Training Systems Engineers for System Acquisition

摘要

An experiential systems engineering training program developed for arncustomer of the California Institute of Technology Industrial Relations Center (IRC) wasrndescribed in a previous paper (Fisher 2001). This program was modified under thernsponsorship of the IRC and the Aerospace Corporation’s training organization, the AerospacernInstitute, to provide systems engineering training for Air Force personnel from the Space andrnMissile Systems Command.rnThe course now includes eight full-day class meetings over a period of 14 weeks with anrninstructor-defined class-long exercise requiring the design of a satellite system. Two coursesrnwere conducted in parallel, offset by one week. Each class of 24 students was divided intorntwo teams. The exercise requires each team to develop a system with a number of pre-definedrnsteps that are described by the instructor tutorials. The exercise originates with an instructorpreparedrnsystem requirements document and culminates with a student-prepared PreliminaryrnDesign Review, life cycle cost estimate and risk management plan. The tutorial materialrnprepares the students for each step in the system development process. Each 8-hour classrnmeeting involves a tutorial by the faculty as well as student team reports describing theirrnprogress with the exercise.rnModifications to the earlier program include the addition of a