The Wasatch chapter of INCOSE met with systems engineering students at the University of Utah on September 8, 2022. It was a pleasure to share some our knowledge with the students. Judging by the quality and quantity of their questions, the students also got a lot out of the event. Four of us gave presentations. I am including my presentation in this post, followed by my commentary on the other presentations.

MBSE: Lessons from a Real-World Implementation

Presented by David Vickery (CSEP). I am a systems engineer recently retired from GE Healthcare, and author of this blog. Here is a link to a pdf of my presentation:

Using MBSE: Lessons from a real-world implementation

Starting your Career in SE

Presented by Leanne Abel. Leanne works as a System Architect at Northrop Grumman.

Leanne’s career path, like mine, has been somewhat circuitous. I think this is typical for systems engineers. Both the academic and business worlds encourage specialization. We end up in silos, but those of us with an interest and aptitude for systems engineering become bored in our silos. We want to peek into the neighboring silos and are happy to find an engineering discipline that encourages us!

The systems engineering students had LOTS of questions for Leanne.

A History of the Development of the Minuteman ICBM

Presented by Paul White (CSEP). Paul is a former president of the Wasatch chapter of INCOSE and works as a program manager at BAE Systems.

• The Minuteman was designed and deployed in the 1970’s and is still in use! We are reminded that half a century ago, systems engineers were successfully designing very complex systems. (The Apollo space program is another example). Technology has changed a lot since then; the principles of designing complex systems, not so much.
• The Minuteman ICBM is a system that is part of another system – the nuclear triad – that in turn forms part of the diplomatic and military system to defend our nation from foreign military threats. As Paul pointed out, if the Minuteman ICBM is ever launched to strike an enemy target, it will be because of a catastrophic failure of the diplomatic/military defense system. An interesting example of a system of systems where the purpose of a subsystem is to ensure that it is never used!
• Paul gave a brief biography of Simon Ramo, the father of the ICBM. Like me, he was born in Salt Lake City and worked for a while at General Electric. Like the students in the room, he attended the University of Utah where he studied engineering. After graduating with a BS in electrical engineering at age 20, he went on to receive dual PhD degrees from Cal Tech and then had distinguished careers at General Electric and Hughes Aircraft. He became one of the founders of TRW. For more information about his long and distinguished career, see the Wikipedia article on Simon Ramo.

Interface Management Primer

Presented by Elgan Iorwerth. Elgan is the president of the Wasatch chapter of INCOSE and works as a systems engineer at KBR.

This presentation revealed a big gap in my knowledge of systems engineering. I have never worked for a project where we did a good job defining interfaces. This puzzled me because well-defined interfaces are key to many desirable results, including concurrent development, effective use of purchased components, and easier component and integration testing. I also noticed that when I was learning SysML, the chapter on modeling interfaces was by far the most difficult for me to understand. Elgan made several points that gave me insight into my difficulties with interfaces.

• Interfaces are multi-dimensional. Some dimensions are technical, but others are organizational. If different organizations are developing parts of a system, the interface between the parts also governs the interactions between the organizations.
• Interfaces should be developed from the inside-out. If one interface has to be changed, it should affect as few other interfaces as possible. The OSI network communication protocol is an example of a system designed to encapsulate the functionality of each of its seven layers within well-defined interfaces.
• Some interfaces are dynamic rather than static. For example, a device may draw more current when it first powers up and then use less power when it is running. The power supply needs to accommodate this initial surge.

With these insights, I’ll go back and reread the chapter on modeling interfaces in SysML. Maybe it will be easier to understand.