ABSTRACT
The design of practical systems requires the translation of data fusion theoretic principles, practical constraints, and operational requirements into a physical, functional, and operational architecture that can be implemented, operated, and maintained. This translation of principles to practice demands a discipline that enables the system engineer or architect to perform the following basic functions:
• Define user requirements in terms of functionality (qualitative description) and performance (quantitative description),
• Synthesize alternative design models and analyze/compare the alternatives in terms of requirements and risk,
• Select optimum design against some optimization criteria,
• Allocate requirements to functional system subelements for selected design candidates,
• Monitor the as-designed system to measure projected technical performance, risk, and other factors (e.g., projected life cycle cost) throughout the design and test cycle,
• Verify performance of the implemented system against top-and intermediate-level requirements to ensure that requirements are met and to validate the system performance model.
