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Invitation to Research

ENGINEERING RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

Roger Clarke, Xamax Consultancy, CanberraVisiting Professor, CSIS, Uni of Hong Kong

Visiting Fellow, Australian National University

http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/......Res /55-Eng.ppt

ebs, 16-20 January 2003

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EngineeringThe Mind-Set / Weltanschauung

• ‘Can do’ – Make it work, somehow• Theory-Based; but scientific method,

and even method, are a constraint, not the driver

• Possibly architected first, but quite possibly just iterative experimentation

• If it works, explain / rationalise it later• You have to live with the consequences,

so build in controls and safety margins

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Engineering Research Techniques A Taxonomy (5)

• Construction of an Artefact• Conception (based on a body of theory)• Design / Creation / Prototyping /

Demonstration / ‘Proof of Concept’• Metrication of Artefact Usage

• Destruction of an Artefact• Testing• Application

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Artefact Types

• Hardware (perhaps with embedded software)

• Systems Software• Application Software• A Symbolic / Mathematical Model

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Types of Testing and of Test Data

• In Use• In a Real-Life Setting• In a Laboratory, but by Users• In a Laboratory, by Proxies• In an eLaboratory, by

Simulation

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Simulation

• Creation of a model of a real-world system(probably symbolic, possibly iconic)(probably highly selective, and much-simplified)

• Experimentation with inputs, in order to gain insights into the patterns of behaviour of outputs under various circumstances

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Symbolic / Mathematical Models• Analytically Soluble Models

• Deterministic Mathematical Models• Probabilistic / Statistical Models

• Numerically ‘Soluble’ Process Models• Simulation Based on ‘Real Data’• Simulation Based on Imagined Data• Monte Carlo Simulation:

• sample from input distributions• infer distributions of outputs

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Monte Carlo SimulationSimulation

ModelInput 1Input 2Input 3Output 1Output 2