Systems Engineering Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition

12ENGINEERING DESIGN

12.1 IMPLEMENTING THE SYSTEM BUILDING BLOCKS

The engineering design phase is that part of the development of a new system that is concerned with designing all the component parts so that they will fit together as an operating whole that meets the system operational requirements. It is an intensive and highly organized effort, focused on designing components that are reliable, maintainable, and safe under all conditions to which the system is likely to be subjected, and that are producible within established cost and schedule goals. While the general design approach required to meet the above objectives presumably has been established in previous phases, the engineering design phase is where detailed internal and external interfaces are established and the design is first fully implemented in hardware and software.

It was noted in Chapter 10 that during the advanced development phase, any previously unproven components should be further developed to the point where all significant issues regarding their functional and physical performance have been resolved. However, experience in developing complex new systems has shown that some “unknown unknowns” (unk-unks) almost always escape detection until later, revealing themselves during component design and integration. Such eventualities should therefore be anticipated in contingency planning for the engineering design phase.

Place of the Engineering Design Phase in the System Life Cycle

As shown in Figure 12.1 ...