A Method Using Epoch-Era Analysis to Identify Valuable Changeability in System Design

Changeability is a means of creating value robustness in engineering systems that is currently less understood and correspondingly less utilized than more traditional passive robustness. This paper presents a new approach for investigating system changeability using Epoch-Era Analysis, with an emphasis on tradespace exploration using an illustrative case study. Epoch-Era Analysis is an approach for describing systems over time as existing in a series of static contexts (epochs) that change stochastically. A five-step method is used to generate an intuitive and accessible set of data and graphs describing the abstract concept of changeability, which is difficult to grasp due to its intrinsically time-dependent nature. Ideas for future changeability metrics are discussed.

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