Knowledge architecture supporting collaborative MDO in the AGILE paradigm

Abstract

The AGILE project is developing the next generation of development processes, and deploying a collaborative MDO design system, called the AGILE development framework (ADF). Naturally, such a system contains a lot of implicit assumptions on how things should be done and how to exploit different existing technologies. This collection of assumptions and technologies is labeled the 'AGILE Paradigm'. The two main building blocks of this paradigm are the Collaborative Architecture and the Knowledge Architecture. In essence, these building blocks aim to support large, heterogeneous teams of experts in performing collaborative development in a streamlined and time-effective way. This paper has a focus on the definition of the Knowledge Architecture (KA) as a general conceptual framework which is independent of the aircraft-specific application in AGILE. The KA can be applied to perform collaborative automated design in large, heterogeneous teams for any complex system (e.g. aircraft, automobiles, wind farms). The KA is structured with a multi-level backbone: Development Process layer, Automated Design layer, Design Competence layer. A fourth transverse layer impacting all other layers is the Data & Schemas layer. Each layer has its own set of assumptions and technologies, but more importantly, interfaces between the levels have to be created in order to have a fully interconnected development process from each design competence up to the top-level business process. The hierarchical levels and interfaces are described in this paper as a generalized paradigm. In addition, four support platforms of the KA in the AGILE project are described in more detail: the development process environment, graph-based support in the design problem formulation, visualization of large, complex automated design processes, and design concepts formalizations. Finally, a use case from the AGILE project is mapped on this paradigm to demonstrate the use of the KA and its support platforms in a realistic design case.

Graph-based algorithms and data-driven documents for formulation and visualization of large MDO systems

“…The non-technical barrier is tackled by the automatic, dynamic visualizations described in this paper that provide the opportunity to inspect, share, and document large MDO systems within heterogeneous design teams. Furthermore, the developments presented in this paper were embedded into the larger software architecture developed within the AGILE project called the AGILE framework, which is discussed in [10].…”

“…Especially, the creation of the tool repository is a relatively easy task that can be performed with other applications. For example, in AGILE, the business process platform KE Chain 6 [10] also contains a module to create a tool repository and export it as a CMDOWS file. However, even if other platforms create the CMDOWS file, KADMOS is still required as a data processor to provide the right data format for VISTOMS.…”

A clustered and surrogate-based MDA use case for MDO scenarios in AGILE project

“…Furthermore, based on best practices developed in DC-1, during the DC-2 the overall AGILE framework was enhanced by knowledge-based technologies [15] and IT solutions [16], which contributed to an acceleration of the deployment of the complex MDO processes addressed by the DC-2 use cases. This paper will present DC-2 investigations performed on a use case focusing on enhanced MDO strategies which took advantage of surrogate models to converge the optimization process more rapidly.…”

“…The knowledge architecture under development in AGILE integrates different applications to enhance the MDO development process. The full AGILE knowledge architecture is discussed in [16]. Here, three elements of the architecture have been used to support the creation of the different surrogate models and optimization workflows: the graph-based MDO formulation system KADMOS (Knowledge-and graph-based Agile Design for Multidisciplinary Optimization System) [26], the visualization tool for MDO systems VISTOMS (VISualization TOol for MDO Systems) [27], and the data standard to store multidisciplinary system formulations CMDOWS (Common MDO Workflow Schema) [28].…”

“…Mission performance Cluster This cluster contains the Mission performance tool and uses as inputs, the wing design parameters, the operational weights and the Aerodynamic look up tables to run the full mission and provides the fuel weight. Figure 11 provides the enriched graph [16,27] of the four clusters. One can notice that, each cluster can contain design competences of various partners that will be called through AGILE framework.…”