Process definition for rapid architecture development

Abstract

A rapid architecture development process was used to design an architecture concept that provided system requirements for the command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) system component of a major weapon platform. This paper describes the architecture process, including the activities and associated tasks, to develop the architecture concept. The architecture concept defined the system component's life cycle framework. The architecture process is based on TRW's system and software engineering process assets. The process description includes a discussion of the engineering activities and the four principal system engineering processes used to direct the work effort: (1) architecture framework, which established the scope of the architecture; (2) requirements management, which established the boundaries for the architecture; (3) modeling and simulation, which established performance requirements and drove the architecture preliminary design; and (4) analyses, which provided overall substantiation for the engineering architecture effort. The process guided the rapid development of the C3I system architecture concept; the work was part of a concurrent engineering effort.