Integrative Complexity: An Alternative Measure for System Modularity
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md_140_05_051101.pdf
Size
3.03 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9472190d2b50948fa5caa500e577bac4
Author(s)
Suh, Eun Suk
Sinha, Kaushik
De Weck, Olivier L
Date Issued
May 2018
Journal
Journal of Mechanical Design
Publisher
ASME International
Citation
Sinha, Kaushik, et al. “Integrative Complexity: An Alternative Measure for System Modularity.” Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 140, no. 5, Mar. 2018, p. 051101. © 2018 by ASME
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Complexity and modularity are important inherent properties of the system. Complexity is the property of the system that has to do with individual system elements and their connective relationship, while modularity is the degree to which a system is made up of relatively independent but interacting elements, with each module typically carrying an isolated set of functionality. Modularization is not necessarily a means of reducing intrinsic complexity of the system but is a mechanism for complexity redistribution that can be better managed by enabling design encapsulation. In this paper, the notion of integrative complexity (IC) is proposed, and the corresponding metric is proposed as an alternative metric for modularity from a complexity management viewpoint. It is also demonstrated using several engineered systems from different application d omains that there is a strong negative correlation between the IC and system modularity. This leads to the conclusion that the IC can be used as an alternative metric for modularity assessment of system architectures.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4039119
