The workshop provided a forum for researchers from UTC\u2019s business units and UConn Engineering to discuss theoretical and practical advances in model-based systems engineering and to identify specific areas for collaboration.\u00a0 UConn Provost Mun Y. Choi and UTC\u2019s Dr. McQuade, opened the workshop with overviews of the partners\u2019 extant expertise and objectives in developing advanced systems engineering models, processes and concepts. \u00a0\u201cThe workshop was very successful, exposing teams from both UConn and UTC to the capabilities in our organizations and the challenges we can pursue together,\u201d said Dr. Michael McQuade, UTC Senior Vice President for Science and Technology.<\/p>\n UTC\u2019s commitment to investing in systems engineering education and research is squarely rooted in the increasing complexity of products of all sizes and types. UTC businesses are major players, for example, in Boeing\u2019s 787 Dreamliner, which is widely regarded as having one of the most complex and sophisticated systems architectures in the world of passenger planes. UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) supplies the cabin air conditioning and temperature control system, as well as critical systems such as nitrogen generation, electrical power generation, remote and primary power distribution, fire detection and suppression, electro-mechanical brakes, thrust reversers, proximity sensing, fuel quantity indicators and fuel management software.\u00a0<\/p>\n The flawless integration of such subsystems into the larger systems of the plane requires a holistic approach that considers how seemingly independent subsystems interact with \u2013 and sometimes compete with or thwart \u2013 other subsystems as well as environmental changes while operating. \u00a0The Dreamliner is just one example of the accelerating systems complexity underpinning everything from the power grid and iPhones to SpaceX\u2019s Dragon spacecraft and hybrid cars.<\/p>\n![\"roundtable2a\"](\"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/roundtable2a.jpg\")
<\/a>The workshop organizers included Drs. Krishna Pattipati <\/span><\/a><\/span>and Robert Gao<\/span><\/a> <\/span>of UConn Engineering, along with UTC\u2019s Dr. Clas Jacobson (Chief Scientist, Controls), Satish Narayanan (Research Engineer), and United Technologies Aerospace Systems\u2019 Dr. Sandor Becz (Director of Engineering, Component and System Design). The makeup of the organizing team reflects the interdisciplinary core of systems engineering, which unifies electrical, mechanical, computational, chemical and other engineering perspectives.<\/p>\n
![\"roundtable2b\"](\"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/roundtable2b.jpg\")
<\/a>ashion. This approach also results in significant design and production cost savings, while improving reliability and on-time delivery of products.\u00a0 Rather than designing and building expensive working prototypes and then testing and evaluating performance, MBSE allows designers to develop comprehensive, complex models and to test them inexpensively and quickly in weeks or months versus the years required in conventional non-model based engineering.<\/p>\n