Systems Engineering - University of the West of England - Bristol

From booking page - http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=206 - open to non-members.

INCOSE UK Booking System
Bristol Local Group
Event Date: 25/01/2012
Event Time: 18:30 for 19:00 to 21:00
Event Title: Understanding the Enterprise - how architectural principles help
Event Details A lot of effort has been put into developing ways and means of describing the architecture of systems, systems of systems, and enterprises, each of which has come from a different context, usually with a subtly different approach. This event will provide an overview of some of the more common approaches, and seek to understand the extent to which the various methods are interchangeable and interdependent as you move up and down from subsystems to enterprises and back again.

INCOSE UK Bristol Event 28th September

An interesting event takes place on 28th September at University of the West of England. The title is 'The Rise and Fall of the Systems Engineering Lifecycle'. The event is organised by INCOSE - International Council on Systems Engineering.

Booking is online at - http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=198

Details of the event are :-

"The Bristol Local Group Presents
'The Rise and Fall of the Systems Engineering Lifecycle'
Kicking off the new Bristol Local Group season, this event will examine how the nature of systems engineering changes across development lifecycles, how organisational roles and responsibilities adapt to suit, and what happens when there are mismatches between them. This interactive workshop will include an examination of the following questions:

•What tends to get missed in commonly used lifecycles?
•Where is the Systems Engineering focus and how does it shift?
•What information flows and networking between stakeholders and organisations is necessary and how is this encouraged?

Date: 28th September – 6.30pm for 7pm till 9pm
Location: Room 1N05, University of the West of England (UWE), Frenchay Campus, Bristol

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME."

Also an INCOSE conference takes place at Warwick in November, details are available at - http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/ASEC2011/General_Information.aspx?CatID=Events

"Annual Systems Engineering Conference (ASEC) 2011
9th-10th November 2011
Scarman Training and Conference Centre, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Doing Systems Engineering well'
The UK's premier Systems Engineering event will address key contemporary themes for a wide audience, and provide an excellent forum for networking, sharing experience and advancing the discipline."

Systems Engineering Event, Bristol July 13th

This is an interesting and useful event in Bristol on Wednesday -

"INCOSE UK

The Bristol Local Group Presents
The Final Step - Getting Systems Into Service

Why does the final part of getting a system into service often follow a more protracted path than expected?

This event will look at this important part of the lifecycle from both a systems and a project management perspective to examine some of the pitfalls and issues that can occur, and some of the approaches that are used to mitigate against them. This interactive workshop based event will examine the following questions:

How should systems be engineered to achieve a controlled entry into Service?
How are systems engineered for entry into Service?
What needs to be done to bridge the gap?
Date: Wednesday 13th July – 6.30pm for 7pm till 9pm

Location: Room 1N05, University of the West of England (UWE), Frenchay Campus, Bristol

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME.

This event is free, and refreshments will be provided, however to ensure appropriate catering arrangements can be made please register online at: .
http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=165."

The value of an EngD in Systems – what an EngD did for me

This is a useful event for anyone interested in EngDs or in engineering R and D in general. The event is organised by University of Bristol, involving INCOSE Bristol Group also.

This is the description by INCOSE Bristol group of the event :-

"Want to know more about the Engineering Doctorate in Systems? In a spirit of inclusivity, this INCOSE BLG event forms part of the University of Bristol's Second Annual Research Conference for Engineering Doctorate in Systems, and will include refreshments on arrival, a poster session by 50 Research Engineers, talks from two Research Engineers who have recently completed their EngD courses, and a Q&A session with the Systems Centre staff.

Delegates wishing to attend the main University of Bristol event can find more information here: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/eng-systems-centre/events/2011/conference-engd.html. The University of Bristol has kindly reserved 20 places for delegates who usually attend INCOSE BLG meetings, but these are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration for the main event needs to be done directly with the University of Bristol, not INCOSE UK. "
Date: Tuesday 24th May – 5.30pm for 6pm till 8pm

Location:Room 1.01-1.01a, Merchant Venturers Building, University of Bristol, Woodlands Road, Bristol, BS8 1UB.

