How a Small Team Can Develop Complex Systems

Designing a Complex System

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)

The V Diagram

Learning MBSE

Some references to learn more about MBSE:

• NASA Systems Engineering Handbook
• Applying a Model-Based Approach to Support Requirements Analysis on the Thirty-Meter Telescope
• Open Model Based Engineering Environment

Modularity

• A modular system is made of smaller and simpler components (modules) that can be reused, replaced or reconfigured.
• The way components interact (middleware) keeps the system together while the components are replaced or reconfigured.
• Modularity helps to maintain the system’s functionality over time.
• Modularity enable teams of engineers collaborate (work in parallel) on designing and implementing a complex system.

Modular Products

Some examples of modular design are:

• Lego bricks: You can use different bricks to create different shapes and models.
• IKEA furniture: You can assemble different parts to create different furniture pieces or configurations.
• Desktop computers: You can customize different components to create different computer specifications or performance.

Different Types of Modularity

Types of Modularity

Software-Defined Products

• Hardware-defined:
  • Features of the product are static and cannot be changed.
  • To get new features, you need to buy a new product.
• Software defined:
  • New features will be added to the product through over-the-air updates.
  • The product can be customized for each customer using software settings.
  • New business models and types of collaboration become possible.

Open Research and Innovation

Open research (OECD definition): It is the practice of making “the primary outputs of publicly funded research results – publications and the research data – publicly accessible in a digital format with no or minimal restriction.”

• Publicly available
• Reuseable
• Transparent

Open Research Challenges

• May require more time and resources
• May raise ethical or legal issues
• May face technical or cultural barriers

Learning More About Open Research

One of the most comprehensive resources for learning about open research is The Turing Way handbook to reproducible, ethical and collaborative data science.

• Reproducible research
• Project design
• Communicaiton
• Ethical research

Open Research Results

• Open data
• Open source software
• Open hardware
• Open access publicaitons
• Open notebooks

Open Scholarship

According to The Turing Way hanbook, open scholarship is a concept that extends open research further. It relates to making other aspects of scientific research open to the public, for example:

• Open educational resources: OpenStax and edX
• Equity, diversity and inclusion
• Citizen science

Open Data

Open-source Software

Open-source software is an important resource for innovation:

• It allows users to customize, modify and improve their software according to their needs
• It reduces costs, time and resources for software development
• It prevents vendor lock-in and promotes interoperability
• It fosters innovation, collaboration and learning among developers

Tracking Project History

Version Control

• Tracking how a set of files changes over time
• Going back back to previous versions of any file or the whole project easily
• Collaborating with others on a project without interfering with their work on the same files
• Making branches to try out different changes (such as new features or bug fixes) separately from the main branch
• Saving a specific version of your work as a tag or a release for later use

GitHub

• Git repositories: public or private
• GitHub Pages: make a website with your files
• GitHub Actions: automate your tasks
• GitHub Projects: create plans and monitor your progress
• GitHub Discussions: a forum for collaborative communication
• GitHub Wiki: a knowledge base for your project

Software Development Challenges

• Where can I find the latest version of this feature?
• It used to work.
• It works on my computer.
• What are the requirements of the project?
• What are the short term objectives and key results of the project?

Software Project Structure

Software binders:

• Source code
• Dependencies and configuration files: pyproject.toml
• Continuous integration job description: build and test pipelines
• Continuous deployment job description: deployment pipelines

Test-Driven Development

DevOps

GitHub is a Search Engine for Open-Source Software

• Search function: in:name, in:description, in:readme
• Topics: labels that help you discover projects
• Explore page: curated collections of projects
• External resources:
  • Awesome lists: curated lists of awesome resources for various topics
  • CodeTriage: helps you find open source projects that need your help
  • Libraries.io: monitors over 3 million open source libraries across 37 different package managers

Take Action: Solve a Real-World Problem

1. Choose a Topic: Pick a challenge to address.
2. Research: Study existing solutions and requirements.
3. Create a Repository: Set up a project on GitHub with code and documentation.
4. Implement: Build a solution using best practices like modularity and TDD.
5. Add a Simulation (if possible): Validate your solution.
6. Share: Make your project open-source for collaboration.

Start Small, Think Big, Make a Difference!