Exploring Evolvable Modular Patterns for Transportation Vehicles and Logistics Architectures

摘要

Many domains employ the concept of modularity as a key aspect during their design. While the use of modularity characteristics is believed to enable several beneficial effects, such as evolvability, the actual realization of this evolvability or flexibility remains difficult. This paper analyzes a set of modular structures which can be identified within transportation vehicles and logistic systems. We employ Normalized Systems Theory (NST), a theory on how to create evolvable modular structures, as our theoretical basis to analyze these transportation and logistic structures in terms of the flexibility and adaptability they do (not) enable. For these structures, multiple design alternatives exist of which the theory can clearly highlight the respective benefits and drawbacks. The paper demonstrates that NST is useful to analyze transport related modular structures at different levels of granularity. Additionally, we reflect upon the modularity characteristics of a recent logistics initiative called "The Physical Internet".