James A. Crowder · John N. Carbone Russell Demijohn Multidisciplinary Systems Engineering Architecting the Design Process Multidisciplinary Systems Engineering James A. Crowder (cid:129) John N. Carbone Russell Demijohn Multidisciplinary Systems Engineering Architecting the Design Process James A. Crowder John N. Carbone Chief Engineer, Raytheon Intelligence, Engineering Fellow, Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services Information and Services E. Nichols Place , CO , USA Garland , TX , USA Russell Demijohn Chief Engineer, Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services Aurora , CO , USA Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://springer.com ISBN 978-3-319-22397-1 ISBN 978-3-319-22398-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22398-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015947764 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 T his work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. T he use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. T he publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper S pringer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword T he authors, accomplished senior systems engineers, have developed a comprehen- sive book for systems engineering students by taking into account both theoretical and practical aspects of this important and growing discipline. In addition to cover- ing all critical processes of systems engineering, they have uniquely provided a contextual introduction so that the reader learns about the systems engineering within the framework of all related disciplines. I see this as a unique contribution to the area and place this book at the top of the list. At the very beginning of their introduction, the authors state the purpose of this book is “to arm the student with System Engineering principles, practices, and activities applicable to developing programs and systems within today’s complex, distributed multi-discipline converging enterprise environments.” They further promise to focus on “the overwhelming design gaps and needs of the current Systems Engineering discipline with foundations of new and relevant procedures, products, and implements.” The review of the content convinces me that the promise is delivered. Furthermore, they claim that the book is intended to be an introductory text book. In my opinion, although the book can be used as an introductory book, it can also be used in an v vi Foreword advanced class with proper supplements. Another unique aspect of this book is its comprehensive multidisciplinary approach, which is not very common among sys- tems engineering books. In this respect, the book is an answer to a 150-page road- map published by the National Academy of the Sciences titled “Convergence: Facilitating Transdisciplinary Integration of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Beyond” (ISBN 978-0-309-30151-0). This comprehensive docu- ment states convergence as “an approach to problem solving that cuts across disci- plinary boundaries. It integrates knowledge, tools, and ways of thinking from life and health sciences, physical, mathematical, and computational sciences, engineer- ing disciplines, and beyond to form a comprehensive synthetic framework for tack- ling scientifi c and societal challenges that exist at the interfaces of multiple fi elds.” Therefore, systems engineering, as an engineering of the twenty-fi rst century, pro- vides the engineering framework to the problems associated with convergence. Interestingly, (SDPS) Society for Design and Process Science, w ww.sdpsnet.org , which the authors have been involved with from the beginning, has been investigat- ing convergence issues since 1995. The founding technical principle of SDPS has been to identify the unique “approach to problem solving that cuts across disciplin- ary boundaries.” The answer was the observation that the notions of Design and Process cut across all disciplines, and they should be studied scientifi cally in their own merits, while being applied for the engineering of artifacts. This book brings the design and process matters to the forefront of Systems Engineering, and as such, brings a complete fl avor of convergence into the discipline of Systems Engineering. D uring SDPS-2000 Keynote Speech, Nobel Laureate Herb Simon said, “… Today, complexity is a word that is much in fashion. We have learned very well that many of the systems that we are trying to deal with in our contemporary science and engineering are very complex indeed. They are so complex that it is not obvious that the powerful tricks and procedures that served us for four centuries or more in the development of modern science and engineering will enable us to understand and deal with them. We are learning that we need a science of complex systems, and we are beginning to construct it… ” T his talk punctuated the initiation of engineering aspects in SDPS with the estab- lishments of Software/Systems Engineering Society (SES) as a function of SDPS. Since then SDPS is transforming towards the next generation leadership. The current systems engineering book is a testimony that next generation leaders are producing. They are developing SDPS-SES into an organization that can address all the twenty-fi rst century needs of software/systems professionals. There is not a single dedicated organization doing this nor are they equipped with the broad-based systems-oriented expertise that exists in SDPS. Furthermore, SDPS/SES should play a leading role in the development of the processes for next generation knowl- edge dissemination. The time for knowledge dissemination with classical methods and traditional journal publications is passing. We should play a critically leading role in this arena with new publishing initiatives. Book publishing with distin- guished publishers such as Springer is one way of achieving this goal. Foreword vii A decade later, in his SDPS-2010 keynote speech, Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg described the hard realism of scientifi c knowledge generation combined with the key social role of scientists and engineers. These observations add to the urgency of our action as a society to spread “t hinking for understanding” with the notions of Design and Process. Systems engineering books like this are a step in this direction. SDPS is an international, cross-disciplinary, multicultural organization dedi- cated to transformative research and education through transdisciplinary means. SDPS is celebrating its 20th year in Dallas during November, 2015. Civilizations depend on technology and technology comes from knowledge. The integration of knowledge is the key for the twenty-fi rst century problems. T his book is a very timely addition to serve this purpose and will be celebrated in our 20th year SDPS conference in Dallas. The comprehensive nature of the book, addressing complex twenty-fi rst century engineering problems in a multidisci- plinary manner, is something to be celebrated. I am, as one of the founders of SDPS, a military and commercial systems developer, and a teacher, very honored to write this foreword for this important book. I am convinced that it will serve generations to come in the growing arena of Systems Engineering. Dr. Murat M. Tanik Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Wallace R. Bunn Endowed Chair for Telecommunications UAB School of Engineering Pref ace The current global “content revolution” is characterized by information creation overload and mired in a vast swamp of ambiguous complexity and insecurity which we currently call “The Big Data” problem. Analogously, the Industrial Revolution spanned 50–100 years and was characterized by massive transition from hand pro- duction to machines. Each technology revolution has evolved from years of pooling knowledge until a critical mass of technology allowed for a major leap forward. We are swimming in oceans of data collectors and creators and drowning in the data. Simultaneously, we are trying to keep our head above water by spending billions of dollars to develop analytics to provide intelligence and knowledge from the massive data stores, as we try to automate the analysis, reasoning, and decision-making to handle our data problems. What is emerging is yet another great migration to handle the architecture and design of ever more complex System of Systems. The content revolution driven by seven billion people, fi ve billion phones, one billion PCs, and ~90 PB of Facebook data holdings (2011) has resulted in current system designs that must fuse dozens of overlapping disciplines. To further complicate current Systems Engineering efforts, there is growing interest in autonomous systems with cognitive skills to monitor, analyze, diagnose, and predict behaviors in real time that makes this problem even more challenging [139]. Systems today continue to struggle with satisfying the need to obtain actionable knowledge from an ever increasing and inherently duplicative store of non-context- specifi c, multidisciplinary information content. Hence, increased automation and complex System of Systems is the norm for current Systems Engineers and truly autonomous systems are the growing future. Additionally, the size, speed, and increased functionality of systems continue to increase rapidly, signifi cantly chal- lenging current Systems Engineering methods. Simultaneously however, develop- ment of valuable readily consumable knowledge and context quality continues to improve more slowly and incrementally. L astly, the complexity of systems and information today requires expertise in many disciplines and domains leaving engineering, just like during the industrial revolution, without the tools and level of understanding required to engineer across ix