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME.

This event is free, and refreshments will be provided, however to ensure appropriate catering arrangements can be made please register online at: http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=187."

Systems Research Showcase - Bristol, UK, 30th March

I presented at this event last year. This is a good event for anyone wanting to find out about the latest doctoral level research in Systems Engineering.

The details are below :-

"The Bristol Local Group Presents
Systems Research Showcase
Once again, the Industrial Doctorate Centre at the University of Bristol invites you to its Knowledge Exchange Suite in Woodlands Road to see a cross section of systems research activities being undertaken by the region's universities.

This is an opportunity for researchers to see the work of others in similar fields, and for practitioners to discuss the application of systems research with those currently immersed in its investigation and use.

Date: Wednesday 30th March – 6.30pm for 7pm till 9pm

Location: Knowledge Exchange Suite, Ground Floor, Merchant Venturers Building University of Bristol, Woodlands Road, Bristol, BS8 1UB.

NON-MEMBERS WELCOME.

This event is free, and refreshments will be provided, however to ensure appropriate catering arrangements can be made please register online at: www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=163. "

Government IT use must change: Institute for Government

This BBC article summarises the important point that for IT projects it is crucial to roll them out in increments and test each with the users and for the purpose they are designed for. This is essential for IT project success in the public and private sector also.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12616777.

The article begins -

"The government's handling of IT is locked in a 'vicious circle of costs and failures' and moves at a 'glacial' pace, according to a report.

The Institute for Government recommends sweeping changes to the way ministers order new computer systems.

One recommendation is that new IT systems should be built piece by piece and tested by those who use them."

This article is based on a report by The Institute for Government - http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/23/system-error

System Error
Fixing the flaws in government IT
Author: Justine Stephen, James Page, Jerrett Myers, Adrian Brown, David Watson, Ian Magee
Date: 01 March 2011

INCOSE - Systems Thinking

This event was a very useful talk and discussion (Bristol, England) about What is Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking, and examining of a booklet (Z Guide) that describes results of an attempt to write down an explanation of this.

The talk was by Patrick Godfrey of University of Bristol. The description and link are here :-

"Systems Thinking

This event features Patrick Godfrey, the author of the recent Systems Thinking Z Guide, explaining what Systems Thinking is and how it is essential to the work that we do as Systems Engineers. "

http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/Groups/Bristol/Show_Event_Details.aspx?.CatID=Groups&EventID=162

The next event is good also, I gave a talk at last years', it's a chance for PhD and EngD students to present their research.

"Bristol Local GroupEvent Title: Systems Research Showcase
Event Date: 30/03/2011
Event Time: 18:30
Event Details Once again, this event will provide a chance to see some of the latest postgraduate research in the systems arena being conducted in the south west. This event will take place at the University of Bristol. "

http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Groups&EventID=163

INCOSE Stands for - International Council on Systems Engineering

My INCOSE/Bristol University presentation for 24th March

Downloadable PowerPoint newest version -
http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bx_KguSfl6vSYTg5NTVhYTAtODFkOS00Njc0LTkzZWYtYjQ0NmE4YmRmNTI3.

Downloadable PowerPoint 1997-2003 version -
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bx_KguSfl6vSZjg5ZGYzOTUtZTc0Ny00OGQ5LWE4NzUtN2YwZWY3M2Q3NTg4&hl=en

Abstract

User Driven Modelling and Systematic Interaction for End-User Programming

This talk discusses PhD research (just submitted) into building a systematic infrastructure and capability, and how to solve problems which could hamper this. This approach is based on creation of systems that can be customised to produce other systems and models, and translation from abstract diagrammatic representations to computer representations. The conclusion explains how this approach to modelling and end-user programming enables interoperability, and collaboration, and that this assists with Maintenance, Extensibility, Ease of Use, and Sharing of Information.

