Society relies on many complex systems of interacting technology, people, processes, laws and other elements. Examples of such systems include air transport, telecommunications and energy supply. Systems Engineering is a holistic, multi-disciplinary and well established approach to the engineering of these complex systems. Because software is a critical component of such systems, Software Engineers will often work in Systems Engineering teams. This course prepares students for such roles by covering the following topics:

• Systems concepts.
• The Systems Engineering life-cycle and processes.
• Conceptual system design: including problem definition, technical performance measures, quality function deployment (QFD), trade-off analyses, and system specification.
• Preliminary system design: subsystem design requirements, design review.
• Detailed design and development: Detailed design requirements and design engineering activities; review and feedback, and incorporation of design changes.
• Design testing, evaluation and validation.
• Design for sustainability: approaches that integrate sustainability principles into the design process.
• Integration of Systems Engineering and Software Engineering activities.

Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. describe the holistic and multi-disciplinary nature of complex engineering projects
2. describe the Systems Engineering life-cycle
3. identify and explain the activities involved in each phase of the Systems Engineering life-cycle
4. explain the role of Software Engineering within the broader context of Systems Engineering

Students will also improve their:

1. ability to understand and solve complex and ill-defined problems
2. ability to communicate with the multi-disciplinary engineering team and the community at large
3. understanding of and commitment to ethical and professional responsibilities,
4. ability to function as an individual and as a team leader and member in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams

Problem sets (25%); Quiz (25%); Individual design exercise (25%); Group Design Project (25%)

Thirteen two-hour lectures and seven two-hour workshop sessions.

None

Intermediate courses in software engineering and background in general engineering methods will be useful.