Systems
Engineering
An Introduction
Outline
What is “SE”?
Why “SE”?
Where it can be?
How “SE”?(A big question)
A Generic SE process
What is a ‘System’?
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What is a ‘System’?
A group of components that work together for
a specified purpose
• Components - products (hardware,
software, firmware), processes, people,
information, techniques, facilities, services
and other support elements
• Together – integration of many
• Purpose – is achieved by implementing
many functions
Other
Systems
Natural Man made
Technical Non – Technical
Aircraft Economic system
Missile Societal systems
… …
Emphasis on Technical systems
Technical Systems
Human-made artifacts
Result of engineering activities with the
processes of engineering design
Difficult to classify systems based on
technology like electrical system, mechanical
system
• Most present day systems are hybrids of simple
systems of the past
An indication of the need to use inter-
disciplinary approach
What is “Engineering”?
Knowledge of mathematical and natural
sciences applied to utilize limited
resources economically for the benefit of
people
• Scientific approach
• Optimize resources
• User/customer in focus
Classical Engineering focused mainly on
product design
Systems Engineering (SE)
SE is an interdisciplinary approach
and means to enable realization of
successful systems
• It is very quantitative including tradeoff,
optimization, selection and integration of
products from various engineering
disciplines
• It is more of an engineering discipline.
Why SE (cont..)
More systematic way of development
Better control of System Development incl.
management of risk, changes, configuration
Traceability at all levels
Operational & supportability aspects
Effectiveness Analysis
Risk management
Operational - Maintainability, Availability, Safety
etc
Ensures FINAL PRODUCT Fully Meets All User
Requirements
Systems Engineering (SE)
Emphasis on
• Top-down approach
• Interdisciplinary approach
• Effort on more complete definition of
system requirements
• Life cycle engineering approach
Emphasis in SE
Top-down approach
• Look at system from top
• Decide inputs/outputs taking into account the
supersystem
• Decide subsystems
… down to lower levels
Interdisciplinary approach
• Analytical approach is inadequate
• Capture the interactions between disciplines
• Exploit the synergism of these interactions
Emphasis in SE
More complete definition of needs
• Complete definition of needs facilitates verification of system performance
• Minimize surprises at later stages
Life cycle engineering approach
• Initial approach was Design cycle
• Later with Design for Manufacture (DFM) approach Manufacturing cycle also included
• Present thinking is to consider three life cycles i.e. Design, Manufacturing and Supportability concurrently
• Leading to Concurrent Engineering (CE)
Life-cycle engineering approach
Development phase Utilization phase
NEED
Conceptual & Detail Design Production Product use
Design Preliminary & and/or Phase out and
Design Development Construction Disposal
Manufacturing Manufacturing
Manufacture Configuration Operations
Design
Product support Product support
Deployment configuration design and maintenance
and development
Product life cycle
Identification of need Research Input
Conceptual design
System concept
Preliminary Design
Subsystem design
Detailed Design & Development
Component design
Production/Construction
Development phasing
Utilization & Support
Phase-out and Disposal
Systems Engineering process
Basic steps
Define system objectives (user’s needs)
Establish performance requirements
(requirements analysis)
Establish functionality (functional analysis)
Evolve design and operation concepts (design
synthesis)
Select a baseline (thro’ trade-off studies)
Verify the baseline meets requirements
Iterate the process through lower level trades
(decomposition)
INPUT Requirements Functional
analysis R analysis
V D
Design
Synthesis
System Analysis &
OUTPUT Control
Concept studies
System studies
Prelim. Design
Detailed Design
Conceptual design
Requirement
Preliminary design
analysis
Detailed design &
Functional analysis
Development
Design Synthesis
System analysis
and control
Development
phasing
Development
System Production
Engineering Deployment
Management Operation
System Support
Engineering Life cycle Training
process approach Verification
Disposal
This interaction shows how to apply SE process to
develop systems in life cycle approach
Aids to SE Management
Functional baseline
Allocated baseline
(‘Design to’ specs.)
Drawing inputs from
Product baseline
all the life cycle
(‘Build to’ specs.)
activities for various
Development development phases
phasing
Lifecycle
Baselines
planning
System
Engineering
Management
System
Engineering Life cycle
Integrated approach
process
approach
Integrated team
from Systems
engineering and
discipline specialists
System Engineering
Hierarchy
World
View
Domain
View
Element
View
Component
View
19
Product Engineering Hierarchy
Product Requirements
Engineering
System
Component
Engineering
Human Hardware Software Database
Engineering Engineering Engineering Engineering
Analysis
Data and Modeling
Function Behavior
Classes
Design
Data/Class Architectural Interface Component Modeling
Design Design Design Design
Construction
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What is a system?
A group of components that work together for a
specified purpose e.g. Aircraft
• Purpose is achieved by implementing many functions
• System is made up of components, attributes and
relationships
• Components are the operating parts consisting of
input, process and output e.g. Wing
• Components may be structural, flow or operating
• Attributes are the properties that characterize the
system e.g. Lift generated
• Relationships are links between components and
attributes
• The purposeful action by system is its function.
