Systems Engineering

Systems engineering is a multidisciplinary approach to designing and managing complex systems throughout their entire lifecycle, from concept to retirement. It involves the integration of various engineering and scientific disciplines to ensure that a system is designed, developed, tested, and delivered to meet all the specified requirements, including performance, reliability, maintainability, and safety.

Systems engineering involves identifying user needs, defining system requirements, and creating a design that meets those requirements while considering technical, economic, environmental, social, and ethical factors. Systems engineers also integrate various subsystems and components to create a cohesive and functional system, test and verify the system’s performance, and manage its operation and maintenance. Throughout the process, systems engineers work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure the system is effective, efficient, safe, and reliable.

The relationship between systems engineering and HFE is complementary. HFE is an essential part of systems engineering because it helps ensure that the system is designed to be effective and efficient while also being safe, usable, and accessible to the people who use it.

Looking at it the other way, systems engineering provides a useful framework for how HFE can be integrated into the design process.

It is this topic, how systems engineering can be used as a framework to carry out HFE in the context of a project, that is the focus of this course.