System readiness level estimation for the electrical system of the ejection seat in a fighter using Design Structure Matrix (DSM) and Integration Readiness Level (IRL)

The Technology readiness level (TRL) measure is a scale for calculating the maturity of a unique technology according to operational application in the environment of a system. when the TRL from level 1 of unique technology is transferred to the context of the system, a more comprehensive set of communications may establish. Similarly, the consideration of integration, interoperability, and stability from the perspective of the system in an operational environment is important. To alleviate the concerns of the operating system level, the dynamic measure of system readiness level (SRL) is studied, which includes both TRL and integration readiness level (IRL), simultaneously.   Design/methodology/approach: Since SRL is a mathematical combination of TRL and IRL and is a criterion for Improvement evaluation in the development of the main-system and infrastructure, in this paper uses the error mean method and utilization of TRL and IRL have been used and the level of readiness of the electric system of an ejection seat of a fighter has been examined and estimated. To facilitate the calculation, the design structure matrix (DSM) has been used to visualize the components and perform the necessary calculations.  

According to the estimated value of the readiness level of the system (3.95), it is concluded that the system under study is at the entrance of the construction development stage, and stabilization at this phase is achieved by performing various and frequent tests of the system. The system meets the needs of the mission by achieving the ability to be operational.  

The most important limitation of this paper is the lack of accurate access to tests and experiments performed to evaluate system performance and components within the system (to check how the connections work, establish a common language, ability to control, etc.). Therefore, to determine the levels of readiness at each level, considerable time should be spent to explain the requirements to the industry and to receive information from the engineers in the industry. This in turn can affect the accuracy of the work to some extent.  

One of the most important applications of this paper is that it can provide some of the information needed for the managers of authorized or sanctioned institutions so that a project can move to the next stage of development in a step-by-step process through specific review gates. Also, industry managers can increase the speed of achieving the design and development of their desired products by formulating the requirements for readiness and maturity (management) of the required technologies.  

The results of this study can determine the level of readiness of a system. In addition to avoiding the very high costs (human and financial) resulting from the failure of operations, as expected from the designed system, by the application of the proposed approach, the managers and designers can be informed about the current state of the project. This enables them to plan the next steps of their project.  

This paper aims to propose a relatively new method for estimating the level of readiness of a system based on understanding the level of readiness and maturity of the system designed to be used in a specific mission using the error mean method, block diagram, and DSM. This study contributes to the examination of the level of readiness of a simple subsystem of the main system, i.e. ejection seat. Also, in this paper, the exact design structure matrices have been used which were obtained from the previous study of the authors. Similar to the previous research work, the symmetric matrix was not studied for simplicity. Therefore, the findings are more valid than the earlier study.