A systems engineering-integrated approach for functional architecture design of cyber-physical products

With rapid advances in cyber-physical technologies, designers are often required to develop technical products that are integrated with Cyber-Physical Systems to achieve advanced functionalities. Due to the lack of effective consideration for such cyber-physical products in existing functional design methods, this paper is devoted to developing a systems engineering-integrated approach for the functional architecture design of cyber-physical products. Some key concepts from both systems engineering theories and product design approaches are analysed to establish a shared conceptual foundation. Thereafter, a basic process model is developed for the functional architecture design of a cyber-physical product, which is primarily composed of four stages, i.e. need clarification, function identification, solution generation and behaviour validation. The process model, also called as the Need-Function-Solution-Behaviour model, can explicitly illustrate how an ambiguous need can be gradually transformed into a complete solution architecture. The functional design of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for plant-protection demonstrates that the proposed model can guide designers to develop an explicit and complete functional architecture for a cyber-physical product.