisation should be to build upon existing frameworks and develop a competency model specific to the contextualised needs of its own operational environment. This provides the basis of being able to implement a holistic workforce capability-building strategy supported by targeted, individualised and personalised education and training directly aimed at supporting the needs of CASG into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental assessments require the development and analysis of a large amount of data. Decision-makers must manage considerable amounts of information just to obtain a viable set of alternatives. The environmental assessment proposed in this study is a decision-support framework that facilitates obtaining results that endorse the decision-making process. This study aims to provide a fast and straightforward analysis of the influence of energy consumption in water treatment systems (energy-for-water) and its impact onto the environment, considering water quality requirements, water distribution systems, and how different energy combination setups affect these variables. The framework was applied to countries on the seashore experiencing water scarcity distress and world average greenhouse gas emissions regimes as examples, but it can also be applied to other types of systems. Energy-for-water greenhouse gas emissions can be decreased through the awareness-related measures reflected in the selection of energy sources, changing water desalination process, optimizing water intake, choosing water reuse, and using untreated seawater in industrial processes. Countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions continue obtaining electricity from coal. Likewise, greenhouse gas emissions are lower in countries using nuclear energy as a source of electricity. However, the reliance on nuclear energy often depends on stakeholder approval. Image 1 • Water-Energy nexus assessment in water treatment and distribution systems. • Simplified decision-support framework for environmental assessment water-energy nexus. • GHG emissions consequences in seawater desalination and distribution systems. • Water-energy nexus system management for climate change challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies point to a reduction of atmospheric pollution using nuclear energy for merchant ships. This work examines the development of an economically competitive nuclear power solution for merchant ship propulsion. The solution also addresses the requirements of a wider market, like islands, offshore oil platforms, and remote cities. System engineering and analysis at various product breakdown levels also propose architectural options to improve competitiveness of nuclear power in mobile nuclear power plants (MNPPs). Analyses include market research on clients and technical considerations on nuclear energy costs. The results show that an enterprise that delivers electric power to remote clients and dedicates to management of all nuclear aspects seems to be the best organizational and technical choice. Besides, ships should be of modular type and the MNPPs should be easily detachable at sea. Only container ships and remote islands demand enough power to justify the use of nuclear power. Nuclear power has high probability to be economically competitive for large container ships, however, only if public policies impose levels of risks akin to other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this article, a novel composite sandwich structure analysis of launch vehicle fairing is considered by a new multidisciplinary design optimization methodology. Among the most important roles of this method, in addition to the convergence of optimization process, is tackling with complicated composite structure discipline. The bidirectional coupling existing between composite structure and trajectory disciplines is one of the complex problems of this multidisciplinary design optimization method. Accordingly, multidisciplinary design optimization based on independent subspaces is employed using the fixed point iteration method to achieve the best convergence at system level and segregate the disciplines. Therefore, the two proposed subspaces overcome the difficulties of common mentioned multidisciplinary design optimization of launch vehicles as the main novelty of this study. The first subspace is a multidisciplinary design optimization which includes propulsion, aerodynamics, weight and trajectory disciplines. The second one includes the novel composite fairing structure optimization as the other single discipline optimization which is analytically and numerically considered as a compact problem and is regarded as the other novelty of this work. In a case study, by applying the proposed architecture on Safir launch vehicle and considering propulsion, trajectory and also composite sandwich fairing structure design as the variables and then performing an optimization process, the Safir fairing mass is reduced from 100 kg to 57.8 kg. This causes the launch vehicle gross mass to decrease from 26 tons to 25.2 tons due to the payload nature of fairing. This 3% mass decrease of an operational launch vehicle, despite the preservation of mission performance, can be called an industrial novelty which leads to the cost reduction of space transportation. The proposed system engineering demonstrates the great importance of using multidisciplinary design optimization in complicated designs using independent subspaces to be employed for the design of future launch vehicles. It can also be a road map for future designers of space vehicles, especially those who want to consider structure optimization in the design loop of launch vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new algorithm to identify and diagnose stochastic faults in Tennessee Eastman (TE) process. The algorithm combines Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) to diagnose a group of faults that could not be properly detected and/or diagnosed with previously reported techniques. This algorithm includes three steps: