1st Edition

Getting Design Right A Systems Approach

By Peter L. Jackson Copyright 2009
    392 Pages 91 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Filling a new need in engineering education, Getting Design Right: A Systems Approach integrates aspects from both design and systems engineering to provide a solid understanding of the fundamental principles and best practices in these areas. Through examples, it encourages students to create an initial product design and project plan.

    Classroom-tested and industry-reviewed, the text focuses on the steps of a basic design cycle. It first defines the problem, establishes technical requirements, and identifies the customer value proposition. The text then explores the design space, optimizes design choices, and develops the architecture, including behavior, control, and structure. After validating the design, the author presents an accessible treatment of resource-constrained scheduling as a computer puzzle. The final chapter covers the level-by-level decomposition of systems. In addition, the appendices offer useful design challenges for a bathroom-cleaning robot, a home health-care monitoring system, a night-vision system for automobiles, and an Internet-based meal delivery system.

    Using a design approach based on simple text-based tools and spreadsheet software, this book presents a formal process for discovering requirements and tackling design problems. It will help mature audiences in professional settings as well as students with limited design and project experience.

    Getting Design Right
    What Do We Mean by "Design"?
    Why "Getting Design Right"?
    What Can Go Wrong?
    What Is There to Learn?
    Why a Systems Approach?
    Design or Engineering?
    For Whom Is This Text Designed?
    What Is the Design Process?
    Learn by Example
    Learn by Doing
    Is It Worth the Effort?
    Why Use a Tabular Approach?
    The Getting Design Right Web Site
    Required Spreadsheet Skills
    To the Instructor: Where This Text Fits

    Define the Problem
    Introduction
    Define the Project
    Define the Context
    Define Functional Requirements

    Measure the Need and Set Targets
    Introduction
    Measure the Need
    Translate to Technical Requirements
    Identify the Customer Value Proposition

    Explore the Design Space
    Introduction
    Discover Concepts
    Explore Concepts
    Identify Subsystems

    Optimize Design Choices
    Introduction
    Select Concepts
    Optimize Parameters
    Appendix: The Physics of a Catapult Design (Advanced)

    Develop the Architecture
    Introduction
    Design the Behavior
    Design the Flow and Control
    Design the Structure

    Validate the Design
    Introduction
    Verify Requirements
    Manage Risks

    Execute the Design
    Introduction
    Schedule the Project and Track Progress
    Conduct Management Reviews

    Iterate the Design Process
    Introduction
    Iterate until Feasible
    Iterate with Improvement
    Iterate by Level
    Dive and Surface: A Systems View
    What Is Next?

    Appendix A: Case Studies
    Appendix B: Product and Service Development Challenges
    Appendix C: Use Case Behaviors for Toy Catapult
    Index

    A Summary, Discussions, Exercises, and References appear at the end of most chapters.

    Biography

    Peter L. Jackson is director of the Systems Engineering Program and professor in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University.