ABSTRACTS FOR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROJECTS .....
ABSTRACTS FOR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROJECTS .....
[ Project 1 ] : Industrial HVAC Noise Control System
[ Project 2 ] : Evaluating Risk in Innovative Product Development
[ Project 3 ] : Space Mission Systems Design
[ Project 4 ] : Tradeoff Analysis between Combustion Vehicles and Electric Vehicles
[ Project 5 ] :
Systems Engineering Approach to the Design of Sprinkler Systems
[ Project 6 ] :
Development of a Power Electronic Building Block
[ Project 7 ] : Systems Engineering for Modern Commercial Aircraft
[ Project 8 ] : Systems Engineering in Electronic Packaging
[ Project 9 ] :
Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a Surveillance and Targeting Role
[ Project 10 ] : Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to Choose a FedEx Facility
[ Project 11 ] : A Systems Engineering Case Study for a
Proposed Restaurant Delivery Service
[ Project 12 ] :
Comparison of Traditional Aircraft Design with the Boeing 777 Design Process
[ Project 13 ] : System Engineering Evaluation of an Electronic Library
[ Project 14 ] :
Systems Engineering Optimisation of a Cogeneration Power Plant using the Simplex Algorithm
[ Project 15 ] :
A Systems Approach to Decision Making and Project
Control for Small Industrial Construction Projects
[ Project 16 ] :
Systems Engineering Approach to Telerobotic Design
[ Project 17 ] :
Optimization Tool for PCB Design Manufacturing
[ Project 18 ] :
Lifetime Assessment of Engineering Systems with Incomplete Data
[ Project 19 ] :
A Systems Approach to Optimal Long-Term Healthcare
[ Project 20 ] :
Development of an Automated Satellite Control Center
[ Project 21 ] :
Organizational and Economic Issues in Open Source Software
[ Project 22 ] :
Modeling and Simulation for the Systems Engineering of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
[ Project 23 ] :
Optimal selection of Plant Locations and Sizes
[ Project 24 ] :
Staffing Assessment for Operational Support (AOS) at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
[ Project 25 ] :
A Systems Approach to the Patent Process Cycle
[ Project 26 ] :
A Web-based Course for Survivable Information Systems Engineering
[ Project 27 ] :
Subcontractor Quality Development System
[ Project 28 ] :
Market Driven Product Design
[ Project 29 ] :
Preliminary Design of a Low Cost Lightweight Wind Turbine
[ Project 30 ] :
Optimizing Assembly Systems in Manufacturing Plants
[ Project 31 ] :
Increase Cut Pattern Production
[ Project 32 ] :
Excess Nuclear Weapon Components Storage
Title :
Industrial HVAC Noise Control System
Author:
Greg Nepini
This document provides a brief introduction to my ENPM 641 Systems Engineering Project. The project is based on work that I did during the period from 1992-1993, while I was an employee at a promising upstart company named XYZ (the name has been changed to protect the innocent). At XYZ, I worked on some interesting projects involving active noise and vibration control.
There were several potential markets that we were exploring including household appliances and industrial applications. I worked in the fans and electric motors group developing systems for canceling airflow noise in HVAC systems. XYZ struggled to develop the technology, but nearly went bankrupt in the process. I believe that the development efforts with which I was involved at XYZ, failed due to lack of a well organized development effort based on sound systems engineering principles (such as those taught in this class). I would like to re-visit this application in my project by creating a systems engineering profile for developing and mass producing an active noise cancellation solution for a large industrial HVAC system.
Title :
Evaluating Risk in Innovative Product Development
Author: Flavia I. Doboga
This project attempts to design and apply a method for evaluating risk in innovative product design. Three dimensions of risk are identified in product development; Envisioning Risk, Design Risk, and Execution Risk. The essence of each dimension of risk can be captured in a specific question:
The three dimensions of product development risk are highly interrelated and interdependent, since each product development stage output becomes the input to the next stage. The practical consequence of this fact is that actions taken to reduce risk in one dimension may lead to (possibly disproportionately) increased risk along another dimension. This observation reinforces the critical role of System Engineering in reducing risk in innovative product development. Since different functional groups may have the lead role in each of the stages of innovative product development, input and understanding of the both upstream and downstream functional groups and their needs will be critical to risk reduction and overall project success.
