Catalog

Fundamentals of Systems Engineering

Aeronautics and Astronautics MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 10 lectures

General introduction to systems engineering using both the classical V-model and the new _Meta_ approach. Topics include stakeholder analysis, requirements definition, system architecture and concept generation, trade-space exploration and concept selection, design definition and optimization, system integration and interface management, system safety, verification and validation, and commissioning and operations. Discusses the trade-offs between performance, lifecycle cost and system operability. Readings based on systems engineering standards and papers. Students apply the concepts of systems engineering to a cyber-electro-mechanical system, which is subsequently entered into a design competition. Students will prepare a PDR (Preliminary Design Review)-level design intended for the _Cansat Competition_.This year's class will be taught in the form of a Small-Private-Online-Course (SPOC) and offered simultaneously to students at MIT under number 16.842 and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) as ENG-421.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Session 2: Requirements Definition
  2. 2 Session 3: Systems Modeling Languages
  3. 3 Session 4: System Architecture and Concept Generation
  4. 4 Session 5: Concept Selection and Tradespace Exploration
  5. 5 Session 6: Design Definition and Multidisciplinary Optimization
  6. 6 Session 7: Miscellaneous Topics - MBSE and Introduction to CAD
  7. 7 Session 8: Systems Integration and Interface Management
  8. 8 Session 9: Verification and Validation
  9. 9 Session 10: Commissioning and Operations
  10. 10 Session 11: Lifecycle Management

Course materials