Question

Toflokpo-Crane is new company that specializes in designing and manufacturing small-scale automatic jib cranes for moving heavy loads around a workshop or production line environment. Their primary selling point is the integration of neural network-based imaging technology to enable fully automatic identification of objects to pick-up, removing the need for human intervention. The primary components of a jib crane are the floor mounted pillar (containing a rotational motor), the jib/boom mounted on-top of the pillar, the customisable hoist that can traverse the jib/boom as well as raise or lower a pick-up attachment, the pick-up attachment that allows the crane to connect with the goods to move, the high-definition camera array that monitors the area under the pick-up attachment, and the AI unit that processes the camera input and directs the crane. Most pillars are of fixed height; however, the user can manually adjust the height for some pillars using a handle positioned at the pillar base.

Toflokpo-Crane engineers are awarding you the project of developing the software control system for the crane. There are two ways that the crane should be controlled. First, an on-floor administrator should access a crane control panel enabling manual control of the crane via a Web interface hosted by the crane (accessible via the local Wi-Fi network). They can also toggle between manual and autonomous mode, as well get a live feed from the camera arrays using the Web interface. The camera arrays are only powered when in use. If in autonomous mode, the crane will be controlled by the AI Unit, based on input from the camera array. The AI Unit and human operator share the same operations. Internally, the control system needs to send requests to the other crane components to facilitate pick-up and movement/drop-off of goods. The pillar can rotate a given number of degrees and the hoist can move a number of inches forward or backward along the jib, as well as raise/lower the attachment a number of inches. The Hoist knows the length of the Jib to avoid traversing further than the length of the Jib. The control system should support different attachments natively, as all available attachments share the same base set of commands. Toflokpo-Crane currently makes attachments for picking up packing crates and goods bags. In emergencies the crane can be shut down using a red stop button on the pillar.

TASKS

Describe two requirements that you have extracted from the description above (two sentences each). For each, state whether it is functional or non-functional .

Identify the stakeholders in the system with justification

The description above is intentionally vague. Identify as many principal components of the Toflokpo-Crane control system as possible and how these might interact with each other. You may wish to use a diagram to illustrate these components and how they connect (1 mark for each correct component identified, up to a maximum of 10 Marks).

Describe two additional requirements that you can reasonably assume from the above description, but are not mentioned in the description above (two sentences each). State whether they are functional or non-functional .

Product Description: This is a description for a new software product that an end-user wants to have developed. It provides high level information about what the user envisages the product will do.

Tasks: For this exercise, your role is as a software architect on a project team. Your project manager has tasked you with converting the product description into documentation for the project development team using the software project management techniques you have learned. The tasks section lists the pieces of documentation you need to produce.

Toflokpo-Crane is new company that specializes in designing and manufacturing small-scale automatic jib cranes for moving heavy loads around a workshop or production line environment. Their primary selling point is the integration of neural network-based imaging technology to enable fully automatic identification of objects to pick-up, removing the need for human intervention. The primary components of a jib crane are the floor mounted pillar (containing a rotational motor), the jib/boom mounted on-top of the pillar, the customisable hoist that can traverse the jib/boom as well as raise or lower a pick-up attachment, the pick-up attachment that allows the crane to connect with the goods to move, the high-definition camera array that monitors the area under the pick-up attachment, and the AI unit that processes the camera input and directs the crane. Most pillars are of fixed height; however, the user can manually adjust the height for some pillars using a handle positioned at the pillar base.

Toflokpo-Crane engineers are awarding you the project of developing the software control system for the crane. There are two ways that the crane should be controlled. First, an on-floor administrator should access a crane control panel enabling manual control of the crane via a Web interface hosted by the crane (accessible via the local Wi-Fi network). They can also toggle between manual and autonomous mode, as well get a live feed from the camera arrays using the Web interface. The camera arrays are only powered when in use. If in autonomous mode, the crane will be controlled by the AI Unit, based on input from the camera array. The AI Unit and human operator share the same operations. Internally, the control system needs to send requests to the other crane components to facilitate pick-up and movement/drop-off of goods. The pillar can rotate a given number of degrees and the hoist can move a number of inches forward or backward along the jib, as well as raise/lower the attachment a number of inches. The Hoist knows the length of the Jib to avoid traversing further than the length of the Jib. The control system should support different attachments natively, as all available attachments share the same base set of commands. Toflokpo-Crane currently makes attachments for picking up packing crates and goods bags. In emergencies the crane can be shut down using a red stop button on the pillar.

TASKS

Describe two requirements that you have extracted from the description above (two sentences each). For each, state whether it is functional or non-functional .

Identify the stakeholders in the system with justification

The description above is intentionally vague. Identify as many principal components of the Toflokpo-Crane control system as possible and how these might interact with each other. You may wish to use a diagram to illustrate these components and how they connect (1 mark for each correct component identified, up to a maximum of 10 Marks).

Describe two additional requirements that you can reasonably assume from the above description, but are not mentioned in the description above (two sentences each). State whether they are functional or non-functional .

Answer 1