Draft:Proof of technology

The objective of a proof of technology is to determine the solution to some technical problem, such as how two systems might be integrated or that a certain throughput can be achieved with a given configuration.

Prototypes
Def.
 * 1) "[a]n original object or form which is a basis for other objects, forms, or for its models and generalizations",
 * 2) "an early sample or model built to test a concept or process", or
 * 3) "[a]n instance of a category or a concept that combines its most representative attributes" is called a prototype.

A "proof-of-technology prototype ... typically implements one critical scenario to exercise or stress the highest-priority requirements."

A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.

A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and users.

Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one. In some design workflow models, creating a prototype (a process sometimes called materialization) is the step between the formalization and the evaluation of an idea.

Prototypes explore different aspects of an intended design:
 * A Proof-of-Principle Prototype serves to verify some key functional aspects of the intended design, but usually does not have all the functionality of the final product.
 * A Working Prototype represents all or nearly all of the functionality of the final product.
 * A Visual Prototype represents the size and appearance, but not the functionality, of the intended design. A Form Study Prototype is a preliminary type of visual prototype in which the geometric features of a design are emphasized, with less concern for color, texture, or other aspects of the final appearance.
 * A User Experience Prototype represents enough of the appearance and function of the product that it can be used for user research.
 * A Functional Prototype captures both function and appearance of the intended design, though it may be created with different techniques and even different scale from final design.
 * A Paper Prototype is a printed or hand-drawn representation of the user interface of a software product. Such prototypes are commonly used for early testing of a software design, and can be part of a software walk through to confirm design decisions before more costly levels of design effort are expended.

Field tests
Def. a "test of something conducted in conditions under which it was designed to actually operate, especially out in the real world instead of in a laboratory or workshop" is called a field test.

A "proof-of-technology test demonstrates the system can be used".

Performances
"The strongest proof of technology performance is based on consistency among multiple lines of evidence, all pointing to similar levels of risk reduction."

Textile archaeologists use ancient tools to weave a tapestry
"Archaeologists had excavated loom weights from several Viking pit houses, which had no windows, just a hole in the roof."

Would it "have been possible to weave with the only illumination coming from a single skylight."

A "loom like the Vikings would have used, a warp-weighted loom [was constructed]."

"The vertical threads of a woven fabric are called the warp, and the horizontal strands are the weft. Loom weights attached to the warp threads hold them down, providing tension. The weaver passes the weft threads back and forth, over and under the warp, to create the fabric."

With the loom, [...] down into a cellar-like pit reconstructed by students[,] "Those houses were excellent for weaving, actually."

"Plenty of light came through the skylight. The effort helped convince her to focus on textile tools as a window into the world of ancient fabrics and the people who made them."

"At that time, archaeologists didn’t think much about whorls and loom weights as functional objects. Researchers didn’t record crucial details, like weight and width, and sometimes tools were misclassified."

"Birkan textile workers would have spent their time — a lot of their time — spinning and weaving coarse fabrics, such as sailcloth. Finer fabrics probably arrived via trade."

A "puzzling range of tool sizes and weights [was found], and [...] what the ancient whorls could do [was tested]. Because today’s tools and textiles are different, [...] textile crafters trained in ancient techniques to test replicas of the ancient tools [were recruited]."

The heavier the whorl, the thicker the resulting thread [was discovered]. That finding makes sense: Heavy whorls would snap thin threads; lightweight whorls wouldn’t turn properly when dangling from a thicker thread.

Because "Birkan sites contained such a wide range of tools, Birkan weavers must have created a broad repertoire of threads and fabrics — both coarse sailcloth [...] and the fine material, presumably remnants of clothing, found in nearby graves."

It "would have taken four women, working 10-hour days, a full year to spin and weave 120 square meters of fabric for one large Viking sail."

"With these experiments, tools left lying around ancient workshops are telling their stories. Archaeologists can figure out what fabrics could have been woven, even though not a thread remains. The heft of a loom weight reveals how many threads it could have held; the width of the loom weight indicates how closely spaced those strands would have been. [Methods were developed] to work from loom weight to fabric type."

"We can never say it’s exactly this fabric or that fabric, but we can give the range of fabrics that could have been produced."

"For example, a particular loom weight found in Turkey and dating to 3800 to 3350 B.C. weighs 870 grams, a bit lighter than a quart of milk. [It] would have been suitable for a coarse fabric made with thick threads. Another loom weight from 1750 to 1300 B.C. Turkey — which weighed 177 grams, comparable to a cue ball — would work best with thinner threads requiring low tension."

Loom "weights from the Greek island of Crete [were analyzed] to learn what textiles might have been made or traded at three palaces dating from 1900 to 1700 B.C. Based on the tools present at a palace site in Knossos, workers there probably used thin threads to make dense fabrics. Weavers in a palace in Phaistos probably worked with a wider variety of threads, mostly fine ones, and had to cram the horizontal weft threads tightly to make solid cloth. And from a palace in Quartier Mu came a range of textiles."

"The Greeks used lighter loom weights than Italians did. The lighter weights would have been appropriate for tabby weaves. The bigger, heavier Italian weights could have been suited for a technique that creates diagonal ridges, for a more complex twill fabric."

Hypotheses

 * 1) A technology can be developed on Wikiversity.