Flexibility in system design and implications for aerospace systems

The purpose of this paper is to review the concept of flexibility as discussed in various fields of investigations, to extract its characteristic features, and to explore its implications in the case of aerospace system design. In order to discuss any subject matter clearly, it is necessary to begin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta astronautica 2003-12, Vol.53 (12), p.927-944
Main Authors: Saleh, Joseph H, Hastings, Daniel E, Newman, Dava J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerospace systems
Aircraft - instrumentation
Aircraft components
Ambiguity
Aviation - instrumentation
Aviation - trends
Design engineering
Equipment Design
Flexibility
Forecasting
Program Development
Reviewing
Software Design
Space Flight - instrumentation
Space Flight - trends
Space life sciences
Spacecraft - instrumentation
Systems design
Systems Theory
United States
United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration - trends
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Summary:The purpose of this paper is to review the concept of flexibility as discussed in various fields of investigations, to extract its characteristic features, and to explore its implications in the case of aerospace system design. In order to discuss any subject matter clearly, it is necessary to begin with a clear set of definitions. Indeed much can be gained through careful and consistent definitions of terms alone. Flexibility however is a word rich with ambiguity. While it is being increasingly used in various fields, few attempts have been made to formally define, quantify, and propose ways for achieving flexibility. This paper proposes to fill in part of this gap by synthesizing a clear and consistent definition of flexibility. It will do so by reviewing the usage of the term in various fields of inquiries, and show that it is indeed possible to clearly and unambiguously characterize flexibility, and to disentangle it from closely related concepts.
ISSN:0094-5765
DOI:10.1016/S0094-5765(02)00241-2