System Architecting and Design

2 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

System Architecting and Design focuses on the practical application of systems engineering tools and techniques to capture and communicate the fundamental behavior and structure of systems to satisfy stakeholder expectations. The course emphasizes defining and using the various architectures that span the definition of a system from a variety of viewpoints including: Operational, Functional, Physical, Requirements and Verification. The course builds upon the foundations of systems engineering established during the Design Thinking and Systems Engineering course. The focus of this course is on expanding our understanding of the system to define it in sufficient detail to communicate that understanding to users, operators, developmental engineers, testers, sponsors and other stakeholders. System architecting and design is not a spectator sport, so emphasis is on practical hands-on application through in-class exercises and a comprehensive course final project. Students will gain a working knowledge of state-of-the-art model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools and use them to develop key artifacts used to capture and communicate system architectures and preliminary design. Extensive examples are also presented as case studies to highlight lessons learned from other projects. The course stresses the importance of early architecture definition in supporting and balancing project cost, schedule, performance and risk objectives.