Modularity mastering complexity

Carlo Poloni

University of Trieste/ESTECO

The process of designing a product has become a complex task that requires not only a high degree of specialization but also a complete multidisciplinary vision about the interaction of the diverse functionalities. For decades numerical simulation has been focussed on capturing the physics of a specific phenomenon and as a consequence design optimization has been focused on specific discipline tasks sometimes vanishing the power of the optimization technology in inapplicable or single-discipline limited results.

In few exceptions skilled individuals where able to manage information coming from different application area showing the potential of a multidisciplinary approach however the difficulty of the cooperation between engineering of diverse background somewhat prevent the general adoption of detailed and sophisticated models with a system engineering approach. Web technology, software integration and design optimization are however nowadays providing the ecosystem where collaboration may emerge through the sharing of simulation models instead of the sharing of documents and the design engineer may focus on global objective while keeping his specialization.

Curriculum

Carlo Poloni is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Trieste (Italy).

After graduating in 1987, he worked in the space division of Aeritalia (Italian aerospace company) and for the Sincrotrone Trieste, before joining the University of Trieste as a researcher focusing on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization.

Later, he co-founded ESTECO and is currently the President of the company.

He has published more than 100 papers in refereed journals and proceedings. As well, he currently works as a consultant for international companies and organizations.

In January 2013, he was appointed a member of the board of the Italian Chapter of INCOSE.