The risk evaluation method developed will be applied to several case histories of innovative product development, like: videocassette recorder, personal computer, automated baggage handling system. The risk method will be used to evaluate the effect of product development risk on the above mentioned development programs, to identify the risk-related failure modes for the unsuccessful innovative development programs, and to recognize several effective risk-mitigating approaches used by successful product developers.
Title :
Space Mission Systems Design
Authors :
Martin B. Houghton and
Donald D. Smith
Various organizations have been practicing the art of satellite design and deployment since the mid to late 1950s. Regardless of how you view the typical development cycle, the early design work serves to "bound" the system into some sort of manageable framework. These efforts can be thought of as a process that gradually refines requirements and methods of achieving them into a coherent, viable mission scenario that optimizes some identified set of objectives, given some set of conceptual constraints. Objectives come in many shapes and sizes. All objectives, regardless of their nature, are routinely traded-off against higher level constraints like cost and schedule. Trades performed at the early stages have the biggest effects on the project as a whole. They often result in a kind of "Go/No Go" evaluation. Most proposed projects never make it past these initial stages.
This paper takes a look at space mission systems design in general and focuses on the work done in the early phases of a systems development cycle. The case study included in this paper looks at a typical (albeit fictitious) mission scenario and follows through the preliminary mission design phases. In particular, alternative methods for achieving the particular objectives posed are developed and evaluated in order to reach the best possible design given the imposed constraints.
Title :
Tradeoff Analysis between Combustion Vehicles and Electric Vehicles
Authors :
Rob Sadorra and
Majed Eshaq
The introduction of electric vehicles into the U.S. consumer market has made significant progress in recent years, especially in states where pollution has reached intolerable levels and has led to Federal and State regulations for the development and production of zero emission vehicles. Additionally, the U.S. has been attempting to lessen its dependency on foreign sources of petroleum fuel. However, many factors such as performance, cost and political motivations have limited the market for electric vehicles.
The purpose of this project is to utilize Systems Engineering tradeoff analysis techniques to evaluate and compare the traditional combustion engine vehicle with the current mass-produced electric vehicle, using Lead-Based Battery technology, and new electric vehicle technology, using Zinc-Air Battery technology. Our first step in this evaluation will be to determine the variables which significantly impact the decision making process. We will then formulate the alternative functions and determine, through subjective and analytical analysis, the relative weight of each variable. Next we will perform tradeoff analysis using principles in Systems Engineering. Finally, based on our evaluation results, we will make conclusions and recommendations on the three previously mention alternatives.
Title:
Systems Engineering Approach to the Design of Sprinkler Systems
Author:
Stephen M. Olenick and
Jason A. Sutula
Sprinkler design is a common feature conducted by the fire protection engineering industry. A well designed sprinkler system can minimize financial loss as well as life loss in many industrial, commercial, and residential structures. Current design practices do not easily allow for the free flow of sprinkler design schemes between the industrial, commercial, and residential design regimes. This paper will utilize a systems engineering approach to present a systems profile of a generalized sprinkler design process. This profile will address issues such as inter-regime communication, optimization of design procedures/practices, and trade-off analysis of performance and project costs.
Title : Development of a Power Electronic Building Block
Authors :
Jin Wu
and Brian Reynolds.
PEBB (Power Electronic Building Block) refers to a packaging concept that replaces complex power electronics circuits with a single multi-function device which is intelligent and/or programmable. For example, depending on the application, a PEBB might be software configured to act as an AC to DC rectifier, DC to AC inverter, motor controller, actuator, frequency changer, circuit breaker etc. The purpose of the project is to develop assessment, tradeoff, optimization methodologies and the corresponding software tools to aid in developing PEBB interconnects and packaging as well as mitigating the risk in PEBB.
