SYST 210: System Design

SYST 210: System Design

Fall, 2007

Course Description

SYST 210 introduces the systems engineering design and integration process, including the development of functional, physical, and operational architectures. The emphasis of this course is on requirements engineering, functional modeling for design, formulation and analysis of physical design alternatives. Methods and software tools for systems engineering design are introduced. Class time and location: Tuesday and Thursday 12:00-1:15, Innovation Hall 222
Instructor: Kathryn Blackmond Laskey email: klaskey@gmu.edu
web: http://www.ite.gmu.edu/~klaskey
phone: 703-993-1644 Office hours: Tuesday 2:00-4:00 or by appointment
Prerequisites: 30 undergraduate hours
Text: The Engineering Design of Systems: Models and Methods by D. Buede

Course Objectives

Students will learn how to:

Create and critique a process model, a hierarchical decomposition of the transformation of inputs into outputs. [Department objectives 1 and 2]
Create requirements for a system by creating and using an operational concept, external systems diagram, and objectives hierarchy for the system. [Department objectives 1 and 2]
Define functional, physical and operational architectures for a system. [Department objectives 1 and 2]
Apply methods from decision analysis to select among options for system design, including the analysis of buy/build decisions. [Department objective 1]
Contribute to group problem solving. [Department objective 4]
Write technical documents. [Department objective 5]
Present technical results. [Department objective 5]

Email

Everyone in the class will be subscribed to the class email list. The email list is used to communicate with students outside of class. You can send messages to the list by emailing SYST210-L@gmu.edu. You are subscribed with your mason email account. If you prefer to receive email at another address, you can also subscribe yourself with the other address by visiting http://listserv.gmu.edu.

The instructor can be contacted at klaskey@gmu.edu. Please make sure you include SYST210 (no spaces) in the subject line of your email. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that I will respond to your email due to the large volume of email I receive.

Course Requirements

Grades will be based on:

Regular weekly homework assignments (15% of grade; lowest one dropped)

Midterm exams (20% of grade for each exam)

Quizzes (10% of grade; lowest two quiz grades are dropped)

Group (about 4 students) project and class presentation (30% of grade)

Final exam covering material in entire course (25% of grade)

Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the posted due date. If you have to turn in an assignment late, you are expected to let the instructor know before the due date and negotiate a date by which the assignment will be turned in. If you follow this procedure, half credit will be given for assignments turned in by the date you have negotiated.

There is a great deal of work expected outside of class. Students are expected to have read the assignment prior to class. Class discussion of topics is an important part of the course. Group projects take considerable effort during the second half of the semester. Students are encouraged to turn in group projects for comments and guidance. Attendance will be taken in class. Good class attendance and strongclass participation are important factors when a student's grade is on the borderline.

CORE Software

This course uses the CORE suite of tools for modeling and simulation to support system design. An educational version of CORE is available for students enrolled in SYST 210. A limited number of CD's are available for checkout at the SEOR department office in Room 111 ST2, or you can download CORE yourself from the Vitech Corporation web site. Under CORE 5.0, go to the Academic link to download the academic version. After you have downloaded it or inserted the CD, install it on your computer and start the software. A window will pop up requesting an activation key. Click on the Request Key button and follow the onscreen instructions. An activation key will be sent to you by email. Copy and paste it into the window and you will be able to use CORE.

Project

Your project is an excellent opportunity to apply what you are learning to a problem in system design.

Lecture Notes

Lecture notes are available on WebCT. Notes will be made available prior to the class in which the unit is introducted.

Unit 1: Introduction and Course Overview
Unit 2: Overview of the Systems Engineering Process
Unit 3: Building Models of Systems: Why and How
Unit 4: Working in Teams
Unit 5: Operational Concept and External Systems Diagram
Unit 6: Objectives Hierarchy and Requirements
Unit 7: Defining the Functional Architecture
Unit 8: Designing the Physical Architecture
Unit 9: Designing the Operational Architecture
Unit 10: Decision Analysis for Design Trades
Unit 11: Defining the Interfaces
Unit 12: System Integration and Qualification
Unit 13: Object Modeling and SysML

Class Schedule and Homework Assignments

Week	Subject	Assignment (Reading, Project, Homework)
1: 08/28, 08/30	Introduction and Course Overview SE Design Process	Notes: Units 1 and 2 Text: Chapters 1 and 2
2: 09/04, 09/06	SE Design Process Intro to Model-Based Systems Engineering Working in Teams	Notes: Units 2 and 4 Text: Chapter 2 *Assignment 1 (Intro) due 9/04*
3: 09/11, 9/13	CORE Lab (Basic Tutorial) Concept of Operations	Notes: Units 3 and 5 Text: Chapter 3 Assignment 2 (Teams) due 09/11 Deliverable 1 (Description & References - first tab in project notebook) due 09/13
4: 09/18, 09/20	Defining System Boundaries -- External Systems and Context SADT Modeling Basics	Notes: Unit 5 Text: Chapter 6 Assignment 3 (CORE Lab) due 09/18 Deliverable 2 (Project Plan) due 09/20
5: 09/25, 09/27	Objectives Hierarchy Identifying and Documenting Stakeholder Requirements	Notes: Unit 6 Text: Chapter 6 *Assignment 4 (Need statement and ConOps) due 09/25* *Deliverable 3 (Draft Statement of Need & Operational Concept) due 09/27*
6: 10/02, 10/04	Identifying & Documenting Stakeholder Requirements Requirements Lab (Assignment 7)	Notes: Unit 6 Text: Chapter 6 *Assignment 5 (External Systems Diagram and Objectives Hierarchy) due 10/02* *Deliverable 4 (Draft External Systems Diagram) due 10/04*
7: 10/09, 10/11	Columbus Day (no class 10/09) Review	Notes: Units 1-6 Text: Chapter 6 Assignment 6: Midterm Preview due 10/11
8: 10/16, 10/18	Midterm Functional Modeling and Decomposition	Notes: Midterm covers Units 1-6, class 10/18 covers Unit 7 Text: Midterm covers Chapters 1-3, 6; class 10/18 covers Chapter 7
9: 10/23, 10/25	Functional Modeling and Decomposition CORE Lab (Functional Modeling & Decomposition)	Notes: Unit 8 Text: Chapter 7 *Midterm Rework due 10/23* *Deliverable 5 (Draft Objectives Hierarchy) due 10/25*
10: 10/30, 11/01	Physical Architecture Operational Architecture FFBD in-class exercise and quiz	Notes: Units 8 and 9 Text: Chapter 7 *Assignment 8 (Functional Architecture) due 10/30* *Deliverable 6 (Draft Originating Requirements) due 11/01*
11: 11/06, 11/08	Physical and Operational Architecture (continued) Interface Design	Text: Chapter 9 Notes: Units 8 and 9 *Deliverable 7 (Draft Functional Architecture) due 11/08*
12: 11/13, 11/15	Interface Design Decision Analysis for Trade Studies	Text: Chapters 10, 13 Notes: Unit 10 and 11 *Assignment 9 (Physical and Operational Architecture) due 11/13*
13: 11/20, 11/22	Integration and Qualification Thanksgiving (no class)	Text: Chapter 11 Notes: Unit 11 *Assignment 10 (Decision Analysis) due 11/20* *Deliverable 8 (Draft Physical and Operational Architecture) due 11/20*
14: 11/27, 11/29	Integration and Qualification Object Modeling and SYSML	Text: Chapters 11, 12.5 Notes: Units 12 and 13 *Draft Final Report Due 11/29*
15: 12/04, 12/06	Project Presentations	Tuesday: Groups 1, 4, 5, 8 Thursday: Groups 3, 7, 2, 6
16: 12/10, 12/11	Study session 12:00 - 1:15 Monday 12/10, location TBA Final exam 10:30 - 1:15 PM Tuesday, 12/11 IN 222	Final Exam Preview due at study session (or in my box in Room 111 ST2 prior to start of study session); *Project Final Report Due Thursday 12/13 4:30 PM in SEOR Office Room 111 ST2*