SYSTEMS ENGINEERING RESOURCES

Abstract: The newly established Institute of Systems Engineering for Future Mobility within the German Aerospace Center opened its doors at the beginning of 2022. Emerging from the former OFFIS Division Transportation after a two-year transition phase, the new institute can draw on more than thirty years of experience in the research field of safety-critical systems. With the transition to the DLR, the institute’s new research roadmap focuses on technical trustworthiness for highly automated and autonomous systems. Within this field, the institute will develop new concepts, methods, and tools to support the integration and assurance of technical trustworthiness for automated and autonomous systems during their whole lifecycle – from the early development through verification, validation, and operation to updates of the systems in the field.

TNO-ESI – Systems Engineering Methodologies for Managing Complexity in the High-Tech Equipment Industry: Our Roadmap

by Wouter Leibbrandt, Jacco Wesselius, and Frans Beenker

Abstract: The high-tech equipment industry brings complex industrial products to the market with high speed, enhanced functionality, a better cost-performance ratio, and greater integration into customer workflows. Driven by digitalization, the complexity of these systems continues to grow steeply. To manage this complexity, continuous innovation in systems engineering methodologies is needed. TNO-ESI targets to 1) create impactful and industrially applicable systems engineering methodologies and 2) provide innovation support to the industry to get these applied in an industrial context. The ESI research program is defined through a roadmapping process that follows two tracks: a roadmap that maps industry needs and related research and development requirements and a roadmap that describes the developments in the expertise areas necessary for addressing these industry needs. In this paper, we describe the ESI mission, our way of working and activities, and explain the roadmapping process and the roadmaps.

Guiding Systems Engineering Research for Enhanced Impact in the Development of Increasingly Complex Cyber-Physical Systems

by Tom McDermott and Dinesh Verma

Abstract: In 2019, the research council of the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), a US Defense Department sponsored university affiliated research center (UARC), developed a set of roadmaps (SERC 2019) structuring and guiding four areas of systems engineering research: digital engineering, velocity, security, and artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy. This paper presents the development of these roadmaps and the key underlying transformation aspects.

TECoSA – Trends, Drivers, and Strategic Directions for Trustworthy Edge Computing in Industrial Applications

by James Gross, Martin Törngren, György Dán,

David Broman, Erik Herzog, Iolanda Leite, Raksha Ramakrishna, Rebecca Stower, and Haydn Thompson

Abstract: TECoSA – a university-based research center in collaboration with industry – was established early in 2020, focusing on Trustworthy Edge Computing Systems and Applications. This article summarizes and assesses the current trends and drivers regarding edge computing. In our analysis, edge computing provided by mobile network operators will be the initial dominating form of this new computing paradigm for the coming decade. These insights form the basis for the research agenda of the TECoSA center, highlighting more advanced use cases, including AR/VR/Cognitive Assistance, cyber-physical systems, and distributed machine learning. The article further elaborates on the identified strategic directions given these trends, emphasizing testbeds and collaborative multidisciplinary research.

Five papers then address the related topic of Digital Engineering and Model-Based Systems Engineering.