Systems Engineering is involved in the analysis of the relating of interdisciplinary research requirements, in both engineering and computing, for this research. Systems engineering is also important in that the application area of modelling, for aerospace (Airbus and Rolls-Royce) has been one where complex engineering products are created, and a systematic approach is needed. Further to this the research has required systematic production of systems that in turn must be usable by a wide range of users to produce and share their customised engineering models.


24/03/2010 - 24/03/201018:30
Bristol Local GroupUniversity of Bristol, venue is TBA.
Systems Research Showcase Following on from last year’s popular event, this event will provide another chance to see some of the latest postgraduate research in the systems arena being conducted in the south west. This event will take place at the University of Bristol.

There is 1 Document for this event, click here to view
To book for this event, please click here.

Systems Engineering MSc Assignment

Cover Sheet
Peter Hale, University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE)
Continuing Professional Development in Aerospace - Systems Engineering
28th - 30th October & 16th - 17th November

Executive Summary

This assignment examines the systems engineering work at the University of the West of England, Bristol (my employer 2000-2008, and 2009-10). The particular focus is on application of this towards aerospace and modelling for Airbus and Rolls-Royce. It is argued in part a) that poor decision making by UWE led to this work being restricted, and that it needs rebuilding. Section 1 explains the reasons behind the problems, and ideas for recreating this system capability.

Section 2 part a) examines how change can be brought about to repair this damaged capability and a plan for rebuilding this, taking into account the problems already faced. Part b) describes the approach used to try to rebuild this capability and how to avoid problems which could hamper this. This approach is based on creation of systems that can be customised to produce other systems and models, and translation from abstract diagrammatic representations to computer representations.

The conclusion explains how this approach to modelling and end-user programming enables interoperability, and collaboration, and that this assists with Maintenance, Extensibility, Ease of Use, and Sharing of Information.

Systems Engineering MSc Module Assignment - Main part - http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgp7zcg6_344cxn8sxhs - Appendix - http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgp7zcg6_352c8j2w5cg.

Collaboration in Engineering using Semantic Web techniques

Abstract
This article describes how software developers could enable domain experts such as engineers to collaborate on problem solving. The means for this is development using Semantic Web and Web 2.0 techniques to enable end-user programming. This could enable domain experts such as engineers to be involved in the modelling of a problem such as product design, and so understand, assess, and develop possible solutions.

Introduction
Visualisation is necessary to provide traceability for decision making, as an audit trail for information, to justify a decision and/or cost, or to understand a process, or a product data structure. It is necessary to navigate a database in order to validate it, the structure of the visual interface needs to show the structure of the data, and the model. The best way to do this is to relate them all so that any change to the database, changes the structure of the model and this changes the structure of the visualisation, or vice versa . Semantic search allows someone to see results or individual items but enables going straight to this, that doesn’t show the context and the model is still a ‘black box’, unless the Semantic search actually returns the relevant portion of the structure so that the context of the returned information is displayed.

Methodology
The example below illustrates how it is possible to enable refining a search by visualising all the items present in sub-categories of the main category found in the search. McGuinness (2003) explains how ontologies support this functionality and calls this ‘generalization/specialization’ of information. Uschold and Gruninger (2004) describe ‘ontology-based search’ as “Ontology used for concept-based structuring of information in a repository”; and describe the benefit of this as “better information access” This aids the research objectives of ease of use and sharing of information. The use of open standards for representing information makes it possible to enable searches that understand the semantics of the information and so can track all of the relationships between items. This example illustrates the interface for making a search. In this example the user wants to retrieve all the information related to a spar (aircraft wing component).





Semantic Search interface


The result is shown as a series of trees for each item that contains the word spar. Each keyword match is the root of a tree. Each tree shows the item found and all its children and attributes. The example below shows an image of the top part of the results, this is part of the branch for the first item returned.