Title :
Systems Engineering for Modern Commercial Aircraft
Authors :
Chun-Ying Ko and
Yi-Wen Cheng
Since Airbus Industry developed the entire flight-by-wire commercial aircraft A320 series during 90s, the modern commercial aircraft design entered another generation. The integrated engineering about the whole systems design reveals to play more and more important role. As we know, any little conflict in the system interaction may result in a serious tragedy. We will try to use AIA classification of ICAO and IATA to look at all systems exited in the modern aircraft and find out the interactions between them. Optimizing the system and evaluating the exited system are two major objects of this project.
We will compare the ways Boeing and Airbus try to use as a support of the conclusion.
Title : Systems Engineering in Electronic Packaging
Authors :
Praveen V. Mellacheruvu and
Krishnakumar Venkatesan
Electronics Industry is one of the key industries for any country with worldwide revenues expected to be around 1.2 trillion dollars. Electronic packaging is a very critical part in the design, analysis and manufacture of cost effective and reliable electronic products
The aim of the Systems Profile will be to analyse the various issues in Electronic Packaging and conduct cost analysis, tradeoff, risk and reliability assessments. A specific product or process will be selected later.
Title :
Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a Surveillance and Targeting Role
Authors :
John Hopkins and
Geoff Goodman
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are remotely piloted or self-piloted aircraft that can carry cameras, sensors, communications equipment or other payloads. They have been used since the 1950s in a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering role based mainly on the merits of removing the human pilots from the battlefield. More advanced roles are envisioned, including combat missions, but there has been difficulty in the acquisition and deployment of advanced vehicles. The successful development of acceptable prototypes is dependent upon the advancement of technology in this field and the specific design requirements. The reduced cost of a UAV must be justified against existing, viable procedures and equipment for piloted operations. UAVs have the advantage in design by not having to be "man rated" which reduces your safety factor in design and the supportability requirements. Also, the removal of human pilots allows modifications to the aerodynamics (i.e. removal of the cockpit area) and performance characteristics (i.e. instantaneous G loading on the pilot) that are not possible with manned aircraft due to limitations of the human body. However, the advantages are balanced by the loss in cognitive ability and experience that a human pilot brings to a rapidly changing combat environment.
The goal of this project is to develop a systems engineering profile of this new technology, and to perform a tradeoff analysis in areas of cost, performance, manpower, risk and effectiveness, as related to total life cycle design, to validate the need for UAVs in advanced warfare roles.
Title :
Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to Choose a FedEx Facility
Authors :
Maribel Ibrahim and
Jay Edgeworth
Because of the rapid growth of FedEx, current facilities are being outgrown and new facilities are being built. Placement of new facilities involves many subjective factors and decisions are often made based on uncertain data. In the past, most of the decisions were made mainly by ignoring many of the subjective criteria and using only a few criteria important to the decision-maker to make the final location determination. The aim of this paper is to apply the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) [2, 3] to this decision making process in order to implement a quantitative model that accounts for the many subjective factors used in choosing a facility. Using a model such as the AHP will allow FedEx to establish a consistent method of decision making, optimize decisions based on many factors and allow the company to more easily justify its decisions based on analytic techniques instead of someone's "gut feeling."
Title :
A Systems Engineering Case Study for a Proposed Restaurant Delivery Service
Author :
Marla Roth
The motivator for this project was the suggestion that a sequencing problem be derived for study. A Restaurant Delivery Service (RDS) is just one of many scenarios where optimal sequencing of events (such as ordering, picking up and delivering) is desired to lower costs and increase productivity.
This case study of a proposed Restaurant Delivery Service is planned to describe the basic business structure and associated Travelling Salesman and Constraint Satisfaction problems. A list of references will also be given which will indicate a sample of other industries and technologies where advances in scheduling and flow have proven beneficial.
