Communication of the maturity of technology through the program/product life cycles helps enhance risk management from the beginning and support decision-making strategies for research, development, and allocation of resources. Currently, many organizations use the technology readiness level (TRL) as a simple metric to indicate the maturity of the technology. This article will discuss the TRL history, define the TRL levels, show how the TRL relates to the technology life cycle, and how the TRL framework contributes to the human readiness level (HRL) structure. Through the TRL advantages and disadvantages, this article will show how the TRL falls short in numerous areas of engineering, including the integration readiness of system/subsystem components and assessment of the readiness of the technology to operate within the human capabilities and limitations. Yet the article also shows how the TRL serves as the foundation for HRL.

通过项目/产品生命周期交流技术成熟度有助于从一开始就加强风险管理，并支持研究、开发和资源分配的决策策略。目前，许多组织使用技术准备水平 (TRL) 作为一个简单的指标来表明技术的成熟度。本文将讨论 TRL 的历史，定义 TRL 级别，展示 TRL 如何与技术生命周期相关，以及 TRL 框架如何为人类准备级别 (HRL) 结构做出贡献。通过 TRL 的优缺点，本文将展示 TRL 在众多工程领域中的不足之处，包括系统/子系统组件的集成准备情况以及对在人类能力和限制范围内运行的技术准备情况的评估。然而，本文还展示了 TRL 如何作为 HRL 的基础。