Note on Combinatorial Engineering Frameworks for Hierarchical Modular Systems

The paper briefly describes a basic set of special combinatorial engineering frameworks for solving complex problems in the field of hierarchical modular systems. The frameworks consist of combinatorial problems (and corresponding models), which are interconnected/linked (e.g., by preference relation). Mainly, hierarchical morphological system model is used. The list of basic standard combinatorial engineering (technological) frameworks is the following: (1) design of system hierarchical model, (2) combinatorial synthesis ('bottom-up' process for system design), (3) system evaluation, (4) detection of system bottlenecks, (5) system improvement (re-design, upgrade), (6) multi-stage design (design of system trajectory), (7) combinatorial modeling of system evolution/development and system forecasting. The combinatorial engineering frameworks are targeted to maintenance of some system life cycle stages. The list of main underlaying combinatorial optimization problems involves the following: knapsack problem, multiple-choice problem, assignment problem, spanning trees, morphological clique problem.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

Towards Decision Support Technology Platform for Modular Systems

The survey methodological paper addresses a glance to a general decision support platform technology for modular systems (modular/composite alterantives/solutions) in various applied domains. The decision support platform consists of seven basic combinatorial engineering frameworks (system synthesis, system modeling, evaluation, detection of bottleneck, improvement/extension, multistage design, combinatorial evolution and forecasting). The decision support platform is based on decision support procedures (e.g., multicriteria selection/sorting, clustering), combinatorial optimization problems (e.g., knapsack, multiple choice problem, clique, assignment/allocation, covering, spanning trees), and their combinations. The following is described: (1) general scheme of the decision support platform technology; (2) brief descriptions of modular (composite) systems (or composite alternatives); (3) trends in moving from chocie/selection of alternatives to processing of composite alternatives which correspond to hierarchical modular products/systems; (4) scheme of resource requirements (i.e., human, information-computer); and (5) basic combinatorial engineering frameworks and their applications in various domains.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

Towards Detection of Bottlenecks in Modular Systems

The paper describes some basic approaches to detection of bottlenecks in composite (modular) systems. The following basic system bottlenecks detection problems are examined: (1) traditional quality management approaches (Pareto chart based method, multicriteria analysis as selection of Pareto-efficient points, and/or multicriteria ranking), (2) selection of critical system elements (critical components/modules, critical component interconnection), (3) selection of interconnected system components as composite system faults (via clique-based fusion), (4) critical elements (e.g., nodes) in networks, and (5) predictive detection of system bottlenecks (detection of system components based on forecasting of their parameters). Here, heuristic solving schemes are used. Numerical examples illustrate the approaches.Comment: 12 pp., tables 4, figures 1

Towards Electronic Shopping of Composite Product

In the paper, frameworks for electronic shopping of composite (modular) products are described: (a) multicriteria selection (product is considered as a whole system, it is a traditional approach), (b) combinatorial synthesis (composition) of the product from its components, (c) aggregation of the product from several selected products/prototypes. The following product model is examined: (i) general tree-like structure, (ii) set of system parts/components (leaf nodes), (iii) design alternatives (DAs) for each component, (iv) ordinal priorities for DAs, and (v) estimates of compatibility between DAs for different components. The combinatorial synthesis is realized as morphological design of a composite (modular) product or an extended composite product (e.g., product and support services as financial instruments). Here the solving process is based on Hierarchical Morphological Multicriteria Design (HMMD): (i) multicriteria selection of alternatives for system parts, (ii) composing the selected alternatives into a resultant combination (while taking into account ordinal quality of the alternatives above and their compatibility). The aggregation framework is based on consideration of aggregation procedures, for example: (i) addition procedure: design of a products substructure or an extended substructure ('kernel') and addition of elements, and (ii) design procedure: design of the composite solution based on all elements of product superstructure. Applied numerical examples (e.g., composite product, extended composite product, product repair plan, and product trajectory) illustrate the proposed approaches.Comment: 10 pages, 20 figures, 17 table

Improvement/Extension of Modular Systems as Combinatorial Reengineering (Survey)

