A Framework to Determine New System Requirements Under Design Parameter and Demand Uncertainties

Abstract

Identifying optimal design requirements of new systems that operate along with existing systems to provide a set of overarching capabilities is a challenging endeavor for acquisition practitioners. Difficulties arise due to the tightly coupled effects that setting requirements on a system's design (here, military transportation aircraft) can have on how the system is being used (here, how the aircraft is allocated to carry cargo on specified routes). The task of identification becomes even more difficult when considering uncertainties in the way the system is used, and in the demand for its services. Our research extends a previously developed quantitative approach that generates optimum design requirements of new, yet-tobe-designed systems that, when serving alongside other systems, will optimize fleet-level objectives. We extend the approach to now include the effect of various forms of operational uncertainties. Our approach relegates quantitative complexities of decision-making to the method and designates trade-space exploration to the practitioner. We demonstrate the approach by exploring tradeoffs between fleet-level cost and fleet-wide performance for the USAF Air Mobility Command fleet.