Principles of

Engineering System Design

Dr T Asokan

asok@iitm.ac.in
 Principles
of
Engineering System Design

Lecture 3

Dr T Asokan
asok@iitm.ac.in
044-2257 4707
 Modern Product/System development Process

• Stage Gate Process/Water Fall Process

• Spiral Process
• System Vee

T Asokan
The development process where there are stages or
phases or activities in the development work, followed
by periodic gates is known as stage-gate development
process or water fall development process.
A gate is an evaluation by upper management or within
the team structure to ensure the next stage is worth
carrying forward. Any product development process
should pass through each gate to make it to the point of
product launch.

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 Early gates ensure that there is a market for the product
and that it can be developed and manufactured.
Later gates ensure detailed integration factors such as
ensuring that the software functions with the mechanical
hardware.

At each gate decision is to be made whether to proceed

with the product or Kill the product or some features
of it.
Typically few projects are killed outright in the later
stages, instead specifications are revised in the light
of difficulties and budget allocations are typically
expanded.
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 Testing and Validation: The purpose of this stage is
Build to Discovery:
Business
Launch: Case:
Full Activities
This is designed
the
commercialization to
critical
of discover
homework
the product - the
provide
beginning of validation
full productionof theandentire project:
commercial the
launch.
opportunities
stage - the oneitself,
Development: and to
thatPlans generate
makes new
areortranslated
breaks theproduct ideas.
project.
into concrete
product the production/manufacturing
Technical,
process, marketing
deliverables. The actual
customer and business
design and
acceptance, feasibility are of
development
A more effective, efficient, faster process thatand theyour
improves economics
product
assessedtheresulting
new product ininnovation
a of
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occurs, casemanufacturing
the
the results.
project. which has three or
main operations
components: planproduct
is mappedand project
out, thedefinition;
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launch andjustification;
operating plans and are
project plan. and the
developed,
test plans for the next stage are defined.

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 Problems/challenges with the stage-
gate/waterfall method
• Real projects rarely follow the sequential flow
• Does not accommodate the natural
uncertainty in the design process, especially at
the early stages
• A working version of the system is available
only towards the end of the process

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 Spiral Model
SPIRAL Model
Spiral model product development is practiced in time-compressed industries
such as software products. Here one repeats stage-gate process several times
before finishing the product to 100% completion, where at the end of any of the
stage-gate processes, one has a partial product that works. It may not be fully
featured, but it works.
Example: A software for word processing

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System Engineering “ Vee”

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 The “Vee” Model of System Development

User
System
Requirements &
Demonstration &
Concept of
Validation Systems
Operations
Engineering
Domain
System
System
Requirements &
Integration & Test
Architecture

Component Component
Design Integration & Test

Component
Engineering
Procure, Fabricate, Domain
& Assemble Parts

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T Asokan ED309
 Mission Operation &
Continuous Quality Improvement Plan
Analysis Retirement

S ystem Final
Validation Plan
Requirements System Test

Functional Verify
Verification Plan
Decomposition Subsystems
De
co
m Physical Test
po Test Plan
s it Decomposition Components

n
io
io

at
n

gr
te
In
Build
Components

The design downstroke and the manufacturing upstroke

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Ford Product Development System
 N- Model
• The down stroke of V-model is split into two
components to emphasize the difference
between functional and physical models

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System Design Activities- Example--SPACECRAFT
 •Determine best
approach
•Orbit
•Gather dat/models Conceptual
•Attitude Design Processes
•Identify constraints
•Lifetime
•Perform initial
•Payload susbsystem trades
mass/power

Consult with
Gather key the
Establish requirements subsystem Iterate to a
Purpose sysem coverged Document
Of the
design
mission
Develop an
•“Detect boost- Define/ refine initial •Capture “ripple •Record the
phase missiles” the conops design effects” requirement and
•“Provide high-rate concept assumptions
•Generate an
theater comm.” •Constellation internally consistent •Record the results
•Define the spacecraft
•Launch strategy Configuration design
•Record any
•Combine subsystem •Look for system outstanding issues
•Ground network
expert data/models drivers, potential
•Availability •Perform preliminary system trades
sizing
•Data return method/rate

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 • During the space system conceptual design
process, the system engineer will
 Gather and allocate requirements
 Help the customer define or refine CONOPS*
 Coordinate the design team
 Define the broad outlines of the spacecraft design
 Make top-level design decisions
 In consultation with subsystem experts and the
customer
 Maintain a ”picture of the whole system”
 Keep everyone in the team on the same page

* CONOPS: Concept of Operations

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KEYS TO GOOD SYSTEM ENGINEERING

•Understand the factors affecting the design

§Customer strategic and tactical needs (should)

drive technical performance requirements

§Cost, schedule, and technology constraints bound

the solution-space

•Consider the interactions between subsystems

§Example: Solar array size/location can drive

attitude control design

§Example: Attitude control thrust requirements can

drive propulsion design
 Key terms in System Engineering

A SYSTEM is a collection of entities that interact to generate

behavior not found in the individual entities

 The entities that make up a system are usually referred

to as subsystems
 Each subsystem may be a system on its own right

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A system takes inputs and generates corresponding outputs

Inputs and outputs may be

Matter (fuel or raw material)

Energy (electricity or heat)
Information (bit stream or an operator key press)

The relationships between the input and output are the system functions

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 context
• System external
systems
• System task or functions
system
• System’s external systems
• Systems context

External system: A set of entities that interact with

system via the system’s external boundaries.

Context of a system is a set of entities that can impact the

system but cannot be impacted by the system

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 Define
Requirements

Retirement,
Disposal &
Investigate
Replacement
The system Alternatives

life cycle
Operation,
Maintenance
Full-Scale
& Evaluation
Design

Integration
& Test Implementation

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Identification of Need Production/
Manufacturing

Concept Definition
Retirement
Deployment
System Integration
Preliminary System Design

Operation
Refinement
Detailed Configuration
Design
Maintenance

Development phase, manufacturing phase, deployment phase,

training phase, operation/maintenance phase, refinement, retirement
phase. T Asokan
 Cost and Influence of Each Phase of the Life Cycle for a
Municipal Transportation System
Retirement &
Replacement
Operation &
Maintenance
Manufacturing

Full Scale
Design
Concept
Exploration
Define
Requirements

The size of each object is propotional

to its cost.
The length of each object ’ s shadow
is proportional to its influence.

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 Cost evolution for a typical project*
100
Final costs locked-in
80
Cost (%)

60 Actual
expenditures
40

20

0
Concept Full- Start of Time
development scale production
design

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 The System Design Process
Redesign

Describe Concept-1,
Customer Write Use Define Subsystems & Evaluate
Designs
Needs Cases Interfaces, Designs
Create Design

Discover
Describe Concept-2,
Requirements
Define Subsystems &
Interfaces,
Define Create Design
Functions
Describe Concept-3,
Define Subsystems &
Develop Interfaces,
Architecture Create Design

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T Asokan
 The systems engineering process
Stakeholder Requirements

Management Element
Plan
and
Organiz Plans and Direction
e
Contro
l Analyze Assess
and
Proble
m Select

Outcomes and Decisions Synthesiz

Verify
Solutio
e
n Solution
Technical Element

Physical Solutions

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 Summary
• Classification of systems
• System engineers and their roles
• System design processes
• Economic impact of design process
• System life cycle

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