Publication

With advancements in computing, processing power and distributed networks, systems engineering organizations have been exploring and adopting model based systems engineering (MBSE) practices at an increasing rate over the past decade. As the systems engineering community strives to standardize MBSE approaches and tools, research has broadened beyond well explored MBSE approaches, such as system architecting, and has begun to study areas of systems engineering that have not been viewed through the lens of MBSE. One particular phase of the system development lifecycle that is underrepresented by MBSE methods processes and tools is Concept Engineering (CE). This paper examines the topics of MBSE and CE, revealing a gap between the two. Efforts of previous research to fill this gap are visited, and a proposed approach using virtual immersive environments is briefly described. As this approach and its accompanying tool have advanced from research to proof of concept prototyping and software development, a structured blueprint is required for validating the effectiveness of this research with the user community. Experimental design for determining effectiveness is discussed, and a series of measurements and metrics are proposed for evaluation of the application of MBSE to CE.