Third International Workshop on System & Concurrent Engineering for Space Applications - SECESA 2008
The third 'System (SE) and Concurrent Engineering (CE) for Space Applications' workshop took place at 'La Sapienza' University, Faculty of Engineering, Rome on the 15 - 17 October 2008. The workshop was jointly organised by ESA and CDF with La Sapienza and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and was the first one held outside of ESTEC.
The workshop objectives were to exchange experiences and highlight the benefits of SE and CE; to share lessons learned and know-how including knowledge management; to enhance cooperation between industrial levels and partners and to discuss the evolution and plans of System & Concurrent Engineering in the space domain.
The move out of ESTEC and into the wider community was felt to be important as the message about System and Concurrent Engineering needs to be heard and discussed in the widest arena and involving many participants.
Holding the workshop in a University also allowed many students to attend some of the presentations while continuing their normal studies.
The workshop opened with an address by the workshop chairman Prof. Paolo Gaudenzi from La Sapienza who commented on the exceptional quality of the abstracts presented and the difficulty the review committee had reducing the number down to fit the three day schedule. He also mentioned the truly international nature of the event with speakers not only from many European countries, but also from America, Japan, India and Australia.
The extra day, compared to previous workshops, allowed the programme to be split into 7 sessions and meant that the single stream approach to presenting was maintained as in previous years.
The presentations were grouped into the following sessions:
Session 1: SE & CE Tools and Models
Session 2: New Processes and Methodologies for SE
Session 3: CE Infrastructures and Facilities
Session 4: Standards and Enabling Technologies
Session 5: Cost & Risk Assessment in Concurrent Engineering
Session 6: SE & CE Applications: Space Projects
Session 7: SE Approaches in Industry
As well as the 37 presentations held in the Aula Magna, a second room was dedicated to a poster session where 15 posters were presented. These ranged from a virtual walk through the new CDF at ESTEC to a demonstration on Immersive Remote Control Devices applied in space.
Mr Michel Courtois (Director of ESA/ESTEC-NL), gave the keynote speech at the end of session 6 entitled: 'Concurrent Engineering: mandatory for the design and management of complex systems' where he stressed the need for a closer integration of the actors involved in the implementation and operation of space systems and how Concurrent Engineering represents an essential part of this integration.
The speech prompted a number of questions from the audience, ranging over the whole spectrum of System and Concurrent Engineering including future direction of CE and expansion into later phases.
Of course the workshop wasn't all about technical presentations and a gala dinner was held on the middle night at the famous and very beautiful Palazzo Brancaccio. Here the delegates had the chance to mingle with their colleagues over cocktails before a sumptuous meal of Italian dishes.
The workshop was a great success and the three day single stream approach at a University site was also deemed very positive and seems to be the model for future workshops. With a 180 participants it was also our most well attended workshop. This success was confirmed by the enthusiastic comments on the workshop, some of which are given below:
JAXA are very pleased to be represented at this workshop and it is important that we compare our methods and experiences to allow collaboration between our Agencies. - Shizuo Yamamoto - Director Systems Engineering Office/JAXA, Japan
The workshop has been fantastic, it allows me to understand what is going on in the Agencies and Industry and to see future trends so that we can integrate that into the educational programme to ensure the learning experience is relevant and current. - Naomi Mathers - VSSEC, Australia
This workshop has uniquely brought together the right mix of software and system engineers who are able to exchange their views in an open and useful manner - very refreshing. - Brendan O'Reilly - Daysha Consulting, Ireland
It was very exciting to hold the workshop in Rome as it gave my students the opportunity to go to the sessions and at the same time share the contents of the excellent papers from Agencies, Academia and Industry - Paolo Gaudenzi, Workshop Chairman, La Sapienza University, Rome
