During the concept generation phase of the project it can be quite daunting to come up with ideas for designs. Luckily we have a couple of useful tools such as 9 windows of the world and 3-6-5 which are very useful in the early stages of a project.

9 windows

		TIME
		Past	Present	Future
SPACE	Super Systems	Past Supersystem	Present Supersystem	Future Supersystem
	System	Past System	Your problem	Future System
	Subsystem	Past Subsystem	Present subsystem	Future Subsystem

The 9 windows of the world is a creativity tool (Figure 1) that is used to help develop new ideas and solutions to a future problem you want to solve (1). Breaking down your satellite into it’s individual components (subsystem) and how it interacts with it’s mission (super-system) can aid the team in overcoming the problem in only thinking about the present, only considering system level thinking, over reliance of experience, limited knowledge, rehashing the same ideas and just rushing to a solution (2). By using 9 windows we can overcome these mental hurdles and develop new novel ideas that will result in a satellite that resolves a challenging problem.

		TIME
		Past	Present	Future
SPACE	Super Systems	Constellation of large satellites monitoring Earth	Satellite used for Earth observation beams info as it passes over ground station. Cubesat observes designated area	Real time observation adapting to changing events   Cubesat swarm interact with each other
	System	Large observation satellite	Earth observation cubesat	Cubesat Swarm
	Subsystem	Data on tapes recovered after Earth re entry.   Telescopic camera	Downloading data to ground station. RadiosSensorsADCS	Cubesats send data to AI system to remove corrupted and unwanted data

This tool is very simple to use as you begin with your problem or system (Figure 2) in the center. In our case we want to develop an Earth observation cubesat that we can do to analyse certain environmental activities. We break down the cubesat into it’s individual components such as the radios that will be needed to download the data, sensors and pointing system to enable the satellite to point to the target. We can explore more components in this section. We then move onto the cubesat’s environment (super system) which is it observing Earth and sending down data to the ground station. The satellite can be provided new commands to overwatch a designated region of the planet. As you can see we can ask questions on how our satellite is going to interact with it’s super system and identify solutions and systems that the satellite will require.

After you explore the present you will then look in the past of how a similar system worked in the past. Before cubesats we had larger satellites that ranged from the size of a large fridge to a bus which were mainly used by the military. We could research on how these old satellites interacted with its environment and how it conducted its mission. Instead of downloading data to a ground station the really old systems in the 1960s would  eject the images into a capsule which would be recovered as it re-entered Earth (3).

Now we look into the future to our system and identify where we want to take it further. We want to create a cubesat swarm to provide real time observation of a location. To be able to do this the cubesats need to be able to interact with each other. With the large amounts of data our swarm will produce will be difficult to downlink to our ground station therefore a solution would be to have one satellite to incorporate AI which will eliminate the unwanted data the swarm has produced which will make it more manageable. In an actual project you would go into more detail.

3-6-5

During the concept generation phase, it is best to come up with as many ideas as possible, as this is to ensure that all possible avenues have been explored and avoid the team in having to go back to the beginning later on in the project. The 3-6-5 is a brainstorming tool that is used to develop a vast quantity of concepts in a short space of time. The basic principle of using this tool is to have 6 people produce concepts 3 concepts in the table within 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes have passed each member will explain their concept to group and then pass their sheet to someone else who will progress the idea further in the next round of 5 minutes. If the concept can’t be improved or advanced then a brand new concept can be created. Once the session is over the team can eliminate ideas that would be unfeasible via a Pugh Matrix. Then they can decide which ideas to develop further which may result in some being combined.

Figure 3 3-6-5 example of an audio chair

In my example I used 3-6-5 (Figure 3) to develop ideas for an audio chair during my Masters thesis. The audio chair was to link up with a telepresence robot and I wanted to create a system that would recreate the robot’s environment and create the illusion of presence to the operator.

There is a template for 9 Windows of the World and 3-6-5 which can be found here.

When designing I found it easier to come up with ideas away from the desk. Even a short coffee break for a couple of minutes has helped me come up with inspiration.

Refill your inspiration with the Design Make Test drinking mug.

 

References

1. Roe, Chuck. 9 Windows Creativity Technique — a Framework for the Future. Medium. [Online] June 8, 2017. [Cited: February 4, 2024.] https://medium.com/@cmrroe_10507/9-windows-creativity-technique-a-framework-for-the-future-d98cb3e902ab.

2. ASQ. HOW NINE WINDOWS DRIVES SOLUTIONS & IDEA CREATION. [Online] [Cited: February 4, 2024.] https://asq.org/quality-resources/nine-windows.

3. Corona Satellite Imagery AMERICAN'S FIRST SATELLITE PROGRAM. Ez-frisk.org. [Online] [Cited: February 4, 2024.] https://ez-frisk.org/satellite-imagery/corona-satellite-imagery/.