Architecting Methodology for Spatially and Temporally Distributed Resource Extraction Systems Alessandro Aliakbargolkar 1, * and Edward F. Crawley 1, 2 1 Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 2 Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 ARCHITECTING FOR SPATIALLY AND TEMPORALLY DISTRIBUTED RESOURCE EXTRACTION SYSTEMS Received 15 January 2012; Revised 24 May 2012; Accepted 24 May 2012, after one or more revisions Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/sys.21230 ABSTRACT This paper presents a framework aimed at supporting the decision-making process for the preliminary design of system architectures for the extraction of spatially and temporally distributed resources. The goal of the research is to provide a tool to identify “global best” architectures for resource extraction “systems of systems,” which usually differ from the sum of “local best” systems. The framework presented in this paper consists of an integrated model where both the architecture of the system of systems and the design of the individual systems are considered simultaneously. Using this approach, designers are able to gain insights by generating a selection of top-performing concepts. Subsequently, they can analyze those concepts using more sophisticated, albeit more resource-expensive design processes. The imple- mentation of the proposed framework is a complementary tool to existing design practices. It features several advantages such as enabling the analysis of large-scale problems, for which exhaustive enumera- tion of architectures of systems of systems is not a viable option. The paper first presents an application of the methodology to the architecture of offshore oil and gas production fields. It then shows how to use the methodology for the development of scenario analyses. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 16 Key words: systems architecting; resource extraction systems; systems of systems 1. INTRODUCTION Systems of systems require large capital investment for their development, and feature common challenges such as archi- tectural complexity and plurality of feasible solutions. Multi- ple architectures can be designed for the extraction of resources, and very often the high number of feasible solu- tions prevents designers from considering all the available alternatives using traditional design methods. Comprehen- sive analysis of system architectures is hindered by complex- ity, due to emergent behavior resulting from the interaction of individual systems. For instance, feasible architectural solu- tions for an offshore oil platform depend on the design seawa- ter depth, which is a function of the platform allocation on the offshore field. As a result of this coupling, system objectives that designers wish to pursue are oftentimes highly nonlinear. Henceforth, the definition of globally optimum system archi- tectures is often a nontrivial exercise. Furthermore, system architects need to conduct several scenario analyses to iden- tify the sensitivity to changing requirements and assumptions in architectures of interest for successive design iterations. Proper decision-making in preliminary stages of new projects Contract grant sponsor: BP-MIT Major Projects Research Program. * Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed (e-mail: gol- kar@skolkovotech.ru). Systems Engineering © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 Regular Paper