Services

We embrace complexity

As a systems engineering company, Shoal understands that complexity in projects can rapidly escalate and create pressure on already tight schedules, scope of works and budgets. The answer here is not to reduce or simplify. At Shoal, we embrace the uncertainty in complexity and use systems engineering to mitigate these risks from the outset.

We understand smart engineering begins with smart decisions

We centre our work on the early-stage of project lifecycles, developing a deep understanding of the issues our clients face and the surrounding environment. Guided by our systems thinking approach and rigorous engineering practises, the team at Shoal continue to lead the capability design for some of Australia’s largest and most complex systems across defence, space, transport and infrastructure.

We deliver solutions

Our clients’ projects regularly involve significantly large but undefined numbers of moving pieces that are interrelated and technically challenging. The benefits of adopting early-stage systems engineering puts the focus on designing a system that addresses these challenges. Our approach informs an end-to-end solution that delivers fit-for purpose solutions and a competitive edge.

Our expertise

At Shoal we help our clients clearly define the complexity embedded in their projects, and design solutions they can trust.

Systems Engineering

Shoal has been expertly applying systems engineering to complex problems for over 20 years. From concept to architecture, through to design we use it to methodically assess and manage complexity and risk for our clients.

For Shoal, the core of our Systems Engineering capability is digital engineering. We lead the field in its advancement and application and use it to partner with and support our clients in the design and delivery of practical, tailored and resilient solutions. Our approach is made even more powerful by the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools we use. By applying MBSE to the design and construction of large interdisciplinary systems-of-systems, Shoal expertly coordinates system wide design activity and delivers a better understanding of design change impacts and a consistent view of stakeholder requirements.

The creation of digital models, both analytical and descriptive, and the integration of the two, provides a more efficient and effective support to all the Systems Engineering activities across a project and the entire lifecycle of the asset being developed.

Safety assurance

By taking a logical and systematic approach at the earliest stages of a project Shoal identifies safety-related requirements and design mitigation strategies to ensure safety regulations are met or exceeded throughout the lifecycle of the asset.

We partner with our clients and key project stakeholders to identify and assess project risks and hazards down to the requisite detail. The integration of powerful analysis techniques into the systems engineering process means our clients benefit from relevant and usable information around hazard assessment and how safety should be incorporated and delivered into the project.

Our integrated approach incorporates safety goals into a federated system model making it a powerful single source of truth, delivering vastly improved traceability and reporting.

Capability design and system architecture

Our early-stage work links strategic goals and objectives with the end use needs and covers needs identification, operational concept development and requirements derivation.

This expertise underpins our ability to distill concept documentation into detailed models for quantitative comparison against solution concepts, enabling more informed decision making for our clients.

Modelling and simulation

Models and simulations support the early design phase of systems by providing a tool to explore the system behaviour under different scenarios or circumstances. Using physics-based Modelling, Simulation, and Analysis (MS&A), in both descriptive, numerical, and analytical models, our team expertly supports the early design phase of highly complicated systems across aerospace, defence, and within flight safety applications.

The creation of a representative mathematical model enables analysis of these systems, without building a physical model, through simulations to gain a deep understanding of performance. Continual testing throughout the development of a system ensures that it is fit-for-purpose and the insights gained allow for rapid iterations, enhancing the outcomes that we can deliver for our clients.

Analytics for decision support

The use of effective analytics for decision support enables the testing of complex systems and concepts to efficiently deliver products, and services, and enables highly informed decision making. Shoal’s approach to concept and physics-based mathematical modelling and digital engineering enables evidence-based decision making for new business processes, new capabilities, tolerances, deficiencies, constraints and performance requirements. With it, our clients can explore probability, performance, scenarios and outcomes of complex systems, tactics and activities. It enables the testing of complex systems and concepts – without risk to the project, assets, infrastructure and, importantly, human life.