Technical interaction in large complex technology systems and its impact on technology management decisions

A mathematical model to examine the influence of interactions between technologies in a large complex technology system on the system behavior and the related decision analysis is presented. In this model, the behavior of a technology system is assumed to be determined by three sets of parameters: (1) the initial state; (2) the internal structure, i.e. the interactions between the elements of the system; and (3) the boundary conditions, i.e. the resource allocation to the system. The system behavior can be simulated by solving the model. Sensitivity analyses can be done for decisionmakers to examine the influence of their decisions on system behavior. The utility of this approach is demonstrated in the context of a real-world case study of a technology subsystem of aircraft engines, which includes 23 interacted technologies. The initial state and the interaction parameters are obtained from evaluations made by 30 experts. The system behavior is then simulated by solving 23 nonlinear differential equations by using the Runge-Kutta algorithm. The numerical results show that, under a certain internal structure and a certain boundary condition, the distribution of technologies in the system exhibits similarities