Title :
Comparison of Traditional Aircraft Design with the Boeing 777 Design Process
Authors :
Kevin Kefauver and
Tewfik Boutaleb .
The purpose of this project is to compare the design processes of different aircraft manufacturers with the process developed by Boeing for the 777 aircraft.
Specifically, we will address a significant problem in the aircraft design process, formulate a mathematical expression that represents this problem, and use an optimization program to compute the optimal solution to the problem. The actual solutions to the problem can be compared to the optimal solution and conclusions about the results given by the design processes can be drawn.
Once the comparison is drawn between the two processes, we shall propose a method, using systems engineering principles, that will bring the solution of the problem closer to the optimal design solution.
Title : System Engineering Evaluation of an Electronic Library
Authors :
Bob McGann and
Giftson James .
Project Gutenberg is a wide-ranging attempt to convert 10,000 books and publications (currently in the public domain) into electronic editions by the year 2000. Books are selected for their contributions to the general culture as well as providing insight to the societies and philosophies which have contributed to the current state of the world. The overall goal of the project is to make these editions available to anyone who has access to the Internet. The entire scope of the project is an interesting exercise in recognizing the proliferation of differing computer hardware and software systems and the need for a common format readable by all these systems.
In this project we will examine the ongoing development of Project Gutenberg in terms of system engineering concepts and propose a means of improving monetary and resource support of the project consistent with the stated goals of the project.
Title :
Systems Engineering Optimisation of a Cogeneration Power Plant
using the Simplex Algorithm
Author :
Shankar Murthy .
This project aims to optimise a cogeneration power plant which sells steam and electricity to its customers. The steam is used by the customer for process applications and comes in high pressure and low pressure steam which have their separate utilities. The permissible combination of the extraction rates for both the types of steam is a constraint as well as the electric power generation which falls in direct proportion to the amount of steam extracted for process use. The objective is to maximise the total revenue of the plant from both the sources, keeping in mind the total process steam needs and electricity requirements of the customer. It is planned to use a sampling situation for study and arrive at an optimal solution using the Simplex method.
Title :
A Systems Approach to Decision Making and Project
Control for Small Industrial Construction Projects
Author : Brian Majerowicz.
Customers and owners are highly focused on cost and time efficiencies in the modern commercial and industrial construction industry. Cash flows impact upon budgets and anticipated revenue streams. Timing is critical to the success of matching actual expenses to budgetary predictions. The processes associated with designing and building commercial and industrial facilities must account for a customers need to efficiently manage requirements, time, and dollars.
Certain system tools can be applied to benefit the construction process. Examples of such tools are cost time based task schedules, value analysis among alternatives, earned value progress controls, organizational and project planning models to foster communication and openness, etc. The focus of this ENPM 641 project is to critique the impact of applying two specific tools for the construction process of a small, peak shaving (~3.0MW), electrical power plant.
Decision Analysis is used to determine daily optimum generation times. Decision variables include changing facility electrical load and local utility economic rate structures. Detailed project scheduling techniques are discussed from the perspective of an earned value control technique. Supporting discussion is provided on how project controls and organizational modelling impact the use of system techniques.
The author has recently been involved with a similar construction project installing approximately 3.5MW of electrical power, peak shaving, generation capacity. In terms of electrical power plants, this 3.5MW facility is small compared to the typical 800MW - 1000MW+ utility plant capacities. Application of certain system tools throughout the lifecycle of the job could have avoided certain construction and communication process issues.
Title:
Systems Engineering Approach to Telerobotic Design
Authors:
Marty Devaney and
Gary Field
Future space operations, such as the International Space Station, will require the development of innovative ways to accomplish work in space. One method under consideration is to utilize free flying robotic systems which range from simple teleoperation to complete autonomy. The Ranger Neutral Buoyancy Vehicle (RNBV) is an experimental project designed to demonstrate the feasibility of a telerobotic system to perform operational tasks. These tasks include on-orbit refueling, instrumentation package replacement, and large scale on-orbit construction. The RNBV system attempts to merge robotic technology with a free flying vehicle to simulate the capability of such vehicles in a space environment to meet future operational demands.
