Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:36:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Tupinamba Timbira de Oliveira Pinto Filho.pdf: 817776 bytes, checksum: cf7053d56060db0c2436ba88b00ace8f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-08-16 / This research intends to understand, in the definition system phase the valuable, prospective and formalization problems of information. The communication aspects are the focus, with their phases, between the main actors of the software development project in the requirement analysis step: analysts and users. A model of requirement analyses which considerer the communication and Information Science knowledge issues in the formalization of the system specifications are presented. This model helps to identify the important aspects, in the information user domain, for externalized and formalized to reach a requirement definition as near as possible of reality. / Esta pesquisa busca compreender, na etapa de defini??o do sistema, os problemas de valoriza??o, prospec??o e formaliza??o da informa??o, focando os aspectos da comunica??o, e suas diversas etapas, entre os atores principais de um projeto de desenvolvimento de software na fase de an?lise de requisitos: analista e usu?rio. Um modelo de an?lise de requisitos que considera as quest?es comunicacionais e do conhecimento da Ci?ncia da Informa??o, na formaliza??o das especifica??es do sistema ? apresentado. Este modelo ajuda a identificar os aspectos mais importantes, que est?o na esfera do dom?nio de informa??o do usu?rio, de modo a serem externalizados e formalizados para que se consiga chegar a uma defini??o de requisitos mais pr?xima da realidade.

This thesis suggests the use of tools from the disciplines of Computational Linguistics and Knowledge Representation with the idea that such tools would enable the partial automation of two processes of Conceptual Design: the analysis of Requirements and the synthesis of concepts of solution. The viewpoint on Conceptual Design developed in this research is based on the systematic methodologies developed in the literature. The evolution of these methodologies provided precise description of the tasks to be achieved by the designing team in order to achieve successful design. Therefore, the argument of this thesis is that it is possible to create computer models of some of these tasks in order to partially automate the refinement of the design problem and the exploration of the design space. In Requirements Engineering, the definition of requirements consists in identifying the needs of various stakeholders and formalizing it into design speciႡcations. During this task, designers face the problem of having to deal with individuals from different expertise, expressing their needs with different levels of clarity. This research tackles this issue with requirements expressed in natural language (in this case in English). The analysis of needs is realised from different linguistic levels: lexical, syntactic and semantic. The lexical level deals with the meaning of words of a language. Syntactic analysis provides the construction of the sentence in language, i.e. the grammar of a language. The semantic level aims at Ⴁnding about the specific meaning of words in the context of a sentence. This research makes extensive use of a semantic atlas based on the concept of clique from graph theory. Such concept enables the computation of distances between a word and its synonyms. Additionally, a methodology and a metric of similarity was defined for clarifying requirements at syntactic, lexical and semantic levels. This methodology integrates tools from research collaborators. In the synthesis process, a Knowledge Representation of the necessary concepts for enabling computers to create concepts of solution was developed. Such, concepts are: function, input/output Ⴂow, generic organs, behaviour, components. The semantic atlas is also used at that stage to enable a mapping between functions and their solutions. It works as the interface between the concepts of this Knowledge Representation.

