Analysis of Extensive Written Content

SYST 505 - Systems Engineering Principles

• Course for Systems Engineering Principles
• Course offered by George Mason University

Emergence of Systems Engineering

• Pyramids of Giza: (~4600 BC)
• Ziggurat at Ur, Mesopotamia: (~4000 BC)
• Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae, Greece: (~3200 BC)
• The Great Wall of China: (~2214 BC)

Transition to the Electronic Age

• Started approximately in 1940
• Four major projects:
  • Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE)
  • Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)
  • ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency)
  • Central Artery/Third (CA/T) Harbor Tunnel (Boston's Big Dig)

The Atlas Project

• Atlas ICBM 1954
• 18,000 scientists and engineers
• 17 contractors
• 200 subcontractors
• 200,000 suppliers
• Ramo-Wooldridge Corp. was the lead contractor
• Air Force was in charge of ICBM development
• Systemic approach to management was discussed; human body used as a metaphor

The Atlas Project (Firmly established systems engineering approach to management)

• Established systems engineering approach to management
• Diagram shows who is responsible for systems engineering, with relevant staff & contractors
• Study contracts with Industry and Universities.

Key Aspects of the Central Artery/Third (CA/T) Harbor Tunnel (Boston's Big Dig)

• Megaproject in Boston rerouting Central Artery (Interstate 93) into a 3.5-mile tunnel
• Largest, most complex, and technically challenging highway project
• Planning phase started in 1982
• Construction between 1991 and 2006
• Project concluded December 31, 2007

Key Aspects of the Central Artery/Third (CA/T) Harbor Tunnel (Boston's Big Dig) - Estimated Cost

• Estimated to cost 2.8Bin1985,2.8B in 1985, 2.8Bin1985,24B as of 2012
• Highly publicized mistakes
  • Voids in concrete of Zakim Bridge
  • Collapsing tunnel ceiling
  • Environmental impact
  • Congestion of existing traffic

What is Systems Engineering?

• Interdisciplinary approach and means to enable successful systems
• Engineering and engineering management
• Focus on how to design and manage complex systems
• Employs systems thinking principles to organize knowledge

What is System Engineering? (Diagrammatic Representation)

• Diagram illustrating flow from operational needs to hardware and software design and development

What is Systems Engineering?

• Focus on defining customer needs, requirements, and design
• Validation while considering complete problem
• Integration of all disciplines in a team effort
• Structured development forming a concept to production to operation procedure

What is Systems Engineering? Principles

• Understanding the problem and stakeholders' needs
• Documenting requirements
• Design synthesis
• System validation

Important dates in systems engineering

• 1937 - 2008 - History of systems engineering summarized in a table. Dates and significant events.

Systems Engineering as We Know It

• RAND Corporation established systematic analysis in 1946
• System engineering used by the DOD by the 1940s with initial missile development
• Early systems analysis development in Bell Labs and MIT

Systems Engineering as We Know It

• Multidisciplinary team to analyze air defense systems in 1937 to 1945
• Information analysis conducted by RAND Corporation to identify "systems engineering" as a term by 1954

Systems Engineering as We Know It (Modern Systems Engineering)

• ISO, IEC, IEEE, INCOSE, and others harmonized concepts in 2008.

Key terms

• System, Engineered System, System of Systems and their respective definitions

Key Terms (System)

• System as a collection of parts working together to achieve a desired end result. It addresses organizational, social, and/or natural systems
• Open systems interact with external environment; closed systems do not.
• Systems exhibit emergent properties.

