Investigation of Model-Based Systems Engineering Integration Challenges and Improvements

Company X produces some of the world’s most sophisticated engineered products. Increased technological complexity has made design, testing, and implementation more difficult. Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) promises to help by improving system understanding across stakeholders, managing traceability, complexity, and capacity for design reuse, as well as reducing risk through earlier system validation and verification. Despite those purported benefits, deployment of, and integrated use of MBSE has proven challenging, so its full benefits are not being realized in terms of quality, cost, and speed. The integration challenges associated with implementing MBSE within Design Center Y were studied with the goal of recommending project and organizational strategies to improve system model integration while progressing adoption throughout a heterogeneous organization. Ethnographic methods were used to create case studies about local MBSE deployment. A survey was run to understand how descriptive and analytical modeling methods have been deployed to better understand associated challenges locally and at scale. These data revealed five coupled views that describe challenges of MBSE deployment within Design Center Y, as reflected in needs such as model reuse, data authority, schedule considerations, skills development and both internal and external collaboration. These views are captured as data, model, project, supplier, and engineering management lenses. A comparison between Design Center Y’s experience and across NASA programs was done. This comparison supported the validity of the five lenses framework’s explanatory power and suggested strategies for achieving success. These include modeling champions, model management and development planning, establishing specific project readiness criteria, integrated vision/strategy setting, and influencing relevant stakeholders related to process/methods, tools, and skills to enable scaled deployment.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Pandolf, Jennifer

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Crawley, Edward
• Spear, Steven

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151376

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/151376