SYST 210: System Design

SYST 210: System Design

Fall, 2011

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 3:00-4:15 PM, Innovation Hall 223
Instructor: Kathryn Blackmond Laskey email: klaskey@gmu.edu
web: http://www.ite.gmu.edu/~klaskey
phone: 703-993-1644 Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 4:30-5:30 PM or by appointment, Room 2214 ENGR
Teaching assistant office hours: Monday 10:00AM-12:00PM, Room 2216 ENGR
Prerequisites: 30 undergraduate hours
Texts:
     Required: The Engineering Design of Systems 2nd Edition by Dennis Buede
     Recommended: A Practical Guide to SysML: The Systems Modeling Language by Friedenthal, Moore and Steiner

Course Objectives

Students will learn how to:

Create and critique a system model, a hierarchical decomposition of the transformation of inputs into outputs.
Create an operational concept, external systems diagram, and objectives hierarchy for a system and use these, along with stakeholder inputs, to develop requirements for the system.
Define functional, physical and operational architectures for a system.
Represent a system model with model-based systems engineering software tools.
Apply methods from decision analysis to select among options for system design, including the analysis of buy/build decisions.
Contribute to group problem solving.
Communicate a system design through oral presentation and technical documents.

Electronic Communication

Your George Mason email will be used for communication related to the course. You are responsible for checking email daily. If you don't use your gmu.edu email regularly, make sure you have your email forwarded to an address you check regularly, and check periodically to make sure you have not exceeded your quota.

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 homework grade is dropped)

Midterm exam (20% of grade)

Quizzes (10% of grade; lowest quiz grade is 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. Assignments may be handed in on paper or uploaded electronically through Blackboard. 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. Project notebooks will be turned in regularly for comments and guidance. Attendance will be taken in class. Good class attendance and strong class participation are important factors when a student's grade is on the borderline.

Software

We will use the CORE Systems Engineering software for most of our work. We will also use MagicDraw UML with the SysML plugin. Information will be provided on how to install and use the software.

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 Blackboard. 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 Design Process
Unit 3: Operational Concept and External Systems Diagram
Unit 4: Working in Teams
Unit 5: Objectives Hierarchy and Requirements
Unit 6: Defining the Functional Architecture
Unit 7: Designing the Physical Architecture
Unit 8: Designing the Operational Architecture
Unit 9: Designing the Interface
Unit 10: Decision Analysis for Design Trades
Unit 11: System Integration and Qualification

Class Schedule and Homework Assignments

Week	Subject	Assignment (Reading, Project, Homework)
1: 08/30, 09/01	Introduction & Course Overview Overview of the SE Design Process	Notes: Units 1 and 2 Readings: Buede Chapters 1 and 2
2: 09/06, 09/08	Overview of the SE Design Process Operational Concept and External Systems Diagram	Notes: Units 2 and 3 Readings: Buede, Chapters 2, 6.3, 6.10 and 6.11 SysML Guide Chapters 1-2 Assignment 1 (Intro) Due 09/06
3: 09/13, 9/15	Introduction to CORE and MagicDraw Sequence Diagram in MagicDraw External System Diagram in CORE CORE Lab	Notes: Unit 3 Readings: Buede, Chapter 3, SysML Guide Chapters 3, 11 Homework: Assignment 2 (Need Statement and Operational Concept) Due 09/13 Deliverable 1 (Description, References, and Project Plan) due 09/20 (updated!)
4: 09/20, 09/22	Working in Teams Objectives Hierarchy	Notes: Units 3 and 4 Readings: Text: Buede, Chapter 3 Homework: Assignment 3 (CORE Lab) Due 09/22 (updated!)
5: 09/27, 09/29	Identifying and Documenting Stakeholder Requirements	Notes: Unit 5 Buede, Chapter 6 Readings: Buede, Chapter 6, SysML Guide Section 7.11, Chapter 12 Homework: Assignment 4 (Teams) Due 9/29
6: 10/04, 10/06	CORE Lab (Requirements) Functional Modeling and Decomposition	Notes: Unit 5 Readings: Buede, Chapter 6, SysML Guide Section 7.11, Chapter 12 Deliverable 2 (Draft Statement of Need, Operational Concept and External Systems Diagram) due 10/04 Homework: Assignment 5 (Objectives Hierarchy and Requirements) Due 10/06
7: 10/11, 10/13	Columbus Day (no class 10/12) Review	Midterm Preview due 10/13
8: 10/18, 10/20	Midterm 10/18 Functional Modeling and Decomposition	Midterm covers Units 1-5 Notes: Unit 6 Readings: Buede, Chapter 7 Deliverable 3 (Draft Objectives Hierarchy and Originating Requirements) due 10/21
9: 10/25, 10/27	Functional Modeling and Decomposition Functional Architecture Lab	Notes: Unit 6 Readings: Buede, Chapter 7 Midterm Rework due 10/25
10: 11/01, 11/03	Physical Architecture	Notes: Unit7 Readings: Buede, Chapter 8 Homework: Assignment 6 (Functional Architecture) Due 11/03
11: 11/08, 11/10	Allocated Architecture	Notes: Unit 8 Readings: Buede, Chapter 9 Homework: Assignment 7 (Physical Architecture) Due 11/10
12: 11/15, 11/17	Interface Design Decision Analysis for Trade Studies	Notes: Units 9 and 10 Readings: Buede, Chapters 10 and 13 Homework: Assignment 8 (Allocated Architecture) Due 11/17
13: 11/22, 11/24	Decision Analysis for Trade Studies Thanksgiving (no class)	Notes: Unit 10 Readings: Buede, Chapter 13 Deliverable 4 (Draft Functional, Physical, and Allocated Architectures) due 11/22 (updated!)
14: 11/29, 12/01	Integration and Qualification	Homework: Assignment 9 (Interface Architecture, Decision Analysis, Integration) Due 12/2 (updated!)
15: 12/06, 12/08	Project Presentations	Deliverable 5 (Draft Project Report) due 12/6 Schedule and grading rubric for presentations
16: 12/12 (Monday), 12/15 (Thursday)	Review session 12/12 3:00, Final Exam 12/15 1:30 - 4:15 PM	Project Final Report due 12/16 4PM in SEOR office (turn in entire course notebook)