The purpose of the course is to help students learn to think like systems engineers. Specifically, the students will learn:
(a) A hierarchical model of complex systems composed of a set of commonly occurring building blocks or components.
(b) A system life cycle model derived from existing models but more explicitly related to evolving engineering activities and participants.
(c) A model of the steps in the Systems Engineering method and their iterative application to each phase of the life cycle.
(d) A concept of ‘materialization’ that represents the stepwise evolution of an abstract concept to an engineered, integrated and validated system.
(e) Specific responsibilities of systems engineers as they evolve during the system life cycle and the scope of what a systems engineer must know to perform these effectively.