measurements pre-filtering, fault detection, and fault diagnosis. Measured variables are first decomposed into different scales using the EEMD-based PCA, from which fault signatures can be extracted for fault detection and diagnosis (FDD). The T 2 and Q statistics-based CUSUMs are further applied to improve fault detection, where a set of PCA models are developed from historical data to characterize anomalous fingerprints that are correlated with each fault for accurate fault diagnosis. The algorithm developed in this paper can successfully identify and diagnose both individual and simultaneous occurrences of stochastic faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a multi-criteria decision support tool fully integrated within system engineering and project management processes that allows decision makers to select an optimal scenario of a project. A model based on an oriented graph includes all the alternative choices of a new system’s conception and realization. These choices take into account the risks inherent to perform project tasks in terms of cost and duration. The model of the graph is constructed by considering all the collaborative decisions of the different actors involved in the project. This decision support tool is based on an Ant Colony Algorithm (ACO) for its ability to provide optimal solutions in a reasonable amount of time. The model developed is a multi-objective new ant colony algorithm based on an innovative learning mechanism (named MONACO) that allows ants to learn from their previous choices in order to influence the future ones. The objectives to be minimized are the total cost of the project, its global duration and the risk associated with these criteria. The risk is modeled as an uncertainty related to the increase of the nominal values of cost and duration. The optimization tool is a part of an integrated and more global process, based on industrial standards (the System Engineering process and the Project Management one) that are widely known and used in companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the MDE process in use at Elettronica SpA (ELT) for the development of complex embedded systems integrating software and firmware. The process is based on the adoption of SysML as the system-level modeling language and the use of Simulink for the refinement of selected subsystems. Implementations are generated automatically for both the software (C++ code) and firmware parts, and communication adapters are automatically generated from SysML using a dedicated profile and open-source tools for modeling and code generation. The process starts from a SysML system model, developed according to the platform-based design paradigm, in which a functional model of the system is paired to a model of the execution platform. Subsystems are refined as Simulink models or hand-coded in C++. An implementation for Simulink models is generated as software code or firmware on FPGA. Based on the SysML system architecture specification, our framework drives the generation of Simulink models with consistent interfaces, allows the automatic generation of the communication code among all subsystems (including the HW–FW interface code). In addition, it provides for the automatic generation of connectors for system-level simulation and of test harnesses and mockups to ease the integration and verification stage. We provide early results on the time savings obtained by using these technologies in the development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orbiting satellites and other spatial vehicles have complex trajectories that can usually be precisely approximated with analytical or numerical trajectory estimation algorithms. However, some scenarios, such as Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) or critical maneuvers, present greater angular uncertainty. During these, large dish antennas used for telemetry, tracking, & command (TT&C) may have too narrow a beamwidth to perform a reliable and fast acquisition. A novel acquisition aid system based on distributed array elements placed on the rim of the main antenna's reflector has been implemented and successfully tested with real satellite signals. This paper presents an analysis of the proposed solution, from a system engineering perspective, exposes several simulations carried out in MATLAB, which motivated some of the design criteria, and compares them with the actual results obtained in field campaigns, thus deriving the final figures of merit (FoM) of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Design of the ITER plasma control system is proceeding towards its next – preliminary design – stage. During the conceptual design in 2013 an overall assessment of high-level control tasks and their relationships has been conducted. The goal of the preliminary design is to show, that a reasonable implementation of the proposed concepts exists which fulfills the high-level requirements and is suitable for realistic use cases. This verification is conducted with focus on the concrete use cases of early operation and first plasma, since these phases are mandatory for ITER startup. In particular, detailed control requirements and functions for commissioning and first plasma operation including breakdown, burn-through and ramp-up in L-mode, as well as for planned or exceptional shutdown are identified. Control functions related to those operational phases and the underlying control system architecture are modeled. The goal is to check whether the flexibility of the conceptual architectural approach is adequate also in consideration of the more elaborate definitions for control functions and their interactions. In addition, architecture shall already be prepared for extension to H-mode operation and burn-control, even if the related control functions are only roughly defined at the moment. As a consequence, the architectural design is amended where necessary and converted into base components and infrastructure services allowing to deploy control and exception handling algorithms for the concrete first-plasma operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plasma control system (PCS) forms the backbone of safe and high performance plasma operation in all tokamaks. The ITER tokamak will be significantly larger than its predecessors and will become a nuclear environment at a later stage of its operation. Therefore, new control algorithms for the ITER PCS have to follow a systematic, rigorous and formal design and testing procedure. Then, controllers have to be formally commissioned preceding their ultimate deployment on the PCS for real-time operation. Considering the significant cost of operating the ITER machine and its tight operational schedule, limited time is available for controller commissioning. Therefore, the design team for the ITER PCS is implementing a model-based design and testing approach to exploit models not only for the design and tuning of controllers, but also the verification and validation (V&V) tests. To this end, controllers are first designed in the Plasma Control System Simulation Platform (PCSSP) in Simulink. The PCSSP has been deployed on a continuous integration (CI) server on which V&V and functional performance tests are automatically run and analysed to scrutinize the design. Once controllers have passed the design phase in PCSSP, automatic code generation or manual coding allows implementation on the real-time framework (RTF) forming the real PCS. Components on the RTF are continuously validated against their PCSSP counterparts to make sure the implementation is bug-free. The increasing complexity of the interplay between system requirements, modules, controllers, and tests results is managed in a structured Plasma Control System Database (PCSDB). This PCSDB ultimately allows the monitoring of the PCS design and implementation progress. In this work, we present the stages ITER controllers have to pass and the new tools that are being implemented to facilitate and structure this model-based design and testing workflow. • We summarize the design and deployment process of the ITER plasma Control System. • Our approach relies on model-based design and testing to handle the ITER complexity. • Automation of functional performance and validation tests mitigates human error. • Modern software practices are introduced to facilitate PCS deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of System Engineering (SE) language such as SysML [1,20] is common within the community of control system designers. However the design handoff to the subsequent phases of the control system development is carried out manually in most cases without much tool support. The approach to agreeing on the control interface between components is a good example where engineers still rely on either manually created Interface Control Documents (ICD) or one off tools implemented by individual projects. Square Kilometer Array (SKA) [2] and International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) [3] are two good examples of such large projects adopting these approaches. This results in non-uniformity in the overall system design since individual groups invent their own vocabulary while using a language like SysML which leads to inconsistencies across the design, interface and realized code. To mitigate this, we propose the development of a Monitoring and Control Modeling Language (M&CML), a domain specific language (DSL) [4,22] for specifying M&C solutions. M&C ML starts with defining a vocabulary borrowing concepts from standard practices used in the control domain and incorporates a language which ensures uniformity and consistency across the M&C design, interfaces and implementation artifacts. In this paper we discuss this language with an analysis of its usage to point out its benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to effectively meet the new requirements raised by the international shipbuilding convention and specification for shipbuilding enterprises, and to quickly improve enterprise innovation capability, this article analyzes the modern shipbuilding characteristics and compares them with the lean production methodology. In China, the shipbuilding enterprise development is guided by the Shipbuilding Industry Standard Conditions assessment rules from the Ministry of Industrial and Information Technology of China. This article proposes establishing an efficient merchant shipbuilding system based on the lean production methodology and the construction technology capability indices in the Shipbuilding Industry Standard Conditions. This article focuses more on the hull construction and merchant ship production processes, instead of the entire engineering, procurement, and construction shipbuilding management. It elaborates key system technologies including value stream analysis, efficient shipbuilding production design, efficient shipbuilding project management, efficient shipbuilding precision management, and efficient full factory management. The efficient shipbuilding system has been implemented in a Chinese merchant shipbuilding enterprise to significantly improve productivity and reduce shipbuilding cycle time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a complex project as the ITER one, it is essential to rely on a system-engineering oriented approach for requirements management, to both track the development of the various systems and to assess their compliance with the requirements set expressed at each operational phase. Such an approach is currently adopted for the ITER Plasma Control System (PCS), where a database implemented using the Enterprise Architect tool has been setup to act as the central collaboration tool for all the PCS system design. This paper describes the current structure of the PCS DB, and presents examples on the interfacing of the PCS and diagnostics, relevant for first plasma operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Plasma Control System (PCS) is in charge of robustly controlling the evolution of plasma parameters against model uncertainties and disturbances, with the aim of achieving the envisaged goals and