A framework for decision support in systems architecting
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2008.
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2008
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42912 |
| _version_ | 1826217069433061376 |
|---|---|
| author | Simmons, Willard Lennox |
| author2 | Edward F. Crawley. |
| author_facet | Edward F. Crawley. Simmons, Willard Lennox |
| author_sort | Simmons, Willard Lennox |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2008. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:57:25Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/42912 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:57:25Z |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/429122019-04-12T22:06:31Z A framework for decision support in systems architecting Simmons, Willard Lennox Edward F. Crawley. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Aeronautics and Astronautics. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2008. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-198). The objective of this thesis is to provide a method and tool to leverage computational resources to empower a systems architect to reason about architectural decisions more comprehensively and effectively compared to traditional approaches. This thesis provides a computational framework for decision support called the Architecture Decision Graph framework. It supports human decision-making by providing a methodology for generating and analyzing architectures as the result of a set of interrelated decisions. ADG's explicit representation of an interconnected decision problem is a bipartite graph of decision variables, property variables, logical constraints, and property functions. The Architecture Decision Graph's framework provide tools for reasoning about the structure of a decision problem, generating the set of feasible combinations of decisions, and simulating their outcome. The underlying computational engine used by ADG is the Object-Process Network (OPN) kernel. The contribution of this thesis to the field of systems architecting falls into three areas: First, the thesis contributes the ADG representation of an architectural candidate space as a set of interrelated decision variables. Second, the thesis contributes the ADG framework, which leverages the ADG representation of architecture to transform an architecting problem into a computational problem. Third, this thesis contributes decision space viewing tools, which present the potential impact of changes in the assignments of the decision variables to an architect. The ADG representation, analysis methodology, and tools are demonstrated with two applications. The first application is a retrospective study of the architectural decisions related to the development of the Apollo moon project of the 1960's. The second application is a study of decisions in support of NASA's lunar outpost architecting effort. (cont) The applications include discussions of the practical considerations related to the use of ADG as a decision representation method, the efficiency of the simulation algorithm, and a discussion of the architecting insights that can be drawn from the results. by Willard Lennox Simmons. Ph.D. 2008-11-07T14:09:38Z 2008-11-07T14:09:38Z 2008 2008 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42912 244300983 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 198 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Aeronautics and Astronautics. Simmons, Willard Lennox A framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| title | A framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| title_full | A framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| title_fullStr | A framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| title_full_unstemmed | A framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| title_short | A framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| title_sort | framework for decision support in systems architecting |
| topic | Aeronautics and Astronautics. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42912 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT simmonswillardlennox aframeworkfordecisionsupportinsystemsarchitecting AT simmonswillardlennox frameworkfordecisionsupportinsystemsarchitecting |