SYST 210: System Design

SYST 210: System Design

Fall, 2009

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, 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 and Thursday 4:30-5:30 or by appointment, Room 2214 ENGR
Prerequisites: 30 undergraduate hours
Texts:
    INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook: A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities
        (available for free download with $20 student membership in Iternational Council of Systems Engineering)
    A Practical Guide to SysML: The Systems Modeling Language by Friedenthal, Moore and Steiner
        (a revised printing with some error corrections is due late August from the publisher)

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]

Electronic Communication

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 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. 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.

SysML Software

We will use MagicDraw UML with the SysML plugin. Information about how to download and install the keys is available on Blackboard.

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 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: 09/01, 09/03	Introduction and Course Overview	Notes: Unit 1 Readings: SE Hbk Chapters 1-3
2: 09/08, 09/10	Overview of the SE Design Process Operational Concept and External System Diagram	Notes: Units 2 and 3 Readings: SysML Guide Chapters 1-2 Homework: Assignment 1 (Intro) Due 09/10
3: 09/15, 9/17	Operational Concept and External System Diagram Introduction to SysML and MagicDraw	Notes: Unit 3 Readings: SysML Guide Chapters 3, 11 Homework: Assignment 2 (Need Statement and Operational Concept) Due 09/17
4: 09/22, 09/24	Introduction to SysML and MagicDraw Working in Teams	Notes: Units 3 and 4 Readings: SysML Guide Chapters 3, 11 Deliverable 1 (Description, References, and Project Plan) due 09/24 Homework: Assignment 3 (Sequence Diagram and Use Case Diagram) Due 09/24
5: 09/29, 10/01	Objectives Hierarchy Identifying and Documenting Stakeholder Requirements	Readings: SysML Guide Section 7.11, Chapter 12 Homework: Assignment 4 (Teams) Due 10/01
6: 10/06, 10/08	Identifying & Documenting Stakeholder Requirements SysML Lab (Objectives and Requirements)	Readings: SysML Guide Section 7.11, Chapter 12 Deliverable 2 (Dragt Statement of Need, Operational Concept and External Systems Diagram) due 10/06 Homework: Assignment 5 (Objectives and SysML) Due 10/08
7: 10/13, 10/15	Columbus Day (no class 10/13) Objectives and Requirements	Deliverable 3 (Draft Objectives Hierarchy and Originating Requirements) due 10/15
8: 10/20, 10/22	Review 10/20 Midterm 10/22	Midterm preview due 10/20
9: 10/27, 10/29	Functional Architecture Functional Architecture Lab
10: 11/03, 11/05	Functional and Physical Architecture	Midterm rework due 11/03 Homework: Assignment 6 (Functional Architecture) Due 11/10
11: 11/10, 11/12	Physical and Operational Architecture	Homework: Assignment 7 (Physical Architecture) Due 11/17
12: 11/17, 11/19	Interface Design Decision Analysis for Trade Studies	Deliverable 4 (Draft Functional, Physical and Operational Architecture) due 11/19
13: 11/24, 11/26	Integration and Qualification Thanksgiving (no class)	Homework: Assignment 8 (Operational Architecture) Due 11/24
14: 12/01, 12/03	Integration and Qualification, Tools and Languages for MBSE	Homework: Assignment 9 (Interface, Decision Analysis, Integration) Due 12/03
15: 12/08, 12/10	Project Presentations	Deliverable 5 (Draft Project Report) due 12/08 Schedule and grading rubric for presentations to be posted
16: 12/14 (Monday), 12/15	Study session 12:00 - 1:15 Tuesday 12/09, IN 222 Final exam 10:30 - 1:15 PM Tuesday, 12/16 IN 222	Project Report due 12/17