performance. The PCS design process follows a System-Engineering approach to support all the design phases, from control algorithms specifications to the verification and validation tests for various components. A case study concerning the design of the Correction Coils Current Controllers is presented in this paper. The aim is to show on a smaller scale the approach that is applied to the entire design of the PCS, by highlighting its effectiveness, from the refinement of the requirements, up to their validation in the simulation environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault-tolerant networks are being used to provide more reliable network connections. Development of the fault-tolerant computing system requires accurate reliability modeling. Numerical formulations and complex models are commonly used for obtaining reliability measures. These measures are functions of component failure rates and fault-coverage. Coverage provides information about the fault and error detection, isolation, and system recovery capabilities. This research studied a system consisting three units in parallel with three types of failures namely, catastrophic, human, and unit failures incorporating the coverage factor and evaluated the various reliability measures of the considered multi-state system subject to imperfect fault coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores an apparent paradox of stability and change in patient safety thinking and practice. The dominant approach to patient safety has largely been focused on closing 'safety gaps' through standardisation in seemingly stable healthcare systems. However, the presupposition of system stability and predictability is presently being challenged by critics who insist that healthcare systems are complex and changing entities, thereby shifting focus towards the healthcare organisation's resilient and adaptive capacities. Based on a close reading of predominant patient safety literature, the article analyses how a separation between stability and change is articulated in ontological, historical, and situated terms, and it suggests the way in which predetermining healthcare settings as either stable or unstable paves the way for a system engineering approach to patient safety that pre-empts certain types of safety solutions. Drawing on John Dewey's influential ideas about the interconnectedness of stability and change, this prescriptive perspective is discussed and challenged. It is suggested that only by rethinking the relationship between change and stability can patient safety efforts begin to address the uncertainty of medical practice as well as the necessary competences of healthcare professionals to act with 'safety dispositions' as a precondition for delivering safe care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintenance plays a critical role in reducing operating cost and maximizing reliability of a complex engineering system. This paper proposes a novel maintenance-focused, system-level design framework that attempts to capture the interactions between maintenance strategies and system-level design parameters overlooked in current modeling approaches. The goal of this maintenance-focused approach is to help designers better understand the interconnectedness of system architecture, choice of maintenance strategy, and uncertainties in a design. Application of the proposed design framework is demonstrated through a case example of a power plant condenser system. Results show that using an integrated approach can reveal the many nonobvious interactions between subsystems, and produce system designs that have lower life-cycle cost compared to traditional sequential design approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, a feed-in tariff scheme has been implemented to promote the use of photovoltaic power generators in combination with electric batteries. Although many researchers have assessed the operation of grid-connected photovoltaic systems with electric batteries, little attention has been paid to the impact of the electric batteries’ degradation characteristics. This paper evaluates the operation of a grid-connected photovoltaic/electric-battery system in a house in terms of cost savings and energy savings. We constructed a long-term operational optimization model considering the degradation characteristics of the electric battery. This model contains two objective functions: energy savings and operating costs. We create a scenario of power rates and photovoltaic/battery system configurations. To reveal the optimal operational strategy for the photovoltaic/battery system, the multi-objective optimization problem was solved. As a result, Pareto-optimal solutions were obtained, and trade-off relationships between cost and energy savings are presented. In this study, the utilization of a grid-connected photovoltaic system with an electric battery was expected to be most effective in energy-saving priority operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud manufacturing (CM) is a new service-oriented networked manufacturing model put forward in 2010. Its obvious features are service-oriented, knowledge-based, and fusion network. The CM as an outcome of multidisciplinary integration has a very complex system structure. It is obvious that the implementation of CM-oriented production mode is system engineering. However, there is lack of guidance method or strategy about how to build specific cloud manufacturing application system (CMAS) from the system engineering view. To this end, the cloud manufacturing system (CMS) is analyzed from six dimensions by means of generalized modeling idea in this paper. An overall frame design method is proposed to build specific CMAS according to the above six dimensions. It is named as system design method for CMAS. In the end, a mechanical CM service platform is designed with this method, and its operation process is given. This case study shows that the system design method is valuable and meaningful for CM system design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]