The purpose of our project will be to analyze the applicability of systems engineering principles to this particular system. We intend to determine if such principles lend themselves useful to the experimental system development format. We will utilize trade-off and risk analysis to ascertain the effectiveness of system engineering principles on experiment development of robotic systems. Some of the issues we will attempt to resolve include constraints (i.e. funding, time, safety, reliability), comparison of these issues in this experimental system versus a production system, and determine if optimization would be appropriate at this phase of development.
Title :
Optimization Tool for PCB Design Manufacturing
Authors :
A. Saraf and
R. Rajamani
In the electronic design and manufacturing industry, especially the PCB manufacturing, the electrical design and the mechanical design are treated as separate phases. The electrical designer is not aware of the problems in the manufacturing processes and long, expensive, and iterative design-manufacturing-test-redesign cycle results. We argue that this is can be avoided by giving the designer proper feedback at each stage of the designing process to get the best design in terms of the various performance metrics like cost and quality. To support this, we are developing an optimization tool that aids the designer in the selection of parts and procedures from a given set of alternatives. This tool will assist the product and process designer to improve their productivity. We are formulating a linear algorithm using CPLEX.
Title :
Lifetime Assessment of Engineering Systems with Incomplete Data
Authors :
Scott Leberknight and
Melanie Wiedmann
Engineering systems ranging from computer networks to aircraft fleets are designed to function over a specific period of time. The useful life, or period of time in which the system should function effectively, is sometimes explicitly stated in the design and other times implied. Systems are often asked to perform beyond their intended design lives due to economic and budgetary constraints, organizational pressure, or other factors that necessitate continued operations of legacy systems. Both old and new systems sometimes fail or perform below design specifications and never realize their full potential. For many engineering systems an ability to monitor and predict total life expended (TLE) is desirable and sometimes essential. For example, military fighter aircraft experience significant stresses and strains that cause metal fatigue and can lead to expensive refits or catastrophic failure if left unchecked. The objective of a Life Assessment System (LAS) is to predict the fraction of total life expended for an engineering system to provide a decision making tool for use in analyzing and modifying system operations, determining system usage characteristics, developing preventative maintenance schedules, projecting future life expended, and planning budgets.
This paper analyzes the design and operation of life assessment systems from a systems engineering perspective. Accepted systems engineering techniques and processes such as functional flow block diagrams (FFBDs), decision and trade-off analysis, object-oriented analysis and design (OOA/OOD), sensitivity analysis, system modeling, and engineering simulation are useful tools in design and development of a LAS as well as system operations. These tools are used in the LAS development methodology proposed in this paper.
Title :
A Systems Approach to Optimal Long-Term Healthcare
Author :
Dennis W. Baylor
This paper attempts to apply systems engineering principles to address optimization issues in the healthcare industry. Specifically, nursing home operations are the focus of this paper. Topics investigated include types and numbers of staff required and how to optimize the patient types and census limits given the respective technology and staffing needs for each type patient. Other internal factors such as manager to front line staff optimization are also considered. External factors such as unique community requirements, state and federal regulations, payment methods available and competition among other homes in the area are all part of the analysis.
Title :
Development of an Automated Satellite Control Center
Authors : James Pawloski and
Geoffrey Pierce
The process of operating a satellite in orbit is a difficult task. To automate the task provides a level above the ordinary. Normal control centers are manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by two or more people operating one or spacecraft. Currently deployed constellations such as Iridium and Globalstar require teams of 6 or more persons to perform routine monitoring and control tasks. The autonomous control center must perform the routine task of acquisition with the satellite, interact with a ground station(s) to perform acquisition troubleshooting (if necessary), the first check of the operations team as to determining if the spacecraft is healthy. The task is enhanced by the various elements that interact with the control center, including the command management system, which is used to produce on-board computer loads, the scheduling agent, which predicts pass times and contact durations, and the real-time systems which control the satellite itself.
