Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those who contributed to this book, often unknowingly, during a reading, a discussion, a comment about a technological fact or rule and what not.

First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the intellectual debt that I took from Mario Augusto Bunge, the Argentine-Canadian philosopher of science. His work, discovered by chance in [DUR 02], became to me over the years the most demanding, the most encyclopedic, the most fertile and, especially, the most true of contemporary epistemologies (because, of course, all epistemologies are not of equal value [BUN 12]). His vision, ontological, epistemological and methodological, is not only of a philosophical background, but also the tool that allowed me to develop an approach for the development of technological systems which is, both theoretically sound and practically effective and efficient. I have maybe sometimes misunderstood concepts and propositions supported by Mario A. Bunge, or I have reused them roughly, but his work and how he puts it forward are both a solid foundation on which to build and also an invitation to think for myself and, I hope, for the best. I also accept full repsonsibility for weaknesses. I would also emphasize the conceptual borrowings I took from Vladimir Hubka, Norbert Roozenburg and John Gero.

In second place, comes the Doctor, and Major General, Dominique Luzeaux. I had the privilege of working with him in the French chapter of INCOSE (AFIS). Chairman of this chapter, he showed me, practically, what could and should be a rational decision making process. He gave me the opportunity to take an interest in the systems of systems. I thank him warmly for having forworded my work, that I think innovative and thus exposed to controversies.

Then follow those who, at Airbus Helicopters (AH) and the Centre National des Etudes Spatiales (CNES), provided me with direct support in my research effort. They are Michel Palandri, Charles Lanzalavi, Louis Fabre, Pascal Pandolfi and Sebastien Poussard (from AH) and Erwann Poupard (from CNES). They allowed me not only to validate the concepts and approach initially imagined, but they also pushed me to deepen it. I owe them, first, for allowing me to formalize the notion of EDM and, second, for building a mock-up of property model method (PMM) front-end.

I would also like to thank all those whom I have rubbed shoulders with daily in recent years, during the development of the EC175, until its certification in January 2014, and now, on a new helicopter development. I think of airworthiness teams with O. Jeunehomme, D. Strutzer, G. Brun, A. Illinca and C. Bousquet, but also of the EASA counterparts such as P.G. Colombo, G. Soudain, A. Smerlas, C. Rosay and R. White, those of AH Design Office, M. Achache, A. Ducollet, A. Jenni, K. de Bono, M. Godard, S. Bailly, J. Nobili and M. Lanteaume, and those of laboratory test, G. Cahon and C. Gaurel and flight test, P. Bremond, A. Di Bianca, M. Oswald and A. Delavet.

I also think of those with whom I have exchanged ideas on these issues, more sporadically by the force of circumstance, but always with benefits: R. Miginiac and J.M. Lecuna from Dassault Aviation, P. Farail and Y. Bernard from Airbus Avionics and Simulation Products, G. Meuriot and J.P. Daniel from AREVA, F. Hasse from DCNS, J.R. Ruault from DGA, E. Combes and J. Personnaz from PSA Peugeot Citroën, J.M. Pelbois from CMR, D. Seguela from CNES, and F. Malburet and P. Veron from Arts and Metiers Paris’ Tech.

I would also like to thank my family, my daughter Louise, my son Pierre and especially my wife Monique who has been, at the same time, the most diligent, the most critical but also the most benevolent of my readers. I have needed them to be able to bring this project to fruition.