Lecture 3 – Product Life Cycle and the

Systems Engineering Process

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 Overview

• Department of Defense (DOD) Project Life Cycle

Definitions
– Technology Readiness Levels
• NASA Project Phase Definitions
• System Engineering Concerns during different
phases of the life cycle
– Case study – re-establishing systems engineering in the
shuttle program following Columbia
• The Systems Engineering Process – SIMILAR

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 Department of Defense (DOD) Example –
Communications Satellite Life Cycle

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www.stsc.hill.af.mil/resources/tech_docs/gsam3/chap5.pdf
 Stages of Life Cycle
• Development – Design Engineering and Prototyping,
Initial Manufacture
• Verification – Determining if design meets requirements
• Production – repeated unit manufacture
• Deployment – placing the product in its operational
environment and initial operational testing
• Training – teaching people how to operate and maintain
the system
• Operations – using the product
• Support – dealing with failures, users desires for
improvements, parts obsolescence, finding new suppliers
and qualifying replacement parts and materials
• Disposal – dealing with values of components at the end
of a project

Phases can overlap – Development, Verification and Production can overlap.

Training, Operations and Support usually overlap
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 Concerns during different phases of
the life cycle – development,
verification and production
• Development – technical challenges, design engineering,
technology readiness, budget, schedule, political support
• Verification – test requirements, ability to re-create combined
environments, test facilities and procedures, availability of
hardware, dispositioning test discrepancies, cost and schedule
• Production – manufacturing jigs and tooling to hold articles as
they are manufactured, ability to produce parts, ability to
precisely align and assemble parts, quality assurance and
inspection of parts versus drawings, suppliers availability,
economies of scale, cost and schedule
Assembly jig X-38
Saab JAS-39 Assembly
Grippen Jig

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 Concerns during different phases of the life
cycle – deployment, training, operations
• Deployment – delivery mechanisms, initial training and support, initial
testing in the operational environment, late development stage bugs,
initial operational problems, mishap investigation, cost and schedule
• Training – system detail necessary to generate training materials and
simulators/mockups, availability of training for instructors, availability
of hardware and software to support training, cost and schedule
• Operations – Proper operational procedures, engineering support to
generate operational procedures, software, tools, procedures and
tools to deal with malfunctions, dealing with anomalies, cost and
schedule

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Full motion simulator Nuclear Power Plant Control Room
 Concerns during different phases of the life
cycle – support and disposal

• Support –dealing with failures, incorporating

users desires for improvements, parts
obsolescence, finding new suppliers and
qualifying replacement parts and materials
• Disposal – dealing with all of the values and
issues associated with the end of life of a
program
– Historical value
– Monetary value– scrap or salvage
– Security Classification/Protection of other
privileged information (copyright, medical,
export control, industrial secrets)
– Re-use by other programs
– Environmental remediation
– International agreements B-52 Boneyard at Davis-
– Documentation of results/information for Monathan AFB
future programs Photo from wikipedia
– Closing out contracts 7
 Automobile Parts Recycling and
Environmental Remediation - Toyota

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 Stages of Life Cycle Versus Normal
Engineering Education

Development Subjects normally

covered in
Verification engineering education

Production

Deployment
Subjects not normally
Training covered in
engineering
Operations education

Support

Disposal
Fads in the industry such as “design for operability”, design for maintainability” and
“design for production” which occur every few years just reflect the fact that we 9
are only teaching about part of the life cycle
 Research Engineering Versus Engineering
Designers
• In his 2002 book “The Secret of Apollo, Systems Management in
American and European Space Programs”, Stephen Johnson points
out
“Engineers can be divided into two types: researchers and
designers.
Engineering researchers are similar to scientists, except that their
quest involves technological novelty instead of “natural” novelty.
They work in academia, government and industrial laboratories
and have norms involving the publication of papers, the
development of new technologies and processes and the
diffusion of knowledge.
By contrast, engineering designers spend most of their time
designing, building and testing artifacts. Depending upon the
product, the success criteria involve cost, reliability and
performance. Design engineers have little time for publication
and claim expertise through product success”
• This dichotomy explains why engineering education traditionally
focuses on a relatively small part of the product life cycle
Typically university professors are research engineers versus
engineering designers and do not often deal with the other parts of
the life cycle

