Identifying Interfaces in Engineering Systems

The behavior of engineering systems arises as a direct result of interactions and interfaces between components. Whereas many of these intercomponent dependencies are easily identifiable, many others are obscure, often occurring as a result of technical interactions between remote entities. The identification and management of system interactions forms a major part of the systems engineering practices for system architecture, but methodologies for effective identification and management of interactions arising as a result of technical interfaces are still problematic. A methodology is developed for aircraft systems that identifies analysis dependent system linkages. The result is the capability to assess the effect of analysis fidelity on system design. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]