L'ingénierie des systèmes complexes et systèmes de systèmes conduit souvent à des activités de modélisation (MA) complexes. Les problèmes soulevés par les MA sont notamment : comprendre le contexte dans lequel elles sont exécutées, comprendre l'impact sur les cycles de vie des modèles qu'elles produisent, et finalement trouver une approche pour les maîtriser. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est d'élaborer une approche formelle pour adresser ce problème. Dans cette thèse, après avoir étudié les travaux connexes en ingénierie système et plus spécifiquement ceux qui portent sur la co-ingénierie du système à faire (le produit) et du système pour faire (le projet), nous développons une méthodologie nommée MODEF pour traiter ce problème. MODEF consiste en: (1) Caractériser les MA comme un système et plus généralement une fédération de systèmes. (2) Construire de manière itérative une architecture de ce système via la modélisation du contenu conceptuel des modèles produits par MA et leur cycle de vie, les tâches réalisées au sein des MA et leurs effets sur ces cycles de vie. (3) Spécifier les attentes sur ces cycles de vie. (4) Analyser les modèles (des MA) par rapport à ces attentes (et éventuellement les contraintes sur les tâches) pour vérifier jusqu'à quel point elles sont atteignables via la synthèse des points (ou états) acceptables. D'un point de vue pratique, l'exploitation des résultats de l'analyse permet de contrôler le déroulement des tâches de modélisation à partir de la mise en évidence de leur impact sur les modèles qu'elles produisent. En effet, cette exploitation fournit des données pertinentes sur la façon dont les MA se déroulent et se dérouleraient de bout en bout. A partir de ces informations, il est possible de prendre des mesures préventives ou correctives. Nous illustrons cela à l'aide de deux cas d'étude (le fonctionnement d'un supermarché et la modélisation de la couverture fonctionnelle d'un système). D'un point de vue théorique, les sémantiques formelles des modèles des MA et le formalisme des attentes sont d'abord données. Ensuite, les algorithmes d'analyse et d'exploitation sont présentés. Cette approche est brièvement comparée avec des approches de vérification des modèles et de synthèse de systèmes. Enfin, deux facilitateurs de la mise en œuvre de MODEF sont présentés. Le premier est une implémentation modulaire des blocs de base de MODEF. Le second est une architecture fédérée (FA) des modèles visant à faciliter la réutilisation des modèles formels en pratique. La formalisation de FA est faite dans le cadre de la théorie des catégories. De ce fait, afin de construire un lien entre abstraction et implémentation, des structures de données et algorithmes de base sont proposés pour utiliser FA en pratique. Différentes perspectives sur les composantes de MODEF concluent ce travail. / The engineering of complex systems and systems of systems often leads to complex modelling activities (MA). Some challenges exhibited by MA are: understanding the context where they are carried out and their impacts on the lifecycles of models they produce, and ultimately providing a support for mastering them. How to address these challenges with a formal approach is the central challenge of this thesis. In this thesis, after discussing the related works from systems engineering in general and the co-engineering of the system to be made (product) and the system for make (project) systems specifically, we position and develop a methodology named MODEF, that aims to master the operation of MA. MODEF consists in: (1) characterizing MA as a system (and more globally as a federation of systems) in its own right; (2) iteratively architecting this system through: the modelling of the conceptual content of the models produced by MA and their life cycles, the tasks carried out within MA and their effects on these life cycles; (3) specifying the expectations over these life cycles and; (4) analysing models (of MA) against expectations (and possibly tasks constraints) - to check how far expectations are achievable - via the synthesis of the acceptable behaviours. On a practical perspective, the exploitation of the results of the analysis allows figuring out what could happen with the modelling tasks and their impacts on the whole state of models they handle. We show on two case studies (the operation of a supermarket and the modelling of the functional coverage of a system) how this exploitation provides insightful data on how the system is end-to-end operated and how it can behave. Based on this information, it is possible to take some preventive or corrective actions on how the MA are carried out. On the foundational perspective, the formal semantics of three kinds of involved models and the expectations formalism are first discussed. Then the analysis and exploitation algorithms are presented. Finally this approach is roughly compared with model checking and systems synthesis approaches. Last but not least, two enablers whose first objectives are to ease the implementation of MODEF are presented. The first one is a modular implementation of MODEF's buildings blocks. The second one is a federated architecture (FA) of models which aims to ease working with formal models in practice. Despite the fact that FA is formalised within the abstract framework of category theory, an attempt to bridge the gap between abstraction and implementation is sketched via some basic data structures and base algorithms. Several perspectives related to the different components of MODEF conclude this work.

This work describes development of the Information system for the laboratory of feeding stuff, NutriVet Company, Ltd. It defines the essential concepts associated with problems of the livestock nutrition and information system development. It is focusing on requirements analysis, design, implementation and testing suitable solution.

In this thesis, a conceptual framework and related methodological approaches for complex system design are developed and tested. The approaches are based on insights from the fields of Systems Engineering (SE) and System-of-Systems Engineering (SoSE), as well as Natural Resources Management (NRM). The focus of this thesis is on: 1) the development of the System-of-Systems Design Framework “FRESCO”, 2) the development of a methodological framework for participatory systems design, 3) the application of the framework in two case studies, and 4) the development of an evaluation scheme to qualitatively measure the effectiveness of the methodological framework. The overall objectives of this doctoral dissertation are to highlight synergies between SE and NRM and to develop a methodological framework for designing decision making processes in a human-nature-technology context. The complexity of coupled and complex adaptive systems (CAS) such as the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF-Nexus) and sustainability strategies, influences the design of decision-making processes and strategy building. Integrated process design which is promoted by the developed frameworks can assist in such tasks on an urban, regional, and national level.

This research introduces a high-performance electric taxiing system (ETS) as a modern solution to improve the on-ground operations of today’s aircraft, which are conventionally powered through the main engines. The presented ETS is propelled by electric motors, integrated into the main landing gear of a state-of-the-art midsize commercial aircraft, and powered by an additional not quantified electrical energy storage system. The proposed system can therefore operate autonomously from any aircraft-internal power source, i.e. Auxiliary Power Unit or equivalent. The main objective of this work is to assess the energy consumption of the introduced ETS while considering energy recuperation due to regenerative braking. The ETS powertrain is sized to match modern conventional taxi performances that were seen in 36 self-recorded takeoff- and landing taxi driving profiles. A custom ETS simulation model was developed and simulated across all available driving profiles to confirm the desired powertrain performance and to predict the system’s energy consumption. For the purpose of enhancing the validity of these energy consumption predictions, a suitable motor controller is then designed by the use of MATLAB Simulink. An easy-to-implement switch loss model was created to predict the ETS motor controller efficiency map. Finally, the former energy consumption predictions were revised for the implementation of the motor controller and an estimated traction motor efficiency map. The results exhibit that the revised ETS simulation model was capable of refining the energy consumption. It was found that the ETS will consume up to 9.89 kWh on average if the full potential of the traction motors energy recuperation capabilities are being used. The simulation outcomes further demonstrate that regenerative braking offers great potential in ETS applications since more than 14 % of required traction energy could be regenerated to yield the above mentioned average energy consumption. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)