01215463 :

Aircraft Systems
Systems Engineering Fundamental &
Systems Engineering for Commercial Aircraft

Aerospace Engineering, KU 1
Q: How does development of an aerospace system (e.g.,
aircraft/spacecraft) work?
A: … using the knowledge and know-how
of Systems Engineering
-> The process engineers use to develop complex projects in
the most efficient way
• Minimize unnecessary work & rework
• Catch errors & defects early
• Effectively communicate to
participants & stake holders to achieve
common goals

Aerospace Engineering, KU 2
The Challenge of Architecting and
Engineering Aircraft Systems

A fundamental challenge
of any program is to satisfy
multiple stakeholders
expectations for product
– Performance/quality
– Schedule/availability
– Cost/financial return
with acceptable risk

stakeholders 3
Aerospace Engineering, KU
 idea

Systems Engineering is guiding the development so that the

system can be implemented and meets the needs of the project.
Aerospace Engineering, KU 4
 Project needs

Stakeholders

high-level objectives

Systems Engineering Engineering

specialists
Project Implementable
managements description,
Risk, schedule, flexibility
budget, …

Aerospace Engineering, KU 5
 Is this what
Project
the project
objectives
want?

Validate
Concept Is this what
formulation we meant to
Requirement - build?
architecture
definition Integrate
Decompose
and define Are these right?

Decompose
and define Integrate

Are these right?

Design and build the parts
Aerospace Engineering, KU 6
Development process …..
Not linear progression but iterative

Stakeholders

high-level objectives

Systems Engineering Engineering

specialists
Project
managements
Implementable Often found that
description,
Risk, schedule, flexibility
the needs of the
budget, … groups conflict
among others

Aerospace Engineering, KU 7
Simplified Systems Engineering Process

Verification is ensuring the system meets the requirements.

Validation is ensuring the system meet the needs

Aerospace Engineering, KU 8
Life cycle commitment and incurred costs

Systems engineering versus engineering discipline

influence on design
Aerospace Engineering, KU 9
Some definitions
• A system is an integrated composite of people, products, and
processes that provide a capability to satisfy a stated need or
objective.
• Systems Engineering: an efficient process engineers used to develop
complex systems or projects.
• Systems engineering consists of two significant disciplines: the technical
knowledge domain in which the systems engineer operates, and systems
engineering management.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 10
Systems Engineering Management
• systems engineering
management is accomplished by
integrating three major
activities:
• Development phasing
• Systems engineering process
• Life cycle integration

Aerospace Engineering, KU 11
Development Phasing
Development usually progresses through distinct levels or stages:
• Concept level, which produces a system conceptdescription (usually
described in a concept study)
• System level, which produces a system description in performance
requirement terms
• Subsystem/Component level, which produces first a set of subsystem
and component product performance descriptions, then a set of
corresponding detailed descriptions of the products’ characteristics,
essential for their production

Aerospace Engineering, KU 12
Systems Engineering Process

Aerospace Engineering, KU 13
Systems Engineering and Verification Tests

Aerospace Engineering, KU 14
Remarks
• The system engineering process is the engine that drives the balanced
development of system products and processes applied to each level of
development, one level at a time.
• The process provides an increasing level of descriptive detail of products and
processes with each system engineering process application. The output of
each application is the input to the next process application.
• The Verification activities of the Systems Engineer ing Process are performed
to verify that physical design meets the system requirements.
• US Department of Defense’s test and evaluation (T&E) policy supports the
verification process through a sequence of Developmental, Operational, and
Live-Fire tests, analyses, and assessments. The primary management tools for
planning and implementing the T&E effort are the Test and Evaluation Master
Plan (TEMP) and the integrated planning team.
Aerospace Engineering, KU 15
Development Test vs. Operational Test

Aerospace Engineering, KU 16
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• WBS : a way of organizing system development activities based on
system and product decompositions. The systems engineering
process produces system and product descriptions.
• These system architectures, together with associated services (e.g.,
program management, systems engineering, etc.) are organized and
depicted in a hierarchical tree-like structure.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 17
System Architecture to WBS workflow