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 Because engineering educators tend to
be interested in innovation

• Our education tends to be focused on items that are on

the cutting edge of technology
• When doing real projects, it is vitally important to make
sure that the technologies selected for a project are
appropriate
• Choosing technologies that are not mature enough for a
project can cause disaster
• Rating technology readiness on a scale can help you
evaluate and select appropriate technologies
• NASA and DOD have Technology Readiness Levels
(TRL’s) that are good example of how to do this that can
be tuned/adapted for a specific industry

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 Technology Readiness Level
9. Actual system 'flight proven' through successful
mission operations
8. Actual system completed and 'flight qualified'
through test and demonstration (ground or space)
7. System prototype demonstration in a space
environment
6. System/subsystem model or prototype
demonstration in a relevant environment (ground
or space)
5. Component and/or breadboard validation in
relevant environment
4. Component and/or breadboard validation in
laboratory environment
3. Analytical and experimental critical function
and/or characteristic proof of concept
2. Technology concept and/or application
formulated
1. Basic principles observed and reported
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NASA Technology Readiness Levels
 DOD Technology Readiness Levels
Technology Readiness Level Description

1. Basic principles observed and Lowest level of technology readiness. Scientific research begins to be translated into applied research and
reported development. Example might include paper studies of a technology's basic properties.

2. Technology concept and/or Invention begins. Once basic principles are observed, practical applications can be invented. The
application formulated application is speculative and there is no proof or detailed analysis to support the assumption. Examples are
still limited to paper studies.

3. Analytical and experimental critical Active research and development is initiated. This includes analytical studies and laboratory studies to
function and/or characteristic proof of physically validate analytical predictions of separate elements of the technology. Examples include
concept components that are not yet integrated or representative.

4. Component and/or breadboard Basic technological components are integrated to establish that the pieces will work together. This is
validation in laboratory environment relatively "low fidelity" compared to the eventual system. Examples include integration of 'ad hoc' hardware
in a laboratory.
5. Component and/or breadboard Fidelity of breadboard technology increases significantly. The basic technological components are
validation in relevant environment integrated with reasonably realistic supporting elements so that the technology can be tested in a simulated
environment. Examples include 'high fidelity' laboratory integration of components.

6. System/subsystem model or Representative model or prototype system, which is well beyond the breadboard tested for TRL 5, is tested
prototype demonstration in a relevant in a relevant environment. Represents a major step up in a technology's demonstrated readiness. Examples
environment include testing a prototype in a high fidelity laboratory environment or in simulated operational environment.

7. System prototype demonstration in Prototype near or at planned operational system. Represents a major step up from TRL 6, requiring the
an operational environment demonstration of an actual system prototype in an operational environment, such as in an aircraft, vehicle or
space. Examples include testing the prototype in a test bed aircraft.

8. Actual system completed and 'flight Technology has been proven to work in its final form and under expected conditions. In almost all cases, this
qualified' through test and TRL represents the end of true system development. Examples include developmental test and evaluation
demonstration of the system in its intended weapon system to determine if it meets design specifications.

9. Actual system 'flight proven' through Actual application of the technology in its final form and under mission conditions, such as those
successful mission operations encountered in operational test and evaluation. In almost all cases, this is the end of the last "bug fixing"
aspects of true system development. Examples include using the system under operational mission
conditions. 13
Technology Readiness Levels in the Department of Defense (DOD)
(Source: DOD (2006), Defense Acquisition Guidebook)
 What happens when a key technology to make
a project work is not mature enough ?

• Implications
• Cost increase
• schedule delay
• potential cancellation
• Operational failure
• What do you do if you have a technology that isn’t mature
enough?
• Describe it as a program technical risk
• Often do a technology development program to develop
that technology before fully commit to a program
• Example – shuttle main engine development was started in
advance of shuttle program because reusable engine
development was considered high risk
• NASA program life cycle definition includes phases for high
risk technology development reflecting NASA’s R&D nature
• This is called technical risk reduction
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 Examples :
• Identify the TRLs of the following propulsion technologies
– Aluminum powder based solid rockets – 9 – used routinely in shuttle
– Liquid oxygen/hydrogen liquid rockets – 9 – used routinely in shuttle
– Ion engines - 8 in small scale - tested on satellites on Deep Space One
and Dawn mission
– Scramjet – 7 - Tested Inflight – X-43 Hyer-X
– Nuclear rocket engines – 4-5 - tested on the ground – NERVA
– Laser engines – 4 – tested on the ground
– Antimatter engines – 3-4 – basic principles understood
– Antigravity – 0 – no idea on how to make that work yet

Deep Space
One Ion HyperX
Thruster

NERVA test 15
Conceptual AntiMatter Engine Spacecraft
 NASA Life Cycle Phases

•This definition reflects NASA’s orientation towards R&D projects

with greater emphasis on early design and project formulation and
proposal
•Many NASA projects never make it past pre-phase A or phase A
•Many projects have extended phase A while building support
for funding the entire project and reducing risk in key
technologies
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•Note that this definition does not normally have overlapping phases
Comparison From INCOSE Sys
Engineering Handbook

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Relationship To Integration Activities

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 Systems Engineering Concerns during
different phases of the life cycle
• Development –
– have we forgotten to build anything ?
– Will it all work together ?
– Are the interfaces correct, documented and is everyone working to
the same interfaces ?
– What is our prediction of integrated performance ? What are our
assumptions ? Are they still valid ?
– Are we keeping within our assigned technical budgets (weight,
power, etc…)
• Verification –
– have we forgotten to test anything ? Have we tested all
requirements ?
– Does it all work together ?
– Are we meeting interface agreements ?
– If we can’t test in the combined environment (thermal, aeroloads,
inertial loads, shock and vibration) can we test separately and
combine analytically ?
• Production
– Do the production builds reflect the design ? – are we building
what we designed and tested ?
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 Systems Engineering Concerns during different phases of the life
cycle
• Deployment
– How do we get thru unique stages (such as launch)
– Determining readiness for first deployment
– Initial testing in operational environment (flight test)
– Dealing with first time anomalies
• Training
– What types of training devices are needed ?
– How do we keep the people building training devices in sync with
the people doing the design
• Simulators and other training devices take time to develop but
they are needed just as development is over or perhaps
before
• Operations
– Do we understand the effect of changes or anomalies in one part
of the system on the other parts of the system
• Support
– Do we have the necessary facilities to replicate anomalies,
analyze data and generate changes/fixes ?
– Have we though thru all of the implications of fixes ?
• Disposal
– Have we though thru all of the pieces and their constraints on
disposal 20
Systems Engineering Process – Runs in
parallel with each phase of the program
life cycle

•State the Problem

•Investigate Alternatives From:INCOSE –
•Model the System International
Committee on
•Integrate Systems
•Launch the system Engineering
•Assess Performance
•Re-evaluate 21
 SIMILAR process
• A revision of the SIMILAR process is done in each phase of
the life cycle
– Slightly different problem statements
– The system launch may just be to the next phase rather
than actual deployment
– Fidelity of modeling improves with each phase
– Modeling is the only way to understand the implications
of the selected solutions in advance of final deployment
• Modeling may be the only way to generate the
combined environment of actual operations
– It may not be possible to replicate the combined
effect of dynamic pressure, internal pressure,
thermal, vibration, static pressure, shock and
electromagnetic loads in a single ground test
– May have to do separate tests and combine the
results

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Any questions ?

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