Evaluating modularity and complexity of alternate product architectures

Abstract

Choosing the right design alternative requires consideration of various attributes, such as functionality, cost, ease of manufacture, etc. In the early stages of design there usually isn’t enough information to make assessments of all these attributes. Often times, designers base these early decisions on qualitative assessments of indicators such as complexity, flexibility, or modularity, in place of the attributes of interest. Various methods have been proposed in literature to quantitatively calculate such indicators. However, the methods need design information to be provided in non-standard formats leading to errors, inconsistencies, and subjectivity in evaluation. This paper argues the benefits of using a standard modeling language such as SysML to capture design information and extract consistent information for calculating these indicators. Using alternate hybrid vehicle architectures as an example, the paper presents a framework to calculate two such indicators, viz. modularity and complexity.