A Case Study: DSRP and Systems Engineering
Whatever the human attempts to create, its features inevitably reflect the very specific way of thinking, which is typical for any person. While one habitually uses the natural understanding of this principle in analyzing the existing creations, the revelation and elaboration of thinking models and patterns are extremely useful in planning and drafting process of intended creativity. Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives (DSRP) Theory elaborated by Derek Cabrera argues about the same concept, stating that there four major schemes of thinking exist, which represent any cognitive operations with information and may be emphasized to achieve some better and more productive outcomes (Cabrera, Colosi and Lobdell 2008). In turn, according to the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) (2017), the process of the design, development, and engineering of the any system aims at “customer and stakeholder's needs [that are] satisfied in a high quality, trustworthy, cost efficient and schedule compliant manner throughout a system's entire life cycle” (under “Systems Engineering”). Thus, one may conclude that the process of engineering benefits from the practical and distinct understanding of customers’ and stakeholders’ viewpoints, the dynamics and relationships within the system.
The project of the Optical System for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) by Fantastic Imaging Technologies (FIT), as well as the UAV project in general, is an illustrative example of how DSRP theory should be applied to the system engineering. First of all, the project has a massive amount of various stakeholders, which are hardly subjected to the standard framework of organization-customer relationships. Secondly, the system of UAV project is of extreme sophistication as it involves different technologies, needs, intended users, and other internal and external factors in the process of drafting, development, integration, and implementation. Finally, the stakeholders anticipate the possible change of requirements and context of UAV integration during the lifecycle, which implicates the need for integrity of the related systems engineering process. At the same time, Cabrera (2016) states that “[c]omplex systems are non-linear … DSRP is nonlinear. DSRP occurs simultaneously” (under “3 Common Misuses”). Therefore, this case study applied DSRP theoretical framework and related tools and methods to UAV project by FIT for the means of functional analysis and evaluation of the system.
UAV Project System Engineering and DSRP
The primary outcome of the case study enabled by DSRP is the building of comprehensive picture of the system with all its entities and connections tracked precisely. According to D. Cabrera, L. Cabrera and Powers (2015), the application of DSRP results in the mindset, which “resembles complex and adaptive systems thinking” (538). Ultimately, it implicates the simplification and modular elaboration of the underlying system (Cabrera 2016), creating a “fundamental conceptual pattern” (303). In the practical context, Cabrera (2016) argues DSRP method retrieves basic concepts of the object that it is applied to, namely distinctions, systems, relationships, and perspectives, which, in turn, unite in the binary system of connections that represent dialectical nature of human thought (Laske 2009). Therefore, the research unites …
