Managing the system design cycle using progressive models

Summary form only given. The authors describes a methodology in which several models, each at a different level of detail, are used to control and direct the design cycle for high technology systems. Using these models and computer simulation, designers can readily assess the consequences and implications of a system´s proposed configurations or operating strategies, ultimately enhancing and refining system designs. This progressive-model approach is contrasted with the more typical tendency to develop a single, detailed model which reflects a conceptual design. It is suggested that such efforts to model and simulate complex systems late in the design cycle, after many of the most critical system decisions have already been made, are misdirected. It is concluded that the proper objective of modeling and simulation should be to direct, control, and optimize development of systems from the very beginning of the design cycle, using several progressive and increasingly detailed models. In this way, each design decision is weighed and balanced methodically, and all decisions or further analyses are based on an expanded understanding of the system and its requirements