Toward a Theory of Systems Engineering

走向系统工程理论

基本信息

批准号：
1923164
负责人：
George Hazelrigg
金额：
$ 44.87万
依托单位：
George Mason University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-08-01 至 2024-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1923164&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Toward Theory Systems Engineering

项目摘要

The research objective of this award is to provide a framework for and begin the derivation of a mathematically rigorous theory of systems engineering. Systems engineering has often been taught and practiced based on a set of heuristics that work sometimes, but not always. The lack of a rigorous theory has contributed to many projects encountering delays, significant cost overruns, and under-performance. It has been estimated that the resulting losses to the Federal government, particularly via military and other major Federal procurements, likely exceed $200 million per day. These losses are accompanied by equivalent losses in the private sector. A theory of systems engineering will serve as a test of the validity of systems engineering practices and posit a theory for sound systems design and decision making, which hold considerable promise of substantially reducing these losses. In addition, a rigorous theory will provide a basis for sound systems engineering education and hold the potential to revolutionize engineering education across the entire engineering curriculum. For example, it will form the basis for teaching engineering design decision making under uncertainty.It is noted that a comprehensive theory of systems engineering can be derived from the simple preference statement, "I want the best system I can get," where the definition of "best" is left entirely to the discretion of the project manager. The insight upon which this effort is based observes that design and systems engineering are decision-making processes, which rely on preferences that enable optimal system decision making rather than physical principals that impose constraints on design decisions. The approach in this project is a significant deviation from previous efforts to the derivation of a theory of design and systems engineering, and its implementation will demand the rigorous application and integration of decision theory, preference theory, probability theory, game theory and mechanism design. The merger of these branches of mathematics with engineering will represent a transformative advance, providing a litmus test for the validity of theories of and approaches to systems engineering. A goal of this work will be the establishment of a set of rules that will define valid methods, procedures and processes for the conduct of engineering design and systems engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项的研究目标是为系统工程的数学严格理论提供一个框架并开始推导。系统工程经常是根据有时但并非总是如此的一系列启发式方法来教授和实践的。缺乏严格的理论导致了许多遇到延误，大量成本超支和绩效不足的项目。据估计，由军事和其他主要联邦采购造成的损失可能超过每天2亿美元。这些损失伴随着私营部门的同等损失。系统工程理论将作为对系统工程实践的有效性的测试，并为声音系统设计和决策做出理论，这有很大的希望大大减少了这些损失。此外，严格的理论将为音响系统工程教育提供基础，并具有彻底改变整个工程课程的工程教育的潜力。例如，这将构成不确定性下教学工程设计决策的基础。据指出，系统工程的全面理论可以从简单的偏好陈述“我想要我能获得的最佳系统”中得出，其中“最佳”的定义完全归功于项目经理的酌处权。这项努力基于的洞察力观察到设计和系统工程是决策过程，这些过程依赖于能够实现最佳系统决策的偏好，而不是对设计决策施加限制的物理主体。该项目中的方法是从以前的努力到设计和系统工程理论的推导，其实施将要求决策理论，偏好理论，概率理论，游戏理论和机制设计的严格应用和集成。这些数学分支与工程学的合并将代表变革性的进步，为系统工程的理论和方法的有效性提供了试金石测试。这项工作的目的是建立一组规则，这些规则将定义有效的方法，程序和流程，以进行工程设计和系统工程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来进行评估。