Toward a Theory of Systems Engineering

Abstract

The derivation of a theory of systems engineering has long been complicated by the fact that there is little consensus within the systems engineering community regarding precisely what systems engineering is, what systems engineers do, and what might constitute reasonable systems engineering practices. To date, attempts at theories fail to accommodate even a sizable fraction of the current systems engineering community, and they fail to present a test of validity of systems theories, analytical methods, procedures or practices. This paper presents a more theoretical and more abstract approach to the derivation of a theory of systems engineering that has the potential to accommodate a broad segment of the systems engineering community and present a validity test. It is based on a simple preference statement: “I want the best system I can get.” From this statement, it is argued that a very rich theory can be obtained. Whereas most engineering disciplines are framed around a core set of widely accepted physical laws, to the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to frame an engineering discipline around a preference.

Optimization Workflows for Linking Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization (MDAO)

“…Necessary changes in case of new requirements The values of the selected technical variant are summarized in Table 3. It represents the best variant in the context of system preference [41]. The limits of the variables n Opt and Q Opt are not exploited by the optimization algorithm.…”

“…If optimality is reached, the optimization outputs one or more optimal technical system variants. If several optimal technical system variants are available (e.g., in the case of multiobjective optimization), a selection of the best tradeoff must then be made by the system engineer based on preferences [41]. Compared to the manual iteration (Figure 8), the variation of design variables is performed systematically.…”

Theoretical Framework and Research Proposal for Energy Utilization, Conservation, Production, and Intelligent Systems in Tropical Island Zero-Carbon Building

“…Peter Senge, on the other hand, proposed a theory of organizational learning in the fields of organizational science and management, applying system thinking to organizational management [38]. Modern systems science has promoted interdisciplinary research and the spread of systemic thinking in various fields, while also facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration among different domains, including engineering, ecology, sociology, management, and environmental science [39]. This helps in understanding and addressing complex issues [40].…”

Requirements Rationalization and Synthesis Enabled by Model Synchronization

“…It should be noted that this paper does not attempt to define a strictly formal approach to requirements analysis (as advocated for example in [15][16][17]); rather, it uses a mathematical framework to assist the analyst within a joint cognitive paradigm [4]. Within the context of the broader research programme of the authors [18], we believe the joint cognitive paradigm begins to address in a pragmatic way calls for greater rigor in the development and application of Systems Engineering [19][20][21][22].…”