Methodological Proposal to Determine Technology Maturity Levels TRL 4 to TRL 7 for Mobile Applications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19053/01211129.v32.n64.2023.15681Keywords:
backend, frontend, mobile applications, technology maturity levels, user interfacesAbstract
Industries undergoing transformation strategies for improvement can use mobile applications (Apps) to enhance production efficiency, ensure greater coverage, and optimize costs and times. These crucial aspects are imperative to foster confidence among stakeholders. To satisfy this need, maturity assessment models such as the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) have been developed. This article proposes a methodology to ease the determination of mobile app maturity by mapping them to TRL levels 4 to 7. A review of TRL's application to software products, including mobile applications, indicates that research on it has been conducted but confirmed the absence of a methodology to evaluate their development maturity. With this input in mind, we reviewed different methodologies employed for technological assessment in Apps, selected the most suitable, and designed a set of activities and artifacts that constitute the tool. The methodology was validated through the evaluation of a technological product, and its ability to assess technological maturity at TRL levels 4 to 7 was confirmed. Consequently, we conclude that having tools such as the one presented here is of paramount importance to support research and innovation processes, ensure technological product quality, and comply with the TRL model.
Downloads
References
J. C. Mankins, Technology readiness levels,NASA, Washington D. C., 1995.
J. C. Mankins, “Technology readiness assessments: A retrospective,” Acta Astronautica, vol. 65, no. 9-10, pp. 1216-1223, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.03.058.
J. Straub, "Evaluating the Use of Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) for Cybersecurity Systems," in IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon), Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2021, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/SysCon48628.2021.9447130
S. M. Saad, R. Bahadori, H. Jafarnejad, M. F Putra, “Smart Production Planning and Control: Technology Readiness Assessment,” Procedia Computer Science, vol. 180, pp. 618-627, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.01.284
M. Richardson, M. Gorley, Y. Wang, G. Aiello, G. Pintsuk, E. Gaganidze, M. Richou, J. Henry, R. Vila, M. Rieth, “Technology readiness assessment of materials for DEMO in-vessel applications,” Journal of Nuclear Materials, vol. 550, e152906, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.152906
K. B. Kota, S. Shenbagaraj, P. K. Sharma, A. K. Sharma, P. K. Ghodke, W. Chen, “Biomass torrefaction: An overview of process and technology assessment based on global readiness level,” Fuel, vol. 324, e124663, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124663
R. Ruiz Seva, A. Li Sin Tan, L. M. Sequerra Tejero, M. L. Dorothy S. Salvacion, “Multi-dimensional readiness assessment of medical devices,” Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 189-205, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/1463922X.2022.2064934
G. T. Jesus, M. F. Chagas Junior, "Using Systems Architecture Views to Assess Integration Readiness Levels," IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, vol. 69, no. 6, pp. 3902-3912, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2020.3035492
F. Martínez-Plumed, E. Gómez, J. Hernández-Orallo, “Futures of artificial intelligence through technology readiness levels,” Telematics and Informatics, vol. 58, e101525, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101525
M. Sarfaraz, B. J. Sauser, E. W. Bauer, “Using System Architecture Maturity Artifacts to Improve Technology Maturity Assessment,” Procedia computer Science, vol. 8, pp. 165-170, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.01.034
T. Altunok, T. Cakmak, “A technology readiness levels (TRLs) calculator software for systems engineering and technology management tool,” Advances in Engineering Software, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 769-778, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advengsoft.2009.12.018
J. R. Armstrong, “Applying Technical Readiness Levels to Software: New Thoughts and Examples,” in INCOSE International Symposium, 2010, pp. 838-845. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-5837.2010.tb01108.x
R. S. Pressman, B. R. Maxim, Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach, McGraw-Hill, 2014.
F. F. Tsui, O. Karam, B. Bernal, Essentials of Software Engineering, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2016.
P. Olivier, X.-H. Ngo, A. Francillon, "BEERR: Bench of Embedded System Experiments for Reproducible Research," in IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops, Genoa, Italy, 2022, pp. 332-339. https://doi.org/10.1109/EuroSPW55150.2022.00040
N. Nazar, Y. Hu, H. Jiang, “Summarizing Software Artifacts: A Literature Review,” Journal of Computer Science and Technology, vol. 31, pp. 883–909, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11390-016-1671-1
H. Ibrahim, B. H. Far, A. Eberlein, "Scalability improvement in software evaluation methodologies," in IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse & Integration, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2009, pp. 236-241. https://doi.org/10.1109/IRI.2009.5211557
A. Park, M. Wilson, K. Robson, D. Demetis, J. Kietzmann, Interoperability: Our exciting and terrifying Web3 future, Business Horizons, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2022.10.005
J. Nielsen, Usability Engineering, Morgan Kaufmann, 1994.
T. Chassin, J. Ingensand, “E-guerrilla 3D participation: Approach, implementation, and usability study,” Frontiers in Virtual Reality, vol. 3, e1054252, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.1054252
D. P. Simon, The art of guerilla usability testing, 2023. https://www.uxbooth.com/articles/the-art-of-guerrilla-usability-testing/.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Jorge-Enrique Otalora-Luna, Helver-Augusto Valero-Bustos, Mauro Callejas-Cuervo

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles included in the Revista Facultad de Ingeniería are published under the Creative Commons (BY) license.
Authors must complete, sign, and submit the Review and Publication Authorization Form of the manuscript provided by the Journal; this form should contain all the originality and copyright information of the manuscript.
The authors who publish in this Journal accept the following conditions:
a. The authors retain the copyright and transfer the right of the first publication to the journal, with the work registered under the Creative Commons attribution license, which allows third parties to use what is published as long as they mention the authorship of the work and the first publication in this Journal.
b. Authors can make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (eg, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book) provided they clearly indicate that the work It was first published in this Journal.
c. Authors are allowed and recommended to publish their work on the Internet (for example on institutional or personal pages) before and during the process.
review and publication, as it can lead to productive exchanges and a greater and faster dissemination of published work.
d. The Journal authorizes the total or partial reproduction of the content of the publication, as long as the source is cited, that is, the name of the Journal, name of the author (s), year, volume, publication number and pages of the article.
e. The ideas and statements issued by the authors are their responsibility and in no case bind the Journal.