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Systems Engineering
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Systems engineering manages the design, integration and lifecycle of complex engineered systems as a whole, coordinating the many specialized engineering disciplines, mechanical, electrical, software and others, that a large system such as an aircraft, spacecraft or industrial plant draws together, so the finished system meets its requirements even though no single specialist understands every part of it.
Facts
Origin YearINCOSE's own history dates the term systems engineering only to the early 1940s at Bell Telephone Laboratories, not to a precise year; 1940 is used here as the earliest year in that range. The professional society itself was founded as NCOSE in 1990 and renamed INCOSE in 1995. Superseding the prior undated debated status: the imprecision is in the historical record itself, not a genuine competing-camps dispute. Core ConcernCoordinating the requirements, design, integration and lifecycle of complex systems that combine many specialized engineering disciplines. 2 Core PrincipleDefine a system's requirements, structure and interfaces before any subsystem is designed in detail, and manage trade-offs across the whole system rather than optimizing one part at another part's expense. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Aircraft and spacecraft programs are among the largest and earliest adopters of formal systems engineering practice.
Both coordinate complex processes and organizations rather than a single physical artifact.
Sources
1. History and Definition of Systems Engineering (CSEP Training)
CSEP TrainingHistory and Definition of Systems Engineering pageQuote, History and Definition of Systems Engineering page
INCOSE traces foundational systems concepts at Bell Telephone Laboratories to the early twentieth century and the term systems engineering to the early 1940s.
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Systems Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening definition of systems engineeringQuote, Lead section, opening definition of systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles.
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