Comprehensive Risk Management in Complex Engineered Systems

By integrating the results of our research on model-based system engineering, reusable architectures, human-centered system design, and accident models, we hope to create a risk-driven, model-based methodology for designing complex systems. The methodology will include methods and tools that assist in making informed risk-related decisions from the early stages of project conceptualization through development, deployment, operations, and eventual decommissioning. Emphasis is on providing the ability to make tradeoffs and decisions as early as possible in the process so that the need for rework or unnecessary work and the tradeoffs necessary to provide high confidence in the resulting system behavior are minimized. All aspects of risk, including organizational and human aspects, are integrated into the methodology. The environment will include generic component models to support the development of reusable architectures and component models; fault detection, diagnosis, and protection techniques; design for safety and mission assurance; and support for risk control in maintenance, operations, and systems health monitoring.