Results from semantic search

The information is held in linked and related taxonomies/sub ontologies so it is not HTML that is being searched but the taxonomy itself. Because the information is held in a structured way, it is much more likely that searchers will find what they are looking for, because the search can follow the relationships represented in the taxonomy. One of the key objectives of Semantic Web research and Web 2.0 is to make this kind of search possible over the web as a whole. The Semantic Web is a longer-term vision for managing information over the web and Web 2.0 is the shorter-term practical implementation of techniques, which can ease current information search and management problems. A web interface has been developed for Protégé An example of the use of this is the illustration below where a search is made for information on the cure cycle for composites manufacturing. This search is possible as WebProtege[1] has succeeded in providing a web based interface for displaying and searching ontologies, so providing an additional way to enable web access to the test ontologies created for this research.



Web Protégé Interface


The next stage of this problem is to enable interaction and modelling with the returned information. A project was created called Bitriple by Leaver (2008), to enable end-user functionality for this kind of web-based ontology construction and search. The application provides a facility to edit an ontology/ies and instances, and provides tree-based visualisation of the ontology (as shown in the example below). This example illustrates creation of an online aircraft wing ontology. Wing component sub/ontologies created using Protégé can be translated for the Bitriple application to be represented as RDF/XML. An application could be built as an extension to Bitriple to perform calculations and modelling using the information stored. This could assist in allowing domain expert end-user programmers/modellers to create models. Such web applications provide an alternative to spreadsheets, and to single computer based programs; and if installed on a network server, such applications can provide a collaborative model development environment. This would fit in well with both Semantic Web, and Web 2.0 approaches to knowledge creation, allowing structured representation and navigation of information, and end-user interaction, collaboration, customisation and programming via the web. Collaboration can aid people to agree on terminology, and standardisation of calculations used such as for cost rates and currencies. RDF information can be searched with SPARQL[2] (SPARQL Protocol And RDF Query Language), which is used to search the Bitriple application.

A screenshot from the Bitriple application, of ontology creation for an aircraft wing, is shown below :-



Bitriple Ontology Creation Screenshot


Conclusion

If domain experts are not involved in creation of the model, there is no proper way for the knowledge they are encoding to emerge, or for proper collaboration so each expert is best encapsulating the part of the model that they are most expert in. People need to be involved in model creation if they are to understand the model, decision, and how the decision was made. So there is a need for end-user modelling/programming to enable this. Full automation hinders user involvement and traceability, so semi-automated systems that interact with end-users and assist with all stages of the model decision are better. If a person goes straight to the answer how can it be expected that they fully understood the question?

Breaking complex mathematics into modularised traceable steps eases management of it, and visualisation, and allows modelling of different scenarios, and these scenarios demonstrate the emergent properties of the model, enabling decision support. BiDirectional Traceability is needed, traceability between nodes/submodels, and between models, and between suppliers and buyers.

Existing ontologies can be extended for modelling of software systems and engineering systems e.g. PSL, STEPML, UML, SysML can be extended.This research can enable collaborative modelling and interaction, via applying end-user programming techniques to enable domain experts such as engineers and business people to create and interact with the knowledge representation themselves, and co-operate to ensure the representations are useful for addressing their problems, with less software creation barriers. Software developers need to enable such systems to make this all possible.

[1] SPARQL is the query language and protocol for RDF being recommended to the World Wide Web Consortium - (2008) [online]. Available from: http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/ [Accessed 27 June 2008]. A tutorial has been developed by Dodds - [online]. Available from: http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/2005/11/16/introducing-sparql-querying-semantic-web-tutorial.html
[Accessed 27 June 2008].

[2] WebProtege (2008) Wiki Page [online]. Available from: http://protege.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WebProtege [Accessed 27 June 2008].

References

Leaver, N. (2008) Using RDF as an Enabling Technology. MSc. Dissertation, University of the West of England, Bristol.

McGuinness, D. L., 2003. Ontologies Come of Age. In: Dieter Fensel, Jim Hendler, Henry Lieberman, and Wolfgang Wahlster, ed. Spinning the Semantic Web: Bringing the World Wide Web to Its Full Potential. MIT Press, 2003.

Uschold, M., Gruninger, M., 2004. Ontologies and Semantics for Seamless Connectivity. In: Association for Computer Machinery - Special Interest Group on Management of Data - SIGMOD Record December, 33(4).