Demonstrators for Industrial Cyber-Physical System Research: A Requirements Hierarchy Driven by Software-Intensive Design

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hierarchical requirements framework for demonstrators in industrial cyber-physical system research, aiming to improve clarity, feasibility, and alignment with project goals.

Contribution

It proposes a novel five-level demonstration requirements hierarchy tailored for software-intensive and industrial cyber-physical systems, enhancing project planning and evaluation.

Findings

Framework applied successfully to two research projects

Improved clarity in demonstration expectations

Enhanced alignment with industrial use-cases

Abstract

One of the challenges apparent in the organisation of research projects is the uncertainties around the subject of demonstrators. A precise and detailed elicitation of the coverage for project demonstrators is often an afterthought and not sufficiently detailed during proposal writing. This practice leads to continuous confusion and a mismatch between targeted and achievable demonstration of results, hindering progress. The reliance on the TRL scale as a loose descriptor does not help either. We propose a demonstrator requirements elaboration framework aiming to evaluate the feasibility of targeted demonstrations, making realistic adjustments, and assist in describing requirements. In doing so, we define 5 hierarchical levels of demonstration, clearly connected to expectations, e.g., work package interaction, and also connected to the project's industrial use-cases. The considered application scope in this paper is the domain of software-intensive systems and industrial cyber-physical systems. A complete validation is not accessible, as it would require application of our framework at the start of a project and observing the results at the end, taking 4-5 years. Nonetheless, we have applied it to two research projects from our portfolio, one at the early and another at the final stages, revealing its effectiveness.