Learning when and how to adopt model-based systems engineering

When it comes to model-based systems engineering (MBSE), MIT Professional Education can fill a niche, according to Bruce Cameron, director of the System Architecture Lab at MIT. To address that niche, the organization has developed a new four-course online professional certificate program titled “Architecture and Systems Engineering: Models and Methods to Manage Complex Systems,” for which Cameron serves as director. Commencing September 12, the program will provide a state-of-the-practice view on MBSE for technical professionals and engineers.

“We approached a group of companies about the creation of this program to cover big trends in model-based engineering,” Cameron said in a recent interview. “That was the genesis of program. Since then, a lot of work has gone in to setting up the four separate courses. Our opportunity is to be an honest broker with a big reach by virtue of the place where MIT sits.”

Cameron said the market offers a fair amount of educational opportunities around specific tools, and companies advising in the creation of the program said they don’t need more introductions to new modeling languages. The program will offer a higher level view.

Cameron said one of the most powerful modes of learning is for participants to be exposed to concepts outside their own domain. Consequently, the program isn’t designed to teach EEs electrical engineering but to let them interact with practitioners of other disciplines. Consequently, lectures will address architectural decisions regarding a highway truck, car, new aircraft, and so on. “That spread is very intentional from our perspective,” he said.

One approach to model-based engineering is the use of one big model as the single source of truth—eliminating offline documentation and change-management headaches, Cameron said, but he added it’s relatively rare to see such a clean-sheet approach. The program, he said, will examine the state of practice today. As an example, he said an automaker may have separate models of suspension performance and of overall vehicle stiffness and try to tie those two models together.

One question the program will address is how fast or whether at all a company should adopt a model-based engineering approach. One aircraft manufacturer, Cameron said, determined that with the rate at which new features are added to aircraft and the demands of electronic buses in aircraft, a model-based engineering approach was mandatory.

Other companies may experience various levels of benefit from a model-based approach, including speeding up design iterations and improving quality.

Cameron likened interest in MBSE to additive manufacturing, with practitioners noting, “It’s definitely a trend, but what does it mean for us?”

He also noted that every engineer has worked with models, including down to the level of physics equations and in-house-developed code that might model the thermal stress across a satellite. But often, the models are functionally siloed.

Instructors will not advocate for a single-model or multiple-model approach but rather put on display the current state of practice across industries and organizations.

The program, he said, will first enable participants to determine whether model-based engineering is a viable strategy offering a competitive advantage for their organizations, or whether they should sit back and let others spend a lot of money. He cited an old example of an office-equipment maker that was considering a model-based engineering approach to a narrow product category. The company determined at the time that implementing a model-based approach would eat up its entire corporate-wide profitability for a year.

In addition, the program will help participants understand the variety approaches available to determine how and where go model-based—beginning with a clean sheet approach or making use of existing available resources and models.

The first course, “Architecture of Complex Systems,” will help participants understand and manage system complexity by addressing the changes that induce, propagate, and amplify risk in products and services. It begins September 12, with a registration deadline of September 13. Those missing that deadline can still register for the remaining three courses:

• “Models in Engineering” begins October 31. Participants will learn how to choose appropriate models in a variety of engineering contexts and to articulate the criteria by which models should be evaluated.
• “Model-Based Systems Engineering: Documentation and Analysis” begins January 2, 2017. Participants will receive an introduction to the foundation of MBSE by analyzing industry case studies and identifying best practices.
• “Quantitative Methods in Systems Engineering” begins February 13, 2017. Participants will discover the quantitative methods in systems engineering and receive how-to instructions for implementing these methods in a variety of complex systems.

Cameron said that 1,500 students have already signed up. To register, visit here.

See related article, “MIT course to smooth transition from big data to decisions.”