Broadening the Design Space in
Aerospace
Anna-Maria R. McGowan, Ph.D.
Aeronautics Research Directorate
NASA Langley Research Center
August 5, 2014
AIAA Complex Aerospace Systems Exchange (CASE) 2014
San Diego, CA
UAS Issues/Concerns
• Certification of UAS Aircraft & Operation for Safety
 Historically, aircraft certification has focused on protecting the people on board, and thus you
protect the people on the ground.
 With unmanned aircraft, protecting people and property on the ground becomes paramount.
• Use of “Sense & Avoid” in place of “See & Avoid.”
 Aviation regulations are built around a pilot-on-board, and a pair of eyes on every aircraft.
 Principal metric used is “visibility”; but we need a new language for unmanned systems.
• Privacy Concerns
• Lost-Link Communications and Protocols
• Technical/Performance
 What is the impact of a UAS ingested by a jet engine?
 What are the operating limitations for UAS operating in icing conditions or extreme weather
variations?
 How do we keep command and control links secure in light of technological advances?
 How do we stay in front of challenges as they arise?
Vincent Schultz, Deputy PM at NASA Langley, UAS in the NAS, Vince.P.Schultz@NASA.gov
Design in Engineering
System Design
and
Interdependences
5
Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Design in Engineering
To Design A System In Engineering
Is To Explore And Exploit
Interdependences While Enabling
The Desired Outcome
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Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Design in Engineering
To Design A System In Engineering Is To
Explore And Exploit Interdependences While
Enabling The Desired Outcome
Propulsion
Aerodynamic
…
…
Structures
7
Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Design in Engineering
To Design A System In Engineering Is To
Explore And Exploit Interdependences While
Enabling The Desired Outcome
Propulsion
Aerodynamic
…
…
Structures
8
Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Design in Engineering
To Design A System In Engineering Is To
Explore And Exploit Interdependences While
Enabling The Desired Outcome
Sense &
Avoid
Environment
Propulsion
Aerodynamic
…
…
Unmanned
General
Public Use
Structures
Cyber Security
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Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Changing System Design Space Considerations
• Common Assumptions for Today’s Systems:
 Centralized, Expert Operator/Controller
 System Use Contained to Small Scenarios
 System Use has Minimal Collateral Impact
• Considerations for Systems of Tomorrow:
 Decentralized, More Networked System
 System use is remotely operated
 Non-Experts blending with Machines to Make Decisions for
Operation
 System Use is Widely Distributed
 System Use may strongly depend on many non-technical issues
(fear, ignorance, privacy, economics, etc.)
 System Use has Significant Collateral Impact (etc.)
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Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
System
Context
Strategic
Context
The Enterprise
Systems
Engineering
Profiler
Stakeholder
Context
Implementation
Context
Profiling Complex Systems
Renee Stevens
The MITRE Corporation
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Design in Engineering
To Design A System In Engineering Is To
Explore And Exploit Interdependences While
Enabling The Desired Outcome
# of
People
Sense & Avoid
# of
Locations
Environment
Propulsion
Aerodynamic
How
…
…
Internal
Org
Processes
…
Unmanned
General Public
Use
Structures
Cyber Security
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Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Competing Values Framework
Clan
Collaborate
Create
Adhocracy
Control Compete
Hierarchy
Market
Robert Quinn, requinn@umich.edu
Larger, Dispersed Teams Today
Teams of hundreds ..more
typically thousands
Teams are dispersed: Across
buildings, states, countries
Bridging:
- Culture,
- Language,
- Organizational
processes
- Engineering
methods and
assumptions
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Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
Broadening the Design Space
• Designing Engineering Components
 Including Interdependencies between Engineering
Components
 Including Interdependencies between Engineering and
Non-Engineering Aspects of System Use
• Designing Non-Engineering Components such as:
 Organizations and Teams
 Processes
 Incentive Systems
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Anna-Maria.R.McGowan@NASA.gov
“Textbook”
AIAA CASE 2013 Discussions:
The System = Hardware and
Software
The System = Hardware + Software + the
Environment in Which the System is Developed
It’s all about the engineering
requirements
It’s also about the people, contracts, procedures,
stakeholders, municipalities, etc., involved
Frozen requirements – up front
Insufficient information upfront to provide detailed or
frozen requirements
Decompose, develop, test, then reintegrate = Reductionist
Interface boundaries are ambiguous and inconsistent;
Interdependencies are profuse
System is deterministic
System is nondeterministic
Avoid Surprise
Expect Surprise
Test and simulate until you know
everything
Get Realistic
Entire team is co-located for the
duration of the development
Entire team is distributed and often too large to be colocated
“Use System as Directed”
“Exploit System As Necessary”
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