Key Terms (Engineered System)

• A collection of components that work in synergy
• Could be complex or non-complex
• Many components and interrelationships

Key Terms (Systems of Systems)

• Set of independent systems
• Integrated into a larger system
• Delivers unique capabilities

Complexity and Emergence

• Degree of difficulty in accurately predicting system properties from parts
• Properties may only become apparent when parts combine into a system

System of Systems Examples

• Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority
• An online banking service with credit reference system
• Emergency information system

Representing Systems with Models

• Simplified representations of a system to aid understanding
• Used in various design, analysis, and verification stages
• Including models for computer-aided design, software design, and system architecture

Purpose of Model

• Characterize existing system / model the system
• Used for system evaluation during the system life cycle
• Offer insights regarding parts of the systems and their interrelationships for design, synthesis, and implementation of system solutions

Additional Iceberg Questions

• Events, patterns, structures, and mental models

Systems Thinking Leverage Points - Mental Model, Structure, Design, Pattern

• Highest leverage points
• When to use certain leverage points
• How to implement the points and their impacts

Systems Thinking - Origins

• System thinking evolved from various disciplines in the 1920s, particularly biology and engineering
• Early system thinkers like Kenneth Craik sought to find patterns between many aspects of systems to support greater understanding and analysis

Systems Thinking - Habits of a System Thinker

• List of habits to improve systems thinking
• Example behaviors and skills

Systems Thinking - Examples

• Biological systems as an example, emphasizing interactions between systems parts.

Systems Thinking - Language

• Using visual tools like the iceberg model to express systems thinking approaches

Systems Thinking - Application in Business

• Traditional decision-making vs systems thinking
• How to consider broader context, interactions and impacts for better decisions/outcome

Systems Thinking - Application in Business - Questions

• Questions to guide the application of systems thinking

System Thinking – Insights Afforded by Systems Thinking

• How whole systems have properties that their parts do not
• The system can be viewed by examining the system components interactions or behavior

Systems Thinking – Insights Afforded by Systems Thinking

• Human behaviors and world-views as aspects of a system. People bring their interpretations to every system interaction, which is important to recognize

Systems Thinking – Insights Afforded by Systems Thinking (Change in System)

• How changes to existing components affect a system. (System-wide impacts of intervention)

Systems Thinking - Insights and how Systems Thinking can be applied to various situations

• Systems thinking helps us observe general patterns and trends, allowing us to more readily understand, and possibly intervene across a wider range of situations.

Systems Thinking Tools

• Discusses casual loop diagrams, behavior over time graphs, and Double Q diagrams, and their applications

System Safety - Defining Hazard, Event, and Incident

• Definitions with examples

Safety Culture

• How to use system thinking to understand and correct poor safety culture

Safety - How to use system design techniques to minimize risk/reduce hazards and severity

• Process with five points to achieve system safety and reduce risk

Security

• Non-functional requirements concerned with the ability to protect itself or data
• Security problems arise from events that are not anticipated

Security - Measures

• Techniques and methods employed to prevent unauthorized access/use; maintain functionality and/or the integrity of information during an attack or intrusion

Critical Non-functional Requirements

• Availability: system's accessibility
• Reliability: consistency of system performance
• Maintainability: ease of addressing issues within a system
• System Usability: how users interact with the system
• Safety: system's effects on the environment and users' health
• Security: system's protection from malicious acts

Availability, Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

• Definitions and considerations related to availability requirements, system failure metrics

Reliability - Non-functional requirement, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Rate of occurrence of failures (ROCOF)

• Definitions related to reliability of systems

Reliability - Behavior over time graphs

• How to graph system behavior over time

Reliability, Availability, Maintainability

• Reliability is a focus on failure probability over time.
• Availability is how often the system is functioning properly.
• Maintainability is about how easily the system can be maintained or repaired.

Additional Critical Systems Development

• Emphasizes the importance of organizational process and management needs

Reliable Systems

• Systems should be robust against errors, which often entails high costs

System Faults vs. Failures

• Distinction between system “fault” (static conditions) and “failure” (unexpected system behavior)

This quiz focuses on analyzing extensive written content across various dimensions, such as primary focus, writing style, and intended audience. Each question is designed to enhance your understanding of the characteristics and implications of long texts. Test your skills in critical reading and comprehension.