Changing the way we learn: towards agile learning and co-operation

This paper addresses the need for learning and competence development in industrial organizations. The people that enter professional organizations today are part of a gamer generation that have some or much experience with on-line games. Therefore they are more open to e-learning and in general more open to access anything on-line. At the same time industrial organizations experience a pressure on their ability to train employees faster due to the increase in complexity. We argue that games are not yet mature enough to support this training challenge as stand alone efforts. But games can support the training and competence development in a synchronized setup with other means

Towards an assessment of resilience in telecom infrastructure projects using real options

This paper employs the concept of real options to quantitatively assess resilience. First, the definitions of resilience are distilled from literature in the fields of engineering, management and ecology to give requirements for further assessment. From this, it was found that resilience requires a system to be robust, adaptable and flexible in the face of uncertainty. The main contribution of the paper is to connect these requirements to real options valuation and demonstrate the evaluation of the robust and flexible cases through real options methods. Specifically, Least Squares Monte Carlo method is used to value each option with the robust case being the benchmark and flexibility representing upgrades to the system. This is applied to an illustrative telecommunications case and the properties of the model assessed. The results show that uncertainties on the system can be captured and valued through this method so that it can aid a decision maker to assess which technology option or investment to select for future planning

Towards the Design of Resilient Large-scale Engineering Systems

Resilience has mostly been thought of as the ability to recover from adversity. However, it is now increasingly recognised that resilience should not only serve as a means for organisations to survive hardship, but also to thrive and prosper. For large-scale engineering systems, such as telecommunications networks and power grids, this is vital due to relatively long life cycles leading to large uncertainties, and also due to the significant investments involved. Exactly how this and thus resilience should be designed into such systems, however, is less well defined. Here, the term resilience is explored through engineering, organisational and ecological literature to understand differing perspectives from select domains before distilling these into the three engineering design lifecycle properties: robustness, adaptability and flexibility. In particular, a distinction is highlighted between adaptability and flexibility following findings in literature. These properties and the concept of resilience are discussed with reference to system performance in order to serve as requirements for designing large-scale resilient engineering systems

Towards the Design of Resilient Large-scale Engineering Systems

Resilience has mostly been thought of as the ability to recover from adversity. However, it is now increasingly recognised that resilience should not only serve as a means for organisations to survive hardship, but also to thrive and prosper. For large-scale engineering systems, such as telecommunications networks and power grids, this is vital due to relatively long life cycles leading to large uncertainties, and also due to the significant investments involved. Exactly how this and thus resilience should be designed into such systems, however, is less well defined. Here, the term resilience is explored through engineering, organisational and ecological literature to understand differing perspectives from select domains before distilling these into the three engineering design lifecycle properties: robustness, adaptability and flexibility. In particular, a distinction is highlighted between adaptability and flexibility following findings in literature. These properties and the concept of resilience are discussed with reference to system performance in order to serve as requirements for designing large-scale resilient engineering systems

Defining System Changeability: Reconciling Flexibility, Adaptability, Scalability, and Robustness for Maintaining System Lifecycle Value

Designing and maintaining systems in a dynamic contemporary environment requires a rethinking of how systems provide value to stakeholders over time. Classically, two different approaches to promoting value sustainment may include developing either alterable or robust systems. The first accomplishes value delivery through altering the system to meet new needs, while the second accomplishes value delivery through maintaining a system to meet needs in spite of changes. The definitions of flexibility, adaptability, scalability, and robustness are shown to be different parts of the core concept of “changeability,” which can be described by three aspects: change agents, change effects, and change mechanisms. Cast in terms of system parameter changes, flexibility and adaptability are shown to relate to the origin of the change agent (external or internal to a system boundary respectively). Scalability and robustness, along with the additional property of modifiability, are shown to relate to change effects. The extent of changeability is determined by the number of possible change mechanisms available to the system as accepted by decision makers. Creating changeable systems, which can incorporate both classical notions of alterability and robustness, empowers systems to maintain value delivery over their lifecycle, in spite of changes in their contexts, thereby achieving value robustness to stakeholders over time

Unintended Consequences: How Qualification Constrains Innovation

The development and implementation of new materials and manufacturing processes for aerospace application is often hindered by the high cost and long time span associated with current qualification procedures. The data requirements necessary for material and process qualification are extensive and often require millions of dollars and multiple years to complete. Furthermore, these qualification data can become obsolete for even minor changes to the processing route. This burden is a serious impediment to the pursuit of revolutionary new materials and more affordable processing methods for air vehicle structures. The application of integrated computational materials engineering methods to this problem can help to reduce the barriers to rapid insertion of new materials and processes. By establishing predictive capability for the development of microstructural features in relation to processing and relating this to critical property characteristics, a streamlined approach to qualification is possible. This paper critically examines the advantages and challenges to a modeling-assisted qualification approach for aerospace structural materials. An example of how this approach might apply towards the emerging field of additive manufacturing is discussed in detail

Workshop Report Air Force/LAI Workshop on Systems Engineering for Robustness

Workshop repor

Pathfinding USSF MOSA Adoption Utilizing Ring-Based and Small Spacecraft

The U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Directorate of Innovation and Prototyping is evolving the concept of medium and small class combat bus to provide on-orbit warfighter and systems support and advance the open systems architecture. We begin with a Long-Duration Propulsive ESPA ring with six ports for multiple small hosted and/or separable satellites and prototypes (aka SMC’s “Freight Train to Space”). By adding communication, open processing, maneuverability, and refueling options, a ring that was once “just hardware” becomes an outpost in GEO and an integral part of a hybrid architecture. Envision adding more outposts along the GEO belt and the result is a robust architecture for cross-linking satellite systems and extending warfighting missions worldwide. Tetra, our small-class combat bus program, fits on one of these ESPA ports and provides additional options to host smaller prototypes and a key training capability. These programs mark the beginning of a new USSF architecture, and will deliver capabilities to orbit faster, smarter, and more affordably than ever before

Engineered Resilient Systems Model Applied to Network Design

Engineered Resilient Systems (ERS) is a Department of Defense (DoD) program focusing on the effective and efficient design and development of resilient complex engineered systems throughout their lifecycle. There is growing literature with qualitative definitions of resilience and quantitative models for systems, but these focus typically on systems with one performance measure. In application, many systems have multiple functions and multiple performance measures. This research uses a quantitative resilience framework for ERS that includes system design options, reliability, external threats, vulnerabilities, responses, and consequences assessed on multiple system performance measures. This paper applies the ERS framework to designing resilient networks

Frugal Education:What, why, and how?

This paper explores how frugal innovation practices can challenge resource constraints by leveraging available resources in creative and innovative ways towards more affordable, practical, sustainable and resilient education practice. The education sector has faced many challenges when adapting practice to deliver quality education in the wake of a world-changing pandemic. There is a great deal we can learn from each other with regards to the frugal application of resources, such as time, money, people and space. However, forms of frugality in education design are driven by necessity and are reactive as opposed to proactive measures. We can, however, learn from educators and institutions that have been able to achieve significant educational impact at low cost with far fewer resources, adopting frugal approaches to education design and delivery. This paper proposes a set of frugal education aspects that demonstrate how frugal design practices can be organised and applied within an educational context. The aspects are outlined, and examples are presented to illustrate their effectiveness within existing education practice. This paper seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge base and research into frugal innovation practice as it applies within an education context, reframing the use of the term ‘frugal’ away from affordability and poor quality, towards a more expansive understanding that establishes a foundation on which to build, define, and contextualise frugality within an education context. The paper concludes with recommendations for the development of practical resources, informed by the research, to support educators in the design of frugal education practice