The paper describes development (improvement/extension) approaches for composite (modular) systems (as combinatorial reengineering). The following system improvement/extension actions are considered: (a) improvement of systems component(s) (e.g., improvement of a system component, replacement of a system component); (b) improvement of system component interconnection (compatibility); (c) joint improvement improvement of system components(s) and their interconnection; (d) improvement of system structure (replacement of system part(s), addition of a system part, deletion of a system part, modification of system structure). The study of system improvement approaches involve some crucial issues: (i) scales for evaluation of system components and component compatibility (quantitative scale, ordinal scale, poset-like scale, scale based on interval multiset estimate), (ii) evaluation of integrated system quality, (iii) integration methods to obtain the integrated system quality. The system improvement/extension strategies can be examined as seleciton/combination of the improvement action(s) above and as modification of system structure. The strategies are based on combinatorial optimization problems (e.g., multicriteria selection, knapsack problem, multiple choice problem, combinatorial synthesis based on morphological clique problem, assignment/reassignment problem, graph recoloring problem, spanning problems, hotlink assignment). Here, heuristics are used. Various system improvement/extension strategies are presented including illustrative numerical examples.Comment: 24 pages, 28 figures, 14 tables. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1212.173

Composition of Modular Telemetry System with Interval Multiset Estimates

The paper describes combinatorial synthesis approach with interval multset estimates of system elements for modeling, analysis, design, and improvement of a modular telemetry system. Morphological (modular) system design and improvement are considered as composition of the telemetry system elements (components) configuration. The solving process is based on Hierarchical Morphological Multicriteria Design (HMMD): (i) multicriteria selection of alternatives for system components, (ii) synthesis of the selected alternatives into a resultant combination (while taking into account quality of the alternatives above and their compatibility). Interval multiset estimates are used for assessment of design alternatives for telemetry system elements. Two additional systems problems are examined: (a) improvement of the obtained solutions, (b) aggregation of the obtained solutions into a resultant system configuration. The improvement and aggregation processes are based on multiple choice problem with interval multiset estimates. Numerical examples for an on-board telemetry subsystem illustrate the design and improvement processes.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 6 table

Towards Multistage Design of Modular Systems

The paper describes multistage design of composite (modular) systems (i.e., design of a system trajectory). This design process consists of the following: (i) definition of a set of time/logical points; (ii) modular design of the system for each time/logical point (e.g., on the basis of combinatorial synthesis as hierarchical morphological design or multiple choice problem) to obtain several system solutions; (iii) selection of the system solution for each time/logical point while taking into account their quality and the quality of compatibility between neighbor selected system solutions (here, combinatorial synthesis is used as well). Mainly, the examined time/logical points are based on a time chain. In addition, two complicated cases are considered: (a) the examined logical points are based on a tree-like structure, (b) the examined logical points are based on a digraph. Numerical examples illustrate the approach.Comment: 13 pages, 25 figures, 14 table

Design of modular wireless sensor

The paper addresses combinatorial approach to design of modular wireless sensor as composition of the sensor element from its component alternatives and aggregation of the obtained solutions into a resultant aggregated solution. A hierarchical model is used for the wireless sensor element. The solving process consists of three stages: (i) multicriteria ranking of design alternatives for system components/parts, (ii) composing the selected design alternatives into composite solution(s) while taking into account ordinal quality of the design alternatives above and their compatibility (this stage is based on Hierarchical Morphological Multicriteria Design - HMMD), and (iii) aggregation of the obtained composite solutions into a resultant aggregated solution(s). A numerical example describes the problem structuring and solving processes for modular alarm wireless sensor element.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, 4 table

Towards combinatorial modeling of wireless technology generations

The paper addresses the following problems: (1) a brief survey on wireless mobile communication technologies including evolution, history evolution (e.g., chain of system generations 0G, 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, 7G); (2) using a hierarchical structural modular approach to the generations of the wireless communication systems (i.e., hierarchical combinatorial modeling of the communication technologies), (3) illustrative usage of two-stage combinatorial approach to improvement/forecasting of the communication technology (a version of 5G) (on the basis of multiple choice problem). Numerical examples illustrate the suggested combinatorial approach.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, 9 table

Composition of Management System for Smart Homes

The paper addresses modular hierarchical design (composition) of a management system for smart homes. The management system consists of security subsystem (access control, alarm control), comfort subsystem (temperature, etc.), intelligence subsystem (multimedia, houseware). The design solving process is based on Hierarchical Morphological Multicriteria Design (HMMD) approach: (1) design of a tree-like system model, (2) generation of design alternatives for leaf nodes of the system model, (3) Bottom-Up process: (i) multicriteria selection of design alternatives for system parts/components and (ii) composing the selected alternatives into a resultant combination (while taking into account ordinal quality of the alternatives above and their compatibility). A realistic numerical example illustrates the design process of a management system for smart homes.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure