System Engineering Management, 5th Edition

Chapter 1Introduction to System Engineering

This text deals with system engineering, or the orderly process of bringing a system into being and the subsequent effective and efficient operation and support of that system throughout its projected life cycle. It constitutes an interdisciplinary approach and means for enabling the realization and the follow-on deployment of a successful system.

A system comprises a complex combination of resources (in the form of human beings, materials, equipment, hardware, software, facilities, data, information, services, etc.), integrated in such a manner as to fulfill a specified operational requirement. A system is developed to accomplish a specific function, or a series of functions, with the objective of responding to some identified need. The various elements of a system must be directly tied to and supportive in the accomplishment of some given mission scenario or series of scenarios.

A system may be classified as a natural system, human-made system, physical system, conceptual system, closed-loop system, open-loop system, static system, dynamic system, and so on. This text addresses primarily human-made systems that are physical, dynamic, and open loop in structure. Further, the objective is to address the system in the context of its whole versus dealing with its components only. Of significant importance is the realization that ultimate system performance is dependent not only on the complete and timely integration of its various components, ...