The task main objective is the health and safety of the spacecraft. The ASCC must determine if the satellite is in a nominal state of health or not. If not, the ASCC must inform the correct personnel that have the knowledge to take the corrective action. The ASCC must also take corrective action on nominal variations in performance, i.e., nominal anomalies. The system must be "smart" enough to determine the difference between a problem it can solve and a problem that requires human intervention.
Title :
Organizational and Economic Issues in Open Source Software
Authors :
Pete Badoian and
Andy Doyle
Open source software provides a novel and potentially powerful model for the development of large, complex software applications. This model presents some interesting issues from a systems engineering perspective because it does not fit the standard model of an organization which produces a product. This study will provide an overview of the role of systems engineering principles in the development of open source software. Special attention will be paid to the organizational aspects of developing open source applications, particularly the relationship between developers, resellers and the applications marketplace. As a specific case we will study the how systems engineering relates to the development of the Linux operating system and the role of operating systems as platforms for building software applications.
As part of the study of the open source engineering model we will also explore the economic factors involved in the creation, distribution support and evolution of open source software. This will include an economic analysis of a company which resells open source software and the criteria that can be applied to optimize the operation of such as business.
Title :
Modeling and Simulation for the Systems Engineering of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Author :
R. Barry Walden
The use of systems engineering principles in modeling and simulating the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to meet end user needs and requirements has come of age. With the advent of the high-speed computing tools, the ability to evaluate the design, development, and implementation of UAVs within the defense sector can be performed and tracking of the initial customer requirements can be assessed.
This project will address the need to look at the "big picture" for the Navy's upcoming Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Tactical UAV (VTUAV) by looking at how modeling and simulation could play a major role in evaluating the design, development, and implementation of the VTUAV prior to acquisition by the Navy.
Title :
Optimal selection of Plant Locations and Sizes
Authors:
Gurumurthy Thiagarajan and
Ashish Sabadra
The location and size of a plant plays a crucial role in the economics of a product manufactured in an industry. As prices and revenue were not considered, maximization of net present value is equivalent to minimization of net cost. The net present value is evaluated as the sum of the discounted cash flows. Transportation costs are assumed proportional to the size of shipments for a given source and destination. All flows except capital were assumed to be uniformly distributed over the year; working capital was added or subtracted instantaneously at the begining of each year, and fixed capital was added only in the zero year.
This project is an attempt to select the optimal location and size of a plant by solving a non-linear programming problem with linear constraints.
Title :
Staffing Assessment for Operational Support (AOS)
at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Authors:
Diana Christie and
Martha Christie
This document provides a brief introduction to our Systems Engineering project. Our company has done work in the past for the Operational Support division at the FAA. This project attempts to identify and analyze the staffing necessary to accomplish second level operations and maintenance support for selected FAA facilities. For several years AOS has diligently tracked and recorded the necessary staffing for FAA facilities at the first, or field, level. However, there has never been an effort to track second level support staffing needs. This is due, in part, to the variable and inconsistent nature of the work that is performed. Through data that is readily available on workload, we will attempt to develop a production function that can be used to determine required second level staffing.
Title :
A Systems Approach to the Patent Process Cycle
Authors:
Neftali Cajina and
Jack Chen
Issuing patents is one of the major responsibilities of the United States Department of Commerce. The National Patent and Trademark Office (NPTO) issue thousands of patents each year. A United States Letters Patent grants to an individual a specific intellectual property right for a term normally set at 17 or 20 years. This property right is valid and enforceable only in the United States. The patents are a legally binding document that ensures ingenious individuals receive credit for their products. Patents also help maintain integrity and professionalism between competing industries, while encouraging advancement in technology.
The NPTO has seen a steady increase in patent applications. In 1997, they issued over 100,000 patents. The observed increase in applications is stressing the current patent process cycle. The current cycle takes about 36 months. With the emergence of automation in various industries, it seems the NPTO could benefit from this trend. This project will use systems engineering concepts in performing an economic analysis of automating versus maintaining the current patent process cycle. In addition, some basic queuing theory concepts will be considered to see if the patent cycle can benefit from them.
Title :
A Web-based Course for Survivable Information Systems Engineering
Author:
Paul Walczak
Project Background. Information survivability (IS) has become a new area of concern for many industrial and government organizations, and is an active area of interest to those in the research community. IS is more than security, more than safety, and more than fault tolerance. It is a combination of quality attributes that assures that even if significant portions of a system are damaged by an attack, accident, or failure, the mission of the network, software, or service will continue. The systems that are the primary focus of concern are highly distributed, networked systems that support critical infrastructures and critical applications.
Project Intent. The project is constituted as a self-paced, web-based course that intends to provide a broad overview of principles INFOSURV, as well as providing a primer on survivable information systems engineering. Techniques to assist the student in the analysis of survivability requirements and their hierarchical dependence are presented. Throughout the course, generalized inadequacies in existing commercial information systems will be identified. Specific architectural structures and other approaches that can help overcome inadequacies in trying to achieve survivable systems and networks will be outlined. The final topic is a suggested future curriculum approach which can better address computer network and information systems engineering education in the digital age.
Project Objectives. The version submitted for grading will serve as a "strawman" to help communicate requirements and to develop institutional interests within DoD. It is hoped that this effort will stimulate comments in formulating a more enduring curriculum for the emerging discipline of survivable systems engineering (engineering process that produces survivable systems), that may be taught through the University of Maryland. The project outline is as follows:
Project Extensibility. Project Extensibility. The courseware developed within this project will continue to evolve past the ENPM 621 period of instruction. A distance-learning package targeted for DoD systems managers, developers and engieers whose roles or interests concern the development of survivable information systems will be the target audience.
Project Constraints. The amount of effort required to develop an interactive distance-learning package exceeds that reasonbly available to the ENPM 621 project time interval. Also, a period of deliberate review by persons qualified in both content and delivery modes would be appropriate before a course could be fielded.
Comments can be directed to Paul Walczak, pwalczak@arl.mil
Title :
Subcontractor Quality Development System
Author:
Troy Gentry
With the evolution of quality systems throughout the industries of the world, the need for quality system standardization has driven many industries to conform to systems such as ISO9000 and QS9000. The current maturity level of the ISO system is limited to fundamental quality principles. The QS system, however, has based it's system requirements on the ISO standards yet expanded those system requirements to encompass a more comprehensive quality structure geared toward improving the overall quality levels of American automotive manufacturers. One such level of detail expanded on by the QS system is the mportance of controlling the quality levels of the entire supply chain. Although the system requirements are still somewhat vague, the standard does drive the activities of supply chain management by requiring all QS compliant companies to maintain a documented level of subcontractor quality system development. This open-ended requirement beckons for a structured system to establish the guidelines, automation tools, financial tradeoffs, and effectiveness measurement techniques, etc. required for optimal subcontractor control. The proper development of such a system would enable companies to integrate the methodologies of subcontractor development into their existing quality systems. In this systems engineering profile, one such system is developed to address the industry need for a subcontractor quality development system.
Title : Market Driven Product Design
Author :
Chirag Maru and
Jitendra Chandna
The high competition in the global market these days and the increasing awareness among the consumers about the choices available to them has sent the engineers scurrying back to the drawing boards(oops!! to the CAD packages).
The product design is more market driven than ever. It has become increasingly important to produce value added products, and to realize clear differentiation from other products. Product differentiation can be achieved by new functionality or innovative technolgy, but, aesthetic appeal and ergonomoic styling have become essentially important to woo the modern customer.
