Report treats optimization and effectiveness separately. Report illustrates example of dynamic programming solution to system optimization. Computer algorithm has been developed to solve effectiveness problem and is included in report

Dorris, G.

Rydberg, A. J.

Williamson, O. L.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

March 1973	 B73-10104 
NASA TECH BRIEF 
Marshall Space Flight Center
	 -4v 
NASA Tech Briefs announce new technology derived from the U.S. space program. They are issued to encourage 
commercial application. Tech Briefs are available on a subscription basis from the National Technical Information 
Service, Springfield, Virginia 22151. Requests for individual copies or questions relating to the Tech Brief program may 
be directed to the Technology Utilization Office, NASA, Code KT, Washington, D.C. 20546. 
A Summary Report on Sys-tem Effectiveness 
and Optimization Study 
A report has been published which discusses solutions 
to system optimization and system effectiveness. The 
report treats optimization and effectiveness separately. 
System optimization involves a selection of sub-
systems which, combined, yield the best performance 
for a specified cost. The selection is based on the 
optimum choice of parameters, such as reliability, cost, 
weight, etc., that are considered critical to the system 
operation. Such selection is not an easy task particularly 
when several subsystems must be selected from numerous 
alternatives. Consider, for example, a system which calls
measure must reflect the value of specific "charac-
teristics" parameters considered to be representative of 
that which makes a system effective. To develop a 
solution to the effectiveness problem, the procedure 
must use the following phases: 
1. Establishing parameters which are important to the 
functional requirements of a system and which 
characterize the qualities of effectiveness for the 
system. 
2. Numerically evaluating the parameters at the level 
(system, subsystem, etc.) desired. 
3. Relating the parameter values to the system level 
and quantifying them. 
4. Weighting the qualified parameter values according 
to their relative importance. 
5. Combining the weighted values to produce an overall 
system effectiveness measure (effectiveness index). 
A computer algorithm has been developed for this 
technique and is included within the report. Effective-
ness of this technique is demonstrated by a sample 
problem. 
Notes: 
1. The report may be useful to systems engineers and 
systems analysts. 
2. Requests for further information may be directed to: 
Technology Utilization Officer 
Marshall Space Flight Center 
Code A&PS-TU 
Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama 35812 
Reference: B73-10104 
Source: 0. L. Williamson, A. J. Rydberg,

and G. Dorris of

Federal Electric Corp.

under contract to
Marshall Space Flight Center

(MFS-22 126) 
.
for eight subsystems. If each subsystem has three possible 
design approaches, and if each approach involves a 
choice among ten different detailed designs, the total 
number of possible system configurations will exceed 
600 billion. Obviously, an examination of each design 
is not feasible. 
The proposed solution to system optimization lies 
in dynamic programming which provides several ad-
vantages as discussed below: 
1. It is not necessary to curve fit a relationship among 
the various system level parameters. The elimination 
of this process reduces computational error and 
allows the subsystem parameter data to be used in 
its natural context. 
2. The method not only provides the analyst with the 
optimum set of system level parameters for this 
requirement, but also indicates the subsystem con-
figurations which result in this optimum system. 
3. A large amount of peripheral data is generated in the 
solution of the original problem which, when given 
proper interpretation, can be used in performing 
trade-off studies. 
The report illustrates an example of the dynamic pro-
gramming solution to the system optimization. 
System effectiveness, although closely related to 
system optimization, is an evaluation of a particular 
system design that measures its effectiveness. This
Cate gory
 09, 02, 06 
This document was prepared under the sponsorship of the National	 Government assumes any liability resulting from the use of the 
Aeronautics and Space Administration. Neither the United States 	 information contained in this document, or warrants that such use 
Government nor any person acting on behalf of the United States 	 will be free from privately owned rights.
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A summary report on system effectiveness and optimization study

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