Model-Based Systems Engineering

Abstract

23.1 Introduction The languages we speak shape our perspectives of the world in which we live. Through language, we are able to communicate our thoughts to each other across both time and distance. Early in history, this communication was oral. Storytell-ing was the standard and references to cultural images such as stars, mountains, and wolves provided known and presumably persistent consistency of meaning. A few storytellers were able to keep the shared cultural knowledge consistent and accurate. As cultures grew, the need to communicate more complex ideas arose. Language became more sophisticated. Storytelling gave way to writing. Writing enabled one person to more accurately communicate beyond those directly in ear-shot to others separated in both time and space. As different cultures developed their languages shaped by their shared experiences, cultural perspectives emerged. When different cultures encountered each other, either by happenstance or by intention to achieve a common goal, the differing perspectives couched in their different lan-guages often posed challenges to effective cooperation. Those who could interpret from one perspective to another became invaluable to achieving effective collabora-tion. Standard semantics and syntax were established and in time, various cultures developed sophisticated languages to communicate, record, and organize ideas into unambiguous descriptions and plans. Advances such as the printing press enabled the distribution of ideas on a scale previously unimaginable. Fueled by richer languages, mankind's imagination and needs have grown in both sophistication and complexity, leading to the exponentially growing technical capability that characterizes our modern era. Our expectations of systems today, whether they be social or technical, are so far beyond the expectations of those in the past that it is likely that previous generations would consider today's commonplace 299 © Springer-Verlag London 2015 M. L. Loper (ed.), Modeling and Simulation in the Systems Engineering Life Cycle, Simulation Foundations, Methods and Applications, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4471-5634-5_23 300 O. T. Holland capabilities as nothing short of magic. Just imagine trying to explain the nature and function of the Internet to an inhabitant of the nineteenth century! Today, we expect our systems to be highly sophisticated, intelligent, intuitive, robust, adaptive, and reliable. As technology, especially computational technology, has increased, so has our ability to imagine and develop even more capable and complex systems. This has progressed to the point where today it is rare for an indi-vidual to understand all aspects of a system. In fact, it is typical that modern systems are the product of an army of highly trained specialists, each with expertise in tradi-tionally diverse domains. In a modern system, the requirements developer, the me-chanical engineer, the programmer, the cost analyst, the manager, and many others must work together to make a system a reality. However, just like the languages of history were shaped by their unique cultures, the natural languages of these varied domains paint different pictures of the system depending on the domain perspec-tive. Just like when different social cultures encountered each other and tried to work together, miscommunications, inefficiencies, and even conflict often resulted, today, the different technical expressions inherent in the various expertise domains can limit our ability to make our ideas a reality. Modern systems engineering rec-ognizes the necessity of these varied perspectives yet must still achieve efficient and effective systems concepts, designs, implementations, and management. How multiple domains can be organized, managed, and sustained to achieve the develop-ment of a useful system is at the heart of systems engineering.