Using the Design Reference Mission for Framing Naval Ship Design Problems

The objective of this method is to allow proper framing of a problem for design synthesis and analysis. Framing the problem is the first and most critical step in development of any systems architecture and design. The Design Reference Mission (DRM) establishes an operational context, description(s) of the environment and situations in which a system of interest is expected to operate, an operational narrative containing enough detail to generate multiple operational scenario variants, a sequence of operational activities and interactions between each system and other systems in its environment, and measures for establishing goals mission success. The DRM is to be used to derive specific scenarios for use in making design decisions concerning candidate operational and solution architectures aimed at satisfying the mission success requirements. A DRM is outlined and populated with example content for a notional Search and Rescue (SAR) mission.