Requirement management for complex systems, a critical element of the integration process

Abstract

The Laser MégaJoule (LMJ) is a laser beam facility dedicated to the inertial confinement fusion program. Its construction started in 2003 at the French Atomic Energy Commission CESTA centre located near Bordeaux. This facility is an extremely complex system, designed using a concurrent engineering process, with state of the art performances. Requirement management is an essential part of the project management of such a complex system, characterized by the integration of multiple heteroclite subsystems and products. This activity ensures the mapping between the system requirements of the project's end user and the lowerlevel specifications for subsystems and product suppliers. Using adequate methodology and tools, requirement management acts as a guide throughout the whole integration process, from the first steps of the definition phase to the last part of the project qualification and delivery. As an illustration, this paper presents how the project team (CEA/DAM as the prime contractor and Areva TA as its support) handles alignment performance engineering for the LMJ project using a specific tool based on software package DOORS made by the Telelogic company.