Posted by Foundation of Structured Architecture, System & Cost Modeling
From the Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics: Volume 10 | Issue 2 | April 2022
Downloadable file: JCAPv10i2-FoundationStructuredArchitecture-Polidi
Abstract: Modern software packages exist to estimate system cost early in the system development and procurement process. This paper begins the development of a structured systems engineering approach to system design. This paper defines a standardized modular diagram for a RADAR system applied to military applications in the aerospace industry. This modular diagram with sub-system block elements will be used to create a system model. The standardized modular diagram will also be used to create a cost model, using the same modular sub-system block elements and industry standard historical cost data. The commercially available software packages which estimate system cost are limited in their ability to aid in system optimization towards multi-objective cost and performance goals, as many require a completed system design. Methods are needed to determine which components in a system would benefit from additional modeling such as using a multiphysics approach, and which design approach provides the best value (cost vs. performance) to the system. These methods are needed during concept development to aid in system scoping and cost estimation. To illustrate the benefits of cost optimization during early stages of design, this paper describes a sensitivity analysis approach applied to the design of an engineering system. This process seeks to use sensitivity analysis and a spiral design process to determine which cost drivers have the highest influence on overall system cost, and to realize high system performance while minimizing costs.
This work demonstrates that a system can be defined as a standard set of block diagrams for an airborne RADAR for military applications created by integrating a wide sample of the available examples. And where each of the example block diagrams could be considered a subset of the more generalized form. This work describes using the generalized block diagrams to create a WBS structure as the foundation for both a system model and a cost model. This work applies a sensitivity analysis to a cost model in order to direct a system designer towards a trade study for the purposes of system optimization. And finally, this work introduces a method using component cost sensitivity to determine the range of possible cost improvements to bound project return on investment.
Authors:
Mr. Danny Polidi received a B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA in 1990 and 1991. Current Ph.D. candidate for Systems Engineering at CSU. Upon graduation, started working at Space Systems/Loral on high frequency, microwave designs for space applications. Later, at Radian Technology, he became the Product Manager of the Digitally Tuned Oscillator Product Line where he was responsible for designing new circuits, writing code, and production. At NANOmetrics, Danny managed all Electronic Engineering activities. From 2004 – present he has worked at Raytheon as a Section Manger, Team Lead, Cost Account Manager and has been certified as a Program Manager.
Mike Crist received his B.S. in Computer Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2003 and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2005. He is currently enrolled at Colorado State University working on a Ph.D in Systems Engineer. Mike has had a variety of roles over his 20+ year career, including embedded software developer, FPGA developer, circuit card designer, cost account manager, integrated product team lead and engineering tool strategist. He currently works on staff for an Electrical / Mechanical Design Center on various model based engineering projects.
V. Chandrasekar (S’83–M’87–F’03) received the bachelor’s degree from IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India, and the Ph.D. degree from Colorado State University (CSU), Fort Collins, CO, USA. He has been a Visiting Professor with the National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy, the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, IIT Kharagpur, and Indian Institute of Science,, an Affiliate Scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA, a Distinguished Visiting Scientist with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA, and a Distinguished Professor of Finland (FiDiPro). He has also been a Director of the Research Experiences for Undergraduate Program for over 25 years, where he is involved in promoting research in the undergraduate curriculum. He is currently a University Distinguished Professor with CSU. He is also the Research Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere. He has been actively involved in the research and development of weather radar systems for over 30 years. He has played a key role in developing the CSU-CHILL National Radar Facility as one of the most advanced meteorological radar systems available for research and continues to work actively with the CSU-CHILL radar, supporting its research and education mission. He is an avid experimentalist conducting special experiments to collect in situ observations to verify the new techniques and technologies. He has served as an Academic Advisor for over 70 graduate students. He has authored two textbooks and five general books and over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles.