Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design
The complexity of today's highly engineered products is rooted in the interwoven architecture defined by its components and their interactions. Such structures can be viewed as the adjacency matrix of the associated dependency network representing the product architecture. To evaluate a complex...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
ASME International
2018
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116278 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6677-383X |
| _version_ | 1811079538985140224 |
|---|---|
| author | de Weck, Olivier L. Sinha, Kaushik de Weck, Olivier L |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics de Weck, Olivier L. Sinha, Kaushik de Weck, Olivier L |
| author_sort | de Weck, Olivier L. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The complexity of today's highly engineered products is rooted in the interwoven architecture defined by its components and their interactions. Such structures can be viewed as the adjacency matrix of the associated dependency network representing the product architecture. To evaluate a complex system or to compare it to other systems, numerical assessment of its structural complexity is essential. In this paper, we develop a quantitative measure for structural complexity and apply the same to real-world engineered systems like gas turbine engines. It is observed that low topological complexity implies centralized architectures and that higher levels of complexity generally indicate highly distributed architectures. We posit that the development cost varies non-linearly with structural complexity. Empirical evidence of such behavior is presented from the literature and preliminary results from simple experiments involving assembly of simple structures further strengthens our hypothesis. We demonstrate that structural complexity and modularity are not necessarily negatively correlated using a simple example. We further discuss distribution of complexity across the system architecture and its strategic implications for system development efforts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:16:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/116278 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:16:40Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | ASME International |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1162782022-10-01T02:32:18Z Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design de Weck, Olivier L. Sinha, Kaushik de Weck, Olivier L Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society Sinha, Kaushik De Weck, Olivier L The complexity of today's highly engineered products is rooted in the interwoven architecture defined by its components and their interactions. Such structures can be viewed as the adjacency matrix of the associated dependency network representing the product architecture. To evaluate a complex system or to compare it to other systems, numerical assessment of its structural complexity is essential. In this paper, we develop a quantitative measure for structural complexity and apply the same to real-world engineered systems like gas turbine engines. It is observed that low topological complexity implies centralized architectures and that higher levels of complexity generally indicate highly distributed architectures. We posit that the development cost varies non-linearly with structural complexity. Empirical evidence of such behavior is presented from the literature and preliminary results from simple experiments involving assembly of simple structures further strengthens our hypothesis. We demonstrate that structural complexity and modularity are not necessarily negatively correlated using a simple example. We further discuss distribution of complexity across the system architecture and its strategic implications for system development efforts. Adaptive Vehicle Make Program (U. S.) (VU-DSR # 21807-S8) 2018-06-12T18:25:20Z 2018-06-12T18:25:20Z 2013-08 2018-03-20T12:51:45Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 978-0-7918-5588-1 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116278 Sinha, Kaushik, and Olivier L. de Weck. “Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design.” Volume 3A: 39th Design Automation Conference (August 4, 2013). https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6677-383X http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/DETC2013-12013 Volume 3A: 39th Design Automation Conference Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf ASME International ASME |
| spellingShingle | de Weck, Olivier L. Sinha, Kaushik de Weck, Olivier L Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design |
| title | Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design |
| title_full | Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design |
| title_fullStr | Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design |
| title_full_unstemmed | Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design |
| title_short | Structural Complexity Quantification for Engineered Complex Systems and Implications on System Architecture and Design |
| title_sort | structural complexity quantification for engineered complex systems and implications on system architecture and design |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116278 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6677-383X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT deweckolivierl structuralcomplexityquantificationforengineeredcomplexsystemsandimplicationsonsystemarchitectureanddesign AT sinhakaushik structuralcomplexityquantificationforengineeredcomplexsystemsandimplicationsonsystemarchitectureanddesign AT deweckolivierl structuralcomplexityquantificationforengineeredcomplexsystemsandimplicationsonsystemarchitectureanddesign |