Platform-based Engineering: Rapid, Risk-mitigated Development of Adaptive Systems

1. Platform-based Engineering: Rapid, Risk-mitigated Development of Adaptive Systems Azad Madni Professor Director, SAE ProgramViterbi School of Engineering azad.madni@usc.edu

2. Motivation • Rapidly changing battlespace • irregular, hybrid warfare • adaptive, asymmetric threats • Need new class of adaptive systems • developed with speed and agility • capable of adapting to new missions, threats, operational contexts • Existing SE methods, processes, tools are woefully inadequate • Systems 2020, a DDR&E initiative, identified Platform-Based Engineering as a “game changer” for building adaptive systems

3. Platform-Based Engineering • A cost-effective, risk-mitigated system development approach that employs a common structure from which high quality derivative products can be developed rapidly • Intended to achieve rapid time-to-fielding through reuse of platform and core assets

4. Platform • Configurable, extensible, reusable system implementation infrastructure comprising hardware, software, and networked systems • Encompasses domain-specific components and services that reflect • commonalitiesof systems in the domain (configured as reusable physical/informational components) • variabilities across domains (individually developed domain product line) • interface conventions for “plug and play” with domain infrastructure and common components • Includes • physical platforms (e.g., aircraft) designed to support a range of payloads or missions • information platforms that provide layered services for network management, operating system, data management, and mission support

5. Challenge • Develop platforms that can accommodate or evolve to satisfy changing mission goals and the needs of variable, uncertain operational environments

6. PBE “Game Changers” • “Game Changers” are technologies or processes that enable development of fast, flexible, and adaptable systems • PBE game changers include • adaptive product line architectures • agility platforms • architectural patterns

7. Adaptive Product Line Architectures • An adaptive architecture used to develop a family of systems • using a common set of core assets in a prescribed way • sharing a common set of features satisfying the needs of a market/mission • Enable rapid insertion and “test-drive” of new system capabilities and system evolution as part of a product line • Enable reduction of product development cycle time, cost, and risks by starting with “a partial solution” provided by the platform • Extend useful life of the platform by building in mechanisms for product line adaptation and evolution

8. Agility Platforms • Platforms that enable fast and cost-effective adaptation to change • exploit emerging technologies • adapt to changes in regulation, policy, or threat characteristics • Enabled by technological advances • virtualization – assures transparency of computing resources and locations • cloud computing – enable on demand provisioning of services that support rapid, cost-effective increases/decreases of resources • architectural patterns – facilitate software development and integration • adaptive product line architectures– facilitate automated reasoning about the platform to achieve adaptive system behavior and seamless legacy integration

9. Architectural Patterns • Offer solutions to specific software and hardware development problems within a particular domain that can be exploited (with modifications) in many systems development contexts • Facilitate automated reasoning about platform to achieve adaptive system behavior and seamless legacy integration • Offer a foundation for architectural style, reference architectures, middleware platforms, and application frameworks • Enable faster development of flexible/adaptable systems • Applications include • achieving alignment of organizations and systems • discovering new ways to rapidly build flexible, adaptable, versatile platforms (e.g., data mining to uncover latent patterns in architecture and find opportunities for reuse of components/subsystems)

10. PBE Game Changer Relationships

11. Critical Research Areas:Adaptive Product Line Architectures • Mechanisms for introducing real options to enable downstream introduction of new technology in cost-effective fashion • Methodology for designing resource and schedule buffers to absorb changes in product line • Methodology for determining how far a product line can be adapted before it loses its value proposition and competitive advantage

12. Critical Research Areas:Agility Platforms • Methodology to analyze multiple tradeoffs impacting platform agility • Methodology to evaluate tradeoffs between product line scope and platform agility, and between product line robustness and platform agility

13. Critical Research Areas:Architectural Patterns • Scale proven software architectural patterns to systems • Specify integration patterns for hardware-software integration and human-system integration • Develop reasoning mechanisms based on system architectural patterns

14. PBE Benefits • Adaptive Product Line Architecture • extend useful life of the product line by “absorbing” or “adapting to” change • Agility Platform • rapid, cost-effective adaptation to new requirements and changes in the operational and regulatory environment • Architectural Patterns • Facilitate and accelerate development and integration of APLAs and APs • Speed up of 4x to 10x observed in commercial firms.

15. Questions?