Weaving time into system architecture: satellite cost per operational day and optimal design lifetime

Abstract An augmented perspective on system architecture is proposed (diachronic) that complements the traditional views on system architecture (synchronic). This paper proposes to view in a system architecture the flow of service (or utility) that the system will provide over its design lifetime. It suggests that the design lifetime is a fundamental component of system architecture although one cannot see it or touch it. Consequently, cost, utility, and value per unit time metrics are introduced. A framework is then developed that identifies optimal design lifetimes for complex systems in general, and space systems in particular, based on this augmented perspective of system architecture and on these metrics. It is found that an optimal design lifetime for a satellite exists, even in the case of constant expected revenues per day over the system's lifetime, and that it changes substantially with the expected Time to Obsolescence of the system and the volatility of the market the system is serving in the case of a commercial venture. The analysis thus proves that it is essential for a system architect to match the design lifetime with the dynamical characteristics of the environment the system is/will be operating in. It is also shown that as the uncertainty in the dynamical characteristics of the environment the system is operating in increases, the value of having the option to upgrade, modify, or extend the lifetime of a system at a later point in time increases depending on how events unfold.