Aerospace Engineering, KU 18
WBS Development
• The physical and system architectures are used to prepare the WBS.
• The architectures should be reviewed to ensure that all necessary products and
services are identified, and that the top-down structure provides a continuity of
flow down for all tasks.
• Enough levels must be provided to identify work packages for cost/schedule
control purposes. If too few levels are identified, then management visibility and
integration of work packages may suffer. If too many levels are identified, then
program review and control actions may become excessively time-consuming.
• The WBS is used to group product items for specification development, to
develop Statements of Work (SOW), and to identify specific contract deliverables.
• The first three WBS Levels are organized as:
• Level 1 – Overall System
• Level 2 – Major Element (Segment)
• Level 3 – Subordinate Components (Prime Items)

Aerospace Engineering, KU 19
An example of the top three levels of a complete
WBS tree

Aerospace Engineering, KU 20
Designing and Tracking Work
• A prime use of the WBS is the design and tracking of work.
• The WBS is used to establish what work is necessary, a logical
decomposition down to work packages, and a method for organizing
feedback.
• The WBS element is matrixed against those organizations in the company
responsible for the task. This creates cost accounts and task definition at a
detailed level.
• WBS allows rational organization of integrated teams and other
organizational structures by helping establish what expertise and
functional support is required for a specific WBS element.
• WBS further allows precise tracking of technical and other management.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 21
Example of
WBS Control
Matrix

Aerospace Engineering, KU 22
WBS Dictionary
• As part of the work and cost control use of the WBS, a Work
Breakdown Dictionary is developed.
• For each WBS element a dictionary entry is prepared that describes
the task, what costs (activities) apply, and the references to the
associated Contract Line Item Numbers and SOW paragraph.
• An example of a level 2 WBS element dictionary entry is shown on the
next slide.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 23
An example of
a level 2 WBS
element
dictionary

Aerospace Engineering, KU 24
Systems Engineering of Commercial Aircraft
• Commercial Aircraft: generally, refers to jet-powered aircraft carrying
large numbers of passengers for long distances, the Systems Engineering
(SE) principles outlined here also apply to freight-carrying aircraft and
smaller propeller-driven, or commuter, aircraft as well.
• In addition, these principles also apply to general aviation, that is, small
privately owned aircraft. Also included in commercial aircraft are regional
jet aircraft which usually have fewer than 100 passengers and make trips
internal to a country rather than internationally
• There are many similarities to some classes of military aircraft which have
missions of carrying passengers and cargo over specified distances.
Aerospace Engineering, KU 25
Systems Engineering of Commercial Aircraft
• The main difference between commercial and military is that the
military hierarchy adds specific military categories, such as provisions
to carry weapons. Other requirements unique to military aircraft
include, for example, the need to provide protection from enemy
weapons.
• The main differences between commercial and military aircraft,
however, lie in the types of requirements and the types of customers
which generate the requirements.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 26
The Needs: Payload, Range, Speed, …
• Fleet mix and growth assessment

Aerospace Engineering, KU 27
Airline Cost, Revenue, and Profit Scenarios

Aerospace Engineering, KU 28
Airline Cost, Revenue, and Profit Scenarios

Aerospace Engineering, KU 29
Airline Cost, Revenue, and Profit Scenarios

• ASM: Available Seat-Mile

Aerospace Engineering, KU 30
Airline Cost, Revenue, and Profit Scenarios

Aerospace Engineering, KU 31
Optimizing the interior design?

Aerospace Engineering, KU 32
Key criteria for a successful interior ?
• Must be “product differentiator” for the airline.
• Must encourage “re-booking potential” with passengers.
• Must produce maximum revenue from available cabin volume.
• Must be maintenance friendly, with common components.
•…

Aerospace Engineering, KU 33
Unit Seat Volume

Aerospace Engineering, KU 34
Shape of the Past vs Shape of the Future ?

