Complex Systems and Systems of Systems Engineering

Chapter 8

Anticipating Integration, Verification and Validation ¹

“Errare humanum est.” SENECA THE YOUNGER

“To err is human, to forgive is divine.” A. POPE

Let us jump forward in time, for a brief while, to a point a few months before the start of the operational mission in Antarctica, which will begin in February 20X (see calendar, Figure 3.1). At this point, what observations can we make concerning the progress of the creation of the life support facility?

We are at the KYN Systems integration and verification site near Toulouse, France. The technical integration manager of the Antarctica Life Support Facility has just met with one of the suppliers of components covering one of the main functions of the system: water treatment. The project is running late, and the team is in a hurry to install these components in order to continue with the system integration phase. To save time, and with Roger’s agreement, the manager decides not to spend too long checking the state of these deliveries (just a quick visual inspection to make sure nothing is missing), to install them “as is”, and to move on.

We jump forward a little further to the beginning of February 20X. Nathalie, Jean-François and the three other scientists are now occupying the Antarctica Life Support Facility and have been there for a few days. The operational mission has now begun: they have just completed the facility installation phase and have begun establishing programs of scientific experiments. At this moment, an ...