After almost three decades of evolution, it is not yet possible to apply MDO in collaborative projects within large, heterogeneous and distributed teams of experts, whilst nowadays necessary for the development of any complex product. The H2020 project AGILE took the challenge of devising a novel paradigm to swiftly set up and deploy large distributed MDO systems, that are easy to (re)configure and monitor during the whole process, from requirements definition to data post-processing. The main outcome is an advanced set of tools and methods contributing to a 3rd generation MDO environment, specifically tailored to the aerospace industry. The AGILE paradigm is built on top of two main pillars, the so-called knowledge architecture and the collaborative architecture. The former, which is the main focus of this paper, provides a structured approach and the related workbench to formulate and inspect any automated design process, including fully formalized MDO systems. The latter includes the tools and methods to translate these formulations into executable workflows and deploy them across distributed networks. Although AGILE aims specifically at aircraft MDO, the proposed knowledge architecture provides a general conceptual framework that is suitable for the development of any complex product. The knowledge architecture has a multi-level hierarchical structure, consisting of four layers: development process, automated design, design competences and data schemas. Interfaces between the various layers are defined to achieve a fully.interconnected development process. This paper provides first a description of the knowledge architecture as a generalized paradigm to formulate collaborative and distributed MDO systems. Then, the specific implementation of such a paradigm within the AGILE project is illustrated: four knowledge architecture applications and two data schemas are described in detail. Finally, the whole approach is demonstrated by means of a realistic aircraft design case. This implementation proved successful in multiple aspects. First of all, in allowing heterogeneous teams of experts to generate complete and correct MDO system formulations involving large amount of distributed disciplinary tools, while maintaining full control and systematic overview of the complete system archi- tecture. Second, in offering the necessary agility to adjust and reconfigure the formulated MDO systems, such to support the iterative and evolutionary nature of their development process. Finally, by dramatically accelerating the setup time of the MDO system, thanks to the automation of the complex, lengthy and repetitive operations involved in the partitioning and coordination process, and to the effective support in inspecting and resolving the eventual inconsistencies in the data flow, arising every time tools are added or modified, or different solution strategies are implemented.@en

Collaboration is a key enabler for the development of modern aircraft and its systems and components. Because of the highly complex and integrated nature of many aircraft systems, effective collaboration requires well-organized, multi-disciplinary, multi-engineer, and multi-organization development processes. These processes require data-driven and computer-supported tools and methodologies. Collaboration may seem as simple as working together, thereby adopting standards and tools, and freely sharing data, information, and knowledge. However, in the development of complex systems such as aircraft, collaboration is not that straightforward. For example, aircraft engineers across disciplines and organizations commonly face challenges such as firewalls, data and tool heterogeneity, and intellectual property protection. In this paper, we review the collaboration challenges, describe how the EU-funded research project AGILE 4.0 addresses these challenges, and detail the application of, and experiences with, AGILE 4.0’s collaboration-enabling technologies. @en

This paper presents a critical discussion on the automated problem formulation and workflow creation approach developed within the European project AGILE to support and accelerate the setup of aircraft MDO workflows in a large, heterogeneous team of experts. The developed framework is based on a methodological approach, called the AGILE paradigm, where a complete MDO system is formulated and executed in five main steps. In Step I the requirements are collected, in Step II a repository of disciplinary tools is established, in Step III the design optimization problem is formulated and structured according to a selected MDO architecture, in Step IV an executable workflow is assembled and finally operated in Step V. All steps have been streamlined and highly automated through the development of a novel set of MDO support applications and data standards, addressed as the AGILE MDO framework. This framework was tested through a series of design campaigns culminating with four design tasks, where a variety of unconventional aircraft configurations is collaboratively designed using MDO. After a brief introduction on the AGILE paradigm and the four design tasks, this paper will focus on a set of AGILE framework core components enabling the automated process to formulate and execute collaborative MDO systems. The strengths and current limitations of these components are discussed, based on the extensive feedback from the heterogeneous set of specialists involved in the four design tasks. Although drastic reductions in the setup time of an MDO system (up to 40 percent) appear to be already achievable, recommendations are provided to improve the flexibility, usability and scalability of the framework.@en