Aerospace Engineering, KU 35
The Standard Airplane
Two Basic objectives
• Reduce airplane acquisition,
operational and maintenance
costs.
• Preserve product differentiation
for each airline.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 36
Standardization results in saving by the
manufacturer that can be passed to the airline
• “ One build fits all”
• No unique engineering required
• No out-of-position installations
• No special checkout or test procesures
• Support system costs can be minimized
• Consistent products developed as baseline for all airplanes
• “One pass” revision scenario for all services
• Standardization will facilitate common industry problem solving

Aerospace Engineering, KU 37
Commercial Aircraft Industry
• The commercial aircraft industry throughout the world is evolving to a
small group of large companies.
• Some of the risks in this sector include the financial cost of new
product development, and the financial health of airlines and other
customers.
• Large established firms have been led to merge to accept the high
costs and risks of doing business.
• The environment and the complex nature of aircraft development
make commercial aircraft a prime subject for the application of SE

Aerospace Engineering, KU 38
Steps in the Systems Engineering Process
• SE has become the industry standard. Although treatises have been
written breaking down SE into many steps, let’s just consider five, for
simplicity, as shown

• Another graphic often used in the description of SE is the famous Vee

model.
Aerospace Engineering, KU 39
Systems Engineering Process

Aerospace Engineering, KU 40
Systems Engineering and Verification Tests

Aerospace Engineering, KU 41
Level of SE Application in Commercial Aircraft
• Aircraft development is conducted at three broad levels. Each level
demands different aspects of SE. The levels are as follows:
• Level 1—New aircraft
• Level 2—Derivative aircraft
• Level 3—Change-based aircraft

Aerospace Engineering, KU 42
Level of SE Application in Commercial Aircraft
• Level 1—New aircraft
• The development of new aircraft allows SE to be applied in a blank
slate fashion:
• Start from the inception of the requirements for an aircraft and the
development of initial concepts. Discussions with launch customers
are held, and analyses of range, number of passengers, noise,
emissions, and other top-level requirements are developed.
• Economic, technical, and regulatory criteria are analyzed against all
potential concepts. Requirements are allocated to the aircraft
subsystems. Major components will remain the same for all
customers except for those changed.
Aerospace Engineering, KU 43
Level of SE Application in Commercial Aircraft
• Level 2—Derivative aircraft
• A derivative aircraft utilizes major components of existing aircraft as the basis for
the development of an aircraft which meets some new requirements.
• The derivative aircraft may have increased performance or carry more or fewer
passengers than the baseline aircraft.
• The challenge of SE is to develop requirements and to synthesize and verify
solutions to those requirements within the specified constraints of the baseline
aircraft. These are aircraft for which major components, primarily airframe, are
used from previous models. These components will remain the same for all
customers.
• The development of a derivative aircraft, as opposed to a new aircraft, can result
in considerable savings in development and tooling costs, and lower prices for the
customer.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 44
Level of SE Application in Commercial Aircraft
• Level 3—Change-based aircraft
• A change-based aircraft is an aircraft for a specific customer which
may have many requested changes.
• Although each change may be small, the SE methodology should be
applied to each change to assure that the performance requirements
of the affected subsystems are met and that the accumulated
changes for the whole aircraft allow the aircraft to meet its own
performance requirements.
• Individual customers provide requirements for specific changes, or
the aircraft manufacturer initiates internally generated requirements
for design improvements for economic or other reasons.
Aerospace Engineering, KU 45
Remarks
• Another idea frequently encountered in the industry is that derivative
and change-based designs must meet less rigorous requirements than
new aircraft.
• On the contrary, all aircraft are subject to the top-level requirements.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 46
Aircraft Architecture
• A key SE principle is that commercial aircraft should be considered as
a whole and not as a collection of parts which can be independently
developed and integrated.
• Requirements flow-down is dependent on viewing the aircraft
architecture as a hierarchy in which lower-level elements, such as the
subsystems, are subordinate to the aircraft.
• The aircraft itself is subordinate to a higher-level system called the
aircraft system, which includes the aircraft and all its supporting
systems.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 47
The Aircraft Hierarchy and the Air Transport
Association (ATA) index
• The ATA has adopted this hierarchical view of the aircraft shows that
the SE concept of an abstract hierarchy is already an accepted
concept in the aircraft industry.
• Figure on the next slide shows a typical hierarchy of the aircraft
system and its subordinate elements. This type of hierarchy is called a
specification tree (or spec tree for short)
• The hierarchical breakdown of the aircraft system and the aircraft
allows the flow-down of requirements to all subsystems and
components in the classical SE manner.

Aerospace Engineering, KU 48
Generic aircraft
system architecture
and ATA chapter
correlation

Aerospace Engineering, KU 49