Collaborative Research: Visual Analytics for Creation of Value Functions in Complex Systems Design Under Uncertainty

协作研究：不确定性下复杂系统设计中价值函数创建的可视化分析

• 批准号: 1436236
• 负责人: Timothy Simpson
• 金额: $ 18.48万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1436236&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Visual; Analytics; Creation

Value-driven design represents a new way of designing large scale complex engineered systems, such as those found in automobile, aerospace, and energy industries. In value-driven design, a value function is created that captures the preferences of the stakeholders. The value function comprises all the attributes that are important for the system being designed, such as weight, performance characteristics, and manufacturing concerns, amongst others. The value function is then used by all the participants in the design process to aid in their decision making, so that all participants use the same basis for their design decisions. This is extremely different from the present systems engineering process in which requirements are used to force design decisions among subsystems and components, leading to suboptimal designs. The creation of a value function, however, is very challenging for complex systems, particularly in light of the uncertainties that exist in the design variables, attributes, and ultimately, the value of the system itself. This award supports fundamental research to provide needed knowledge for the creation of value functions when designing complex systems under uncertainty. A key component of this research focuses on enabling the easy understanding of the complex relationships between design variables, attributes, and value functions using visualization tools. Results from this research will benefit the U.S. economy as well as the national defense, given the extensive reliance on large-scale systems by both military and commercial applications. This research is inherently multidisciplinary, not only providing a way to design in a multidisciplinary environment, but also through using multiple disciplines to address the fundamental issues related to value function creation for complex systems. The multidisciplinary nature of the research will lend itself to broadening participation of under-represented groups in this research.The value-driven design approach can overcome numerous limitations associated with present systems engineering processes. In the present systems engineering approach, requirements are developed in an attempt to capture the preferences of stakeholders. These requirements are then decomposed and passed to lower-level groups who then design subsystems and ultimately the components in the system. Problematically, these requirements over-restrict the design space, create difficulties in incorporating uncertainty, and provide little to no guidance in terms of what is actually desired by the stakeholders. While value-driven design has the potential to overcome these barriers, knowledge gaps exist. This research will address the knowledge gap related to formation of the value function under uncertainty. The research team will identify the impact of uncertainty in design variables and attributes on value functions. The team will develop a structured approach for forming a value function to ensure appropriate rank ordering of alternative solutions according to the preference of the stakeholder. The impact of risk preference (i.e., risk seeking, risk neutral, and risk averse) will be explored to determine relationships between risk preference and value-function formation. Visualization tools will be developed to aid in the understanding of relationships between attributes and the value function and to provide designers with decision aids for using value functions. The research team will also work with industrial partners to validate the methods and tools developed.

价值驱动设计代表了一种设计大规模复杂工程系统的新方法，例如在汽车、航空航天和能源工业中发现的那些系统。在价值驱动的设计中，创建一个价值函数来捕获涉众的偏好。价值函数包含所有对正在设计的系统很重要的属性，例如重量、性能特征和制造关注点等。然后，设计过程中的所有参与者都使用价值函数来帮助他们做出决策，因此所有参与者都使用相同的基础来进行设计决策。这与当前的系统工程过程截然不同，在当前的系统工程过程中，需求被用来强制子系统和组件之间的设计决策，导致次优设计。然而，价值函数的创建对于复杂系统来说是非常具有挑战性的，特别是考虑到存在于设计变量、属性以及最终系统本身价值中的不确定性。该奖项支持基础研究，为设计不确定复杂系统时创造价值功能提供所需的知识。本研究的一个关键组成部分侧重于使用可视化工具轻松理解设计变量、属性和价值函数之间的复杂关系。鉴于军事和商业应用对大型系统的广泛依赖，这项研究的结果将有利于美国经济和国防。这项研究本质上是多学科的，不仅提供了一种在多学科环境下进行设计的方法，而且通过使用多学科来解决与复杂系统的价值功能创造相关的基本问题。这项研究的多学科性质将有助于扩大代表性不足的群体参与这项研究。价值驱动的设计方法可以克服与当前系统工程过程相关的许多限制。在当前的系统工程方法中，开发需求是为了尝试捕获涉众的偏好。然后将这些需求分解并传递给较低级别的团队，这些团队随后设计子系统并最终设计系统中的组件。有问题的是，这些需求过度限制了设计空间，在整合不确定性方面造成了困难，并且在涉众实际需要的方面几乎没有提供任何指导。虽然价值驱动型设计有潜力克服这些障碍，但知识差距仍然存在。本研究将探讨不确定性下价值函数形成的相关知识缺口。研究小组将确定设计变量和属性的不确定性对价值函数的影响。团队将开发一种结构化的方法来形成价值函数，以确保根据利益相关者的偏好对备选解决方案进行适当的排序。将探讨风险偏好（即风险寻求、风险中性和风险厌恶）的影响，以确定风险偏好与价值函数形成之间的关系。将开发可视化工具，以帮助理解属性和价值函数之间的关系，并为设计者提供使用价值函数的决策辅助。研究小组还将与工业伙伴合作，验证所开发的方法和工具。