Analyzing Technology Interactions

Abstract

Technology selection is a crucial step in the design of new complex systems. When many technologies are to be selected from a large pool of available technologies, it is very important that the interactions among these selected technologies are accounted for while assessing their impact on the system. This paper will discuss some of the intricacies involved in technology interactions and current method of Technology Constraint Matrix used to account for them. The advantages and limitations of this method are discussed and a new approach to analyze technology interactions based on the principles of Graph Theory is introduced.