Assignment

(1) Compare and contrast the waterfall, spiral, cycle, and Vee models of the systems engineering process. In particular, what is the same in each of these processes, and what is different (e.g., functions performed, time sequence of functions, outputs produced, interactions with stakeholders)? Are there some categories of systems for which one process would be better than the others? Use outside references, as needed, to gain more information on the waterfall and spiral models.

(2) Analyze, describe, compare, and contrast a well-designed system and a badly designed system with which you have had personal experience.

(3) Perform a functional decomposition on two traffic light systems, then compare and contrast them:

(a) System 1: traffic lights at an intersection that work on a fixed clock cycle with red/green timing regardless of the traffic on either intersecting street.

(b) System 2: traffic lights that sense the number of vehicles waiting at the intersection and adjust the red/green timing cycle to optimize the traffic flow through the intersection (e.g., dynamically minimizing the total wait time for traffic on the intersecting streets).

(4) Create and describe a block diagram for a conceptual virtual reality system.

(5) Describe the rationale for using a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach for systems engineering. What are the advantages and disadvantages of MBSE? What are some alternatives to MBSE?