Appendix A
Statement of Task
The National Research Council and the National Academy of Engineering will conduct a two-phase study of AEEs. The study will assess the current and future national context within which NASA's plans must fit. Phase 1 will focus on the near-term, especially the identification and assessment of needs, directions, and barriers during the next 5 years for the development and implementation of AEEs in a national framework. Phase 2 will focus on the far term and build on the results of Phase 1 to expand the assessment to the 5 to 15-year vision for incorporating AEE technologies and systems into both the current and future engineering workforces. Workshops may be used in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 to maximize participation by government, industry, and the academic community.
PHASE 1 STATEMENT OF TASK
The Phase 1 study will identify steps NASA can take in the near term to enhance the development of AEE technologies and systems with broad application in industry, government, and academia. Focusing on the near term, Phase 1 will complete the following specific tasks:
-
Develop an understanding of NASA's long-term vision of AEE, capabilities, and tools associated with the current state of the art in engineering environments, and near-term advances in engineering environments.
-
Conduct an independent assessment of requirements for, alternative approaches to, and applications of AEEs to aerospace engineering, considering both near-and long-term objectives.
-
At a high level, explore the potential payoffs of AEEs on a national scale, emphasizing the relationships between aerospace engineering and other elements of the national engineering scene and identifying the necessary conditions for achieving these payoffs.
-
Evaluate how AEE technologies relate to the development of relevant technical standards (e.g., collaborative, distributed computing and software systems interoperability) and engineering economic assessments (e.g., cost and risk assessments).
-
Identify the following:
-
cultural and technical barriers (e.g., certification requirements, software and hardware incompatibilities, proprietary restrictions imposed by original equipment manufacturers, standards, policies, laws, etc.) to collaboration among the government, the aerospace industry, academia, and others for transferring AEE tools and methods from the development stage to public practice
-
opportunities that may be created by AEEs
-
needs for education and training
-
-
Recommend an approach for NASA to enable a state-of-the-art engineering environment capability that is compatible with other government, industry, and university programs and contributes to the overall effort to engender a broadly applicable, technology-based, engineering framework.
-
Prepare a report summarizing the key results of Phase 1 (i.e., the committee's Phase 1 report).
PHASE 2 STATEMENT OF TASK
As Phase 1 is nearing completion, NASA, the National Research Council, and the National Academy of Engineering will determine the feasibility of proceeding with Phase 2. Expanding on the results of Phase 1, Phase 2 will focus on assessing the long-term potential and feasibility of developing AEE technologies and systems that would foster increased creativity in the design process, improve processes for multidisciplinary integration, facilitate the interactive examination of new ideas, improve evaluations of technology, etc. Specific tasks are as follows:
-
Building on the recommendations and conclusions of Phase 1, evaluate the potential for AEEs to contribute to NASA's long-term goal of “engendering a revolution in the engineering culture” and the benefits that achieving this goal would produce.
-
At a high level, understand and assess the potential payoffs of AEEs on a national scale.
-
With regard to implementation of AEE capabilities and practices, examine broad issues such as those associated with infrastructure changes, clarity of interdisciplinary communications, and technology transfer and acceptance. Consider approaches for achieving the AEE vision, including the potential role of government, industry, academic, and professional organizations in resolving these issues.
-
Identify the key elements of long-term educational and training strategies that government, industry, and academia could adopt to foster acceptance and application of AEE technologies and systems by the existing and future workforces.
-
Prepare a report summarizing the key results of Phase 2 (i.e., the committee's Phase 2 report).