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| \section{Context of this Thesis} | |||
| \ac{cps} integrate computation and physical components as an engineered system. | |||
| Automobiles, robots, medical devices and even the smart grid are examples of \ac{cps}. | |||
| The complexity of systems has gone from a embedded system that improved the fuel consumption of a car engine to a fully self-driving vehicle. | |||
| One of the most interesting and complex \ac{cps} today, is the autonomous landing rocket build by SpaceX. | |||
| A problem is that the increasing complexity causes increasing development cost and decreasing reliability. | |||
| Within the research topics, that focus on \ac{cps}, lies the development of new design methods that deal with this complexity problem. | |||
| The complexity of \ac{cps} has gone from an embedded system that improved the fuel consumption of a car engine to a fully self-driving vehicle. | |||
| Although the complexity opens up more design possibilities, improved efficiency and safety, it has downsides. | |||
| The problem with the increasing complexity is the resulting increased developing cost and the decreasing reliability. | |||
| Within the research topics that focus on \ac{cps}, lies the development of new design methods that deal with this complexity problem. | |||
| The \emph{design method} by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} is one of these new design methods and focusses on the rapid development of embedded control software. | |||
| One of these design methods is posed by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019}, which focusses on the rapid development of embedded control software. | |||
| Their main design technique is to split the development into individual steps, which can be implemented and tested separately. | |||
| The testing makes it possible to receive feedback on a short interval, thus improving the quality. | |||
| As part of the research by Broenink and Broenink, they performed a small case study. | |||
| In this case study they designed a controller in software for a physical off-the-shelf system. | |||
| However, developing \ac{cps} incorporates both the computational software side, as well as the development of the physical dynamic side, but the latter is not covered by Broenink and Broenink. | |||
| The rapid development is a design technique that splits the development into small individual steps, which can be implemented and tested separately. | |||
| Testing each individual step creates feedback on a short interval, with the goal to detect errors made during the development as early as possible. | |||
| As part of the research, Broenink and Broenink performed a small case study. | |||
| In this case study, they have designed a controller, and implemented the controller in software for a physical off-the-shelf system. | |||
| However, developing \ac{cps} incorporates both the computational software side, as well as the development of the physical dynamic side, although the latter is not covered by Broenink and Broenink. | |||
| For this design method to be suitable for a complete design of \ac{cps} it has to be applicable to the physical part as well. | |||
| %%In this thesis, the proposed design method is applied and evaluated in the context of the physical part of a \ac{cps}. | |||
| %%This is done in a case study, where a \ac{cps} is designed from scratch. | |||
| \section{Research Objective} | |||
| To ensure that the proposed design method is a competent approach for developing the different aspects of \ac{cps}, the design method has to be applied and evaluated in the context of the physical part of a \ac{cps}. | |||
| Directly from the start of this research it was clear that a direct copy of the design method is not possible. | |||
| It is necessary to analyse which design techniques cannot be used and thus how to replace or improve them. | |||
| \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} present a case study for software in their paper and state that "this [case study] does not mean that the same techniques cannot be applied to the physical part of the system." | |||
| In this thesis, I will research whether this design method applies to the physical part of a \ac{cps}, to come to a design method that can be applied on both the physical and cyber (software) part of a \ac{cps}. | |||
| From the start of this research, it was clear that a direct copy of the design method is not possible. | |||
| It is therefore necessary to analyse which design techniques cannot be used and thus how to replace or improve them. | |||
| The research is summarized in the following two research questions: | |||
| \begin{itemize} | |||
| \item Which design techniques of the design method by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} can be applied in developing the physical part of \ac{cps}? | |||
| \item Which adaptations are required to make the design method by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} such that it is suitable for developing the computation and physical part of \ac{cps}? | |||
| \item Which design techniques of the design method by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} can be applied developing the physical part of \ac{cps}? | |||
| \item Which adaptations are required to make the design method by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} suitable for developing the computation and physical part of \ac{cps}? | |||
| \end{itemize} | |||
| \section{Approach} | |||
| This research revolves around performing a development process according to the design method in the form of a case study. | |||
| Within this thesis, the design method by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} is evaluated in a case study. | |||
| The case study performs a development process according to the design method and will evaluate the result. | |||
| However, there are a couple of steps required prior to the start of the case study (see \autoref{fig:approach}). | |||
| The first step is to produce a concrete \emph{design plan} based on the design method. | |||
| The concrete design plan improves the evaluation of the design techniques. | |||
| The design method is presented in an abstract form which leaves room for interpretation. | |||
| This uncertainty hampers the evaluation process, because it is impossible to point out flaws in something that was not specific in the first place. | |||
| Therefore, the design method is assessed and detail is added to get a concrete design plan. | |||
| However, the design method focusses on the rapid development principles and modelling techniques, and does not cover the design steps outside of that focus. | |||
| This hampers the evaluation process, because it is impossible to point out flaws in something that was not specific in the first place. | |||
| Therefore, I will assess the design method and add detail to get a concrete design plan. | |||
| Because the design method focusses on the rapid development principles and modelling techniques, it does not cover the design steps outside of that focus. | |||
| These steps, like problem definition and system specifications, are a crucial part of the design process and are added to create the concrete design plan. | |||
| The added steps are based on the steps in a \ac{se} approach. | |||
| \begin{figure} | |||
| @@ -47,9 +48,8 @@ | |||
| \label{fig:approach} | |||
| \end{figure} | |||
| With a design plan to use in the case study there are two steps left. | |||
| With one step being an evaluation plan to ensure complete and consistent feedback during the case study. | |||
| The design plan consists of multiple design steps that are performed in succession. | |||
| With a design plan to use in the case study there are two steps of preparation left. | |||
| The first step is to develop an evaluation plan to ensure complete and consistent feedback during the case study. | |||
| The evaluation plan consists of a list of questions that have to be evaluated for each design step. | |||
| There are specific questions that evaluate the definition, or the execution of the design step. | |||
| The other step is to provide the \emph{subject of design} to develop in the case study. | |||
| @@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ | |||
| \section{Notes on Terminology} | |||
| Design method is a commonly-used notion throughout the different papers and research used in this thesis. | |||
| To ensure distinct terminology throughout this thesis, the term 'design method' is used to refer to the design method by \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019}. | |||
| \textcite{broenink_rapid_2019} refer to their design method as 'the methodology', which is to generic for this thesis. | |||
| To ensure distinct terminology throughout this thesis, their methodology is named \acl{ridm} and is abbreviated as \acs{ridm}. | |||
| The more concrete version of the design method that is tested in the case study, will be referred to as the 'design plan'. | |||
| The object or system that is going to be designed during the case study is referred as 'subject of design'. | |||