SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROFILES

[ What is a Systems Engineering Profile ] [ Contents of a Profile ] [ Profile Topics ]
[ Project Deliverables ]

This document is a draft ... I will me making incremental modifications until the end of October. I present it now so that you know what's ahead!


WHAT IS A SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROFILE?

While the discipline of Systems Engineering has been practiced primarily by the Defense, Aerospace, and some Civil sectors during the past 2-3 decades, we expect that in the 21st Century, nontraditional engineering (and even some non-engineering domains) will benefit from systems engineering techniques. All of these sectors will need to develop highly complex systems, with strict requirements on performance, reliability, and economy.

A Systems Engineering Application Profile is a high-level description of how Systems Engineering concepts, procedures, processes, and technology can be used for problem solving within an application domain. By assembling and presenting a suite of applications profiles in one place, we hope to identify patterns in problem solving strategies and techniques that are common to multiple application domains (INCOSE 95).

Development of these profiles will advance systems engineering education, promote the discipline of systems engineering, and enable systems engineering practice across application domains.


PROFILE TOPIC AREAS

Here is a list of suggested topic areas for constructing a systems engineering profile:

    Agriculture
    Automated Highway Systems 
    Chemical Systems (e.g., oil/chemical refineries)
    Commercial Aircraft
    Electronic Design Automation
    Electronic Packaging
    Energy Systems
    Environmental Restoration/Cleanup
    Entertainment Systems (e.g., Networked Video Games)
    Geographic Information Systems
    Healthcare Information Systems 
    Highway Transportation Systems
    Intelligent Building Systems
    Intranets/Extranets/Web Browsers....
    Infrastructure Systems (e.g., bridges, dams, roads etc..)
    Medical devices
    Microelectronics manufacturing
    Motor Vehicles
    Natural Resources Management
    Office Automation
    Petroleum Exploration
    Power Systems Engineering
    Robotic devices
    Satellite Design and Deployment
    Structural Systems (e.g., buildings and highway bridges)
    Systems Engineering Automation/Tools.
    Telecommunications
    Telemedicine
    Urban Planning
    Waste Management and Disposal

Of course, you are welcome to propose your own topic. Projects should focus on the solution of an applications problem that requires the resources of 20-30 people. One example of an unacceptable topic is "How I installed a web server in my Apartement."

Good introductions to some of these application domains can be found in special issues of Scientific American, Communications of the ACM and IEEE Design and Test.

Another good place to look is the Proceedings of the International Council of Systems Engineering (INCOSE), especially papers that have been presented in the "Systems Applications" tracks.


PROFILE REQUIREMENTS

Each profile should contain:

INTRODUCTION

ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

ASSESSMENT OF SYSTEMS INFORMATION

Where appropriate, provide links to case-studies located on the web.

MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS

Present one or two examples showing how these measures of effectiveness apply in practice.

OPTIMIZATION AND TRADE-OFF ANALYSIS

Detailed Analysis

Take a significant problem within your application area, and formulate it in terms of a single- or multiobjective "optimization" problem.

The important point at this stage is choosing a solution pathway that is appropriate to the problem at hand. I expect that some projects will lend themselves to the solution of linear programming problems. Others may lend themselves to analysis with decision tables/tree and possibly the use of utility functions. Both approaches are fine. What I will be looking for is justification of the problem formulation, and a critical assessment of the analysis that is conducted (both good and bad).

Use of Online Spreadsheets (Optional)

The purpose of this section will be to explore the use of Java Applets for analysis of simple systems (and decision making) within the application domain.

If the library of Java Applets cannot portray a simply idea, please let us know and we will consider writing a special applet for your purpose.

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING CHALLENGES

CONTACTS AND REFERENCES

To ensure that the previous sections are accurate, I expect that you will contact and interview professionals working within the industry/domain.


PROJECT DELIVERABLES

Student groups may have 1 or two persons. There will be two project deliverables:

Assessment

Projects will be graded on:


REFERENCES

  1. International Council of Systems Engineering Applications Forum Working Group, Systems Engineering Application Profiles, Version 1.0, May 1, 1996.


Developed in October 1998 by Mark Austin
Last Modified November 19, 1998
Copyright © 1998, Mark Austin, Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland