Statistics and Evaluation of 30+ Concurrent Engineering Studies at DLR

Abstract

As part of the build-up of the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Institute of Space Systems in 2007, a Concurrent Engineering Facility (CEF) has been set-up to complement the institute's tools and laboratories at its disposal to fulfil its major objective: efficient end-to-end space system design. With initial support by the European Space Agency in 2008, DLR adapted the different elements of such an environment, e.g. the infrastructure itself, the related (systems) engineering processes, the team set-up as well as the data- and multi-media tools, to its own needs. As of today, more than 30 Concurrent Engineering (CE) studies have been successfully conducted with an average number of about 7 studies per year. Mainly related to the pre-development phases so far, the CE activities include both feasibility analyses for potential future systems and missions as well as for design contributions to already planned projects and missions. Due to the valuable results and further inputs to the respective projects, the intense and fruitful interactions within the team together with the educational aspects for the study participants, an increasing interest in applying the CE approach for internal and external projects can be observed. Since the studies are characterized by e.g. varying study objectives and team members, used data- and design models as well as by process- and planning adaptations, there is a continuous growth of lessons learned from each previous activity. This paper outlines the different applications of the facility, including a brief description of all systems, missions and architectures which have been designed and analysed in the CEF within the last 4.5 years. Additionally the evolution and progress of the CE approach at DLR will be examined, on the one hand from the organizational point of view and on the other hand with respect to the content-related aspects like e.g. study elements and objectives. Furthermore it provides and discusses various statistics related to amongst others project-, tool- and planning issues of the “30+” studies up to now. A clear set of initial (internal) definitions, additional complementary activities related to the CEF as well as an outlook for the next years, in terms of studies and process development, complete this paper.