The success of a new product is often attributed to a delicate combination of aesthetics, ergonomics and enabling technolgy. In this project we will take a three dimensional view of product development following a Systems Engineering approach to analyze the interplay between aesthetics, ergonomics and engineering designs and the tradeoff between them.
Title : Preliminary Design of a Low Cost Lightweight Wind Turbine
Author : Jeff Wilks
Conventional small wind turbines are currently utilized in hybrid energy systems, typically incorporating battery banks, for marine vessels and remote communications stations. A two- or three-bladed propeller-type rotor is commonly used in these commercial turbine designs.
An innovative, small wind turbine is to be designed, tested, and manufactured to compete with commercial turbines today. Unlike conventional technology, this rotor will not resemble a propeller, although a multiple-blade rotor configuration will be designed. For the current study, optimization and trade-off analyses will be performed to achieve the lowest cost and highest efficiency turbine using the unique rotor design. Material selection and manufacturing methods will be considered. These main factors contribute to the overall cost of electricity, the commercial viability, and impact market penetration. The turbine will be designed to achieve a 20-year lifetime, with little or no maintenance. A minimum number of robust components is desired to achieve this goal.
The rotor requires optimization with respect to several design variables. The number of blades, chord length, blade length, blade pitch, and rotor speed will be optimized to minimize weight and maximize energy capture. Design load cases, including hurricane wind loading, will be used for stress analyses of supporting components. These parametric studies should result in a lightweight, low cost turbine.
Title : Optimizing Assembly Systems in Manufacturing Plants
Author : Thomas E. Addison II and Toya M. Burns
This project attempts to optimize the manufacturing plant system commonly refered to as the assembly line. Variables are minimized by assuming the system has no more than five stations including quality assurance. This system could be expanded to include more stations, but the optimization process would take too long.
Optimizing the assembly line requires defining parameters such as conveyor speed, time in station, station process time, acceptable failures and expected return on assets. Useful variables are identified as the system optimization progresses.
The goal is to provide a basic model that can be modified and applied to multiple manufacturing facilities irrespective of the product being produced. The emphasis is on finding the optimum speed of the conveyor given constants at the various stations and acceptable failure rates. Emphasis will be placed on the economic results of various decisions as well.
Title : Increase Cut Pattern Production
Author : James R. Reynolds
This project will look at strategies for increasing cut pattern production at the Milliken textile manufacturing company.
Cut pattern product is a specialized product which is sold for garment production. This product is a combination of two or more fabric layers stitched together in length direction on 3.25 inch spacing. The present production is based on 68 inches of material being cut for customer shipment. The cut pattern is cut into the top layer of fabric. This fabric cut edge must not ravel. Thermoplastic fibers (polyester or nylon) allow this edge to seal while being cut. The fabric is inspected and rolled on a paper core into 150 yard packages on the cut pattern machine rewind.
Additional cut pattern production is necessary to meet market projections. Two times the present production will be necessary. The available floor space can not accommodate another production machine. Analyze system performance with modified operational procedures and equipment to double capability while minimizing the modification cost.
This system can be divided into the following subsystems:
Title :
Excess Nuclear Weapon Components Storage
Author:
David J Grover
The end of the cold war resulted in the shutdown of the majority of the processing capability of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons production complex. This circumstance coupled with the necessity to dismantle nuclear weapons to meet the requirements of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks has resulted in an ever growing quantity of nuclear weapon components (pits) being placed in storage for an extended duration. The current storage containers are unsuitable for the storage of these pits. A replacement container design to meet both storage and transportation requirements was designed and built to remedy these conditions. During the final development of this container it was decided that this container was exceedingly expensive both in initial cost and operational cost. As a result, the DOE decided to initiate the conceptual design of a relatively inexpensive storage only container that would provide extended safe storage of pits.
This study evaluates how a systems engineering process can be used to design the new pit storage container to meet the pit storage requirements and evaluate it against the existing containers.