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Throughout
your career, you will often be part of a team working
on a "project" to design a product and move it into operation.
This "team" will be made up of individuals from different
disciplines, both technical and non-technical, all of
whom have different roles to play in the conduct of this
activity. Often, a process known as systems engineering
is employed to guide and control the activities of a project
team.
Systems engineering is a comprehensive, structured approach
for the design, creation, and operation of a system in
a cost-effective manner. Systems engineering is concerned
with the overall process of defining, developing, operating,
maintaining, and ultimately replacing quality systems.
Whereas other engineering disciplines concentrate on the
details of individual aspects of a system (electronics,
mechanics, ergonometrics, aerodynamics, software, etc.),
systems engineering is concerned with the integration
of all of these aspects into a coherent and effective
system. Systems engineers concentrate their efforts on
the aspects of the engineering process (requirements definition,
top-level functional designs, project management, lifecycle
cost analysis, etc.) that serve to organize and coordinate
other engineering activities.
As a systems engineer, you are the primary interface between
management, customers, suppliers, and specialty engineers
in the systems development process.
Text and graphic © 1997 George Mason University.
Used with permission.|
The characteristics required of a systems engineer are
shown
here.
This Module will introduce you to the fundamental concepts
and techniques of the systems engineering process, which
will be useful to you if you decide to become a Systems
Engineer or just want to enhance your project management
capabilities by applying the concepts of systems engineering.
Since systems engineering is a broad subject, with many
different aspects, and not everyone agrees on what systems
engineering is, or how to do it, the material in this
Module is limited to general concepts and generic descriptions
of processes, tools, and techniques.
The contents of this Module draw heavily on the following
references:
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NASA
Systems Engineering Handbook |
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Systems
Engineering Management Guide |
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Systems
Engineering and Analysis, Blanchard & Fabrycky |
In order to provide a context in which to discuss the
systems engineering process, we will consider the application
of various systems engineering concepts to two relatively
simple systems: the addition of a workshop to our house;
and the selection of a barbeque grill for home use.
| Read
about the Hubble
Space Telescope - An expensive repair could
have been side-stepped if a few simple tests had
been conducted. The
Apollo 13 near disaster might have been avoided
if the upgrading of just one system component had
not been overlooked. The
Lunar Rover Vehicle is an example where careful
systems engineering led to a spectacular success.
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