Book Image

Systems Engineering Demystified

By : Jon Holt
Book Image

Systems Engineering Demystified

By: Jon Holt

Overview of this book

Systems engineering helps us to understand, specify, and develop complex systems, and is applied across a wide set of disciplines. As systems and their associated problems become increasingly complex in this evermore connected world, the need for more rigorous, demonstrable, and repeatable techniques also increases. Written by Professor Jon Holt – an internationally recognized systems engineering expert – this book provides a blend of technical and business aspects you need to understand in order to develop successful systems. You'll start with systems engineering basics and understand the complexity, communication, and different stakeholders' views of the system. The book then covers essential aspects of model-based systems engineering, systems, life cycles, and processes, along with techniques to develop systems. Moving on, you'll explore system models and visualization techniques, focusing on the SysML, and discover how solutions can be defined by developing effective system design, verification, and validation techniques. The book concludes by taking you through key management processes and systems engineering best practices and guidelines. By the end of this systems engineering book, you'll be able to confidently apply modern model-based systems engineering techniques to your own systems and projects.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction to Systems Engineering
4
Section 2: Systems Engineering Concepts
8
Section 3: Systems Engineering Techniques
14
Section 4: Next steps

The decision management process

The main aim of the decision management process is to provide mechanisms for exploring alternative options for making decisions at any point in the life cycle, and is shown in the following diagram:

Figure 10.5 – Process content view for the decision management process

The outcomes, represented by SysML properties, that are identified for this process are described as follows:

  • Alternative course of action identified identifies the options that are available at the key decision points that were identified in the previous outcome.
  • Decisions identified identifies the key decision points that are available at any point in the life cycle.
  • Preferred course of action selected, where based on the previous outcomes, the most appropriate course of action is selected.

These outcomes are achieved by executing a number of activities, each of which comprises a number of tasks. These activities will now be discussed...