What is it about?
This paper investigates what happens to the solution space if a requirement is added to use a new technology. It formally proves that adding such a requirement would actually reduce the size of the solution space, since it is the emergence of the technology what expands the solution space, not the requirement to use it. The formal proof is supported by a toy example.
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Why is it important?
The amount of requirements a system needs to fulfill limits the chances of developing an affordable system. When new technologies emerge, some engineers tend to think that they must incorporate a requirement to use such a technology. Although this is done with the intention to expand the solution space, this actually reduces it and limits the set of acceptable to only those that use such technology. The emergence of a new technology without a constraint to use a specific technology already allows engineers to use it, thus not adding such a requirement is what actually expands the solution space, increasing in this way the chances to develop an affordable system.
Perspectives
There is an unfortunate trend in systems engineering to misuse requirements. In particular, instead of being used to define the minimum conditions that a system would need to fulfil, they are often employed to influence the design. This imposes unnecessary constraints to the system under development that in many cases lead to a lack of affordability and even failure. The case of emerging technologies is one of such examples. Several engineers believe that if they would not add a requirement to use a new, "better" technology, a company would not use it. The point is: if your needs do not change, why do you want to impose a specific technology if there are other options that still meet your demands? This paper shows mathematically that actually adding a requirement to use a new technology is counter-productive. Instead, the solely fact of a new technology to emerge enables its use and therefore increases the size of the solution space on its own.
Dr Alejandro Salado
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: On the Evolution of Solution Spaces Triggered by Emerging Technologies, Procedia Computer Science, January 2015, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2015.03.053.
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