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Practical application of Systems Engineering fundamentals to aircraft design – What should our TC do?. Armand J. Chaput Adjunct Professor, Unmanned Air System (UAS) Design, University of Texas at Austin Emeritus, Senior Tech Fellow, LM Aero 15 April 2011. Armand J. Chaput 2011.
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Practical application of Systems Engineering fundamentals to aircraft design – What should our TC do? • Armand J. Chaput • Adjunct Professor, Unmanned Air System (UAS) Design, University of Texas at Austin • Emeritus, Senior Tech Fellow, LM Aero • 15 April 2011 Armand J. Chaput 2011
Somewhere around mid-career I finally got it - System Engineering had value for design engineers I started carrying Mil-Std 499 around in my design notebook and advocated SE as something that my design engineers needed to know Armand J. Chaput 2011
Somewhere south of mid-career Systems Engineering took off in another direction The MIL-STD 499 focus on engineering principles drifted off into territory that had more in common with program and business principles – hard-nosed engineering lost focus at the system level Armand J. Chaput 2011
About the same time Aerospace and Defense (A&D) program performance started going south And we have to at least consider the possibility that loss of engineering discipline at the system level was a contributor Armand J. Chaput 2011
Because we are a well-documented contributor to the problem And Aerospace Engineering does not get an exemption Armand J. Chaput 2011
A systems engineering perspective1 1 From Figure 1: Project Performance Versus Systems Engineering Capability, Executive Summary, A Survey of Systems Engineering Effectiveness - Initial Results, SPECIAL REPORT, Revision 1,CMU/SEI-2007-SR-014November 2007 Systems engineering (SE) enhances PSuccess but PFailure remains uncomfortably high Armand J. Chaput 2011
More data behind the Issue From Figure 59: Relationship Between Overall Systems Engineering Capability and Project Performance (Perf Versus SEC) controlled by Project Challenge (PC), Executive Summary, A Survey of Systems Engineering Effectiveness - Initial Results, SPECIAL REPORT, Revision 1,CMU/SEI-2007-SR-014November 2007 Too many “High Challenge” aerospace and defense (A&D) projects perform poorly and the cause is not SE capability Armand J. Chaput 2011
Systemic issues Most assessments focus on programmatic issues, e.g.2 • Move Forward Without Proper Knowledge of Requirements, Technology, Design, and Manufacturing Processes • Don’t Match Product Requirements with Resources • Move into System Demonstration and Production without Achieving Design Stability • Enter Production without Demonstrating Acceptable Manufacturing Processes and Weapon System Performance • Absence of Disciplined Systems Engineering Practices • Unexecutable Business Cases, etc. I think there is something else – an educational deficiency • Too many Design Engineers don’t understand SE • Too many SEs don’t understand Design Engineering • Too many design engineers lack multi-discipline knowledge 2 Michael J. Sullivan, Director Acquisition and Sourcing Management, GAO, April 2008 If so and if we don’t bridge the educational gaps, A&D “Project Performance” will stay in the cellar Armand J. Chaput 2011
Personal assessment – Most AE graduates are clueless about Systems Engineering Not part of most curricula - Most professors don’t teach it - Most professors don’t understand it AE undergraduates get top-level exposure • Pictures (SE “V”, etc.) and buzzwords • Little substance - like how you technically deal with and manage requirements; the difference between “Test and Evaluation” and the euphoria of first flight AE graduate programs aren’t much better - Most leave with little more understanding of SE than they had as undergraduates When graduates report to work, many go straight to projects • The days when entry level engineers went to functional groups to learn the ropes are gone (from my experience) • What they used to learn about SE from Engineering Chiefs and mentors is now packaged as compliance training Armand J. Chaput 2011
Example – SE integrated with air vehicle design(2 semester approach) Systems Engineering fundamentals (basic knowledge) - Requirements - development, documentation and management • System integration - Configuration control, Interface definition, Trade studies, Risk assessment - Test and Evaluation - Flight test planning, flight testing and data analysis - Technical management - Program planning, task/schedule assignment and tracking, budget management and tracking, technical decision making Air Vehicle Design fundamentals (deeper knowledge) - Vehicle requirements - Parametric design/analysis - Aero - Propulsion • Mass properties • Airframe structures • Stability and control • Configuration design and integration - Vehicle performance - Trade studies and vehicle optimization Armand J. Chaput 2011
Example – SE integrated with air vehicle design System Design fundamentals (basic knowledge) - System requirements - Overall system architecture • Mission design and analysis • Sortie rate assessment • Sensor sizing and performance • Communication sizing and performance - Air vehicle integration (from system perspective) • Trade studies and system optimization • Reliability (requirements) and Maintainability (e.g. MMH/FH) • Overall system performance (Psuccess) Other ? - How would you (or your organization) rate the importance of in these subjects for entry level AEs? - What’s missing Armand J. Chaput 2011
What could TC members do? Armand J. Chaput 2011
What else TC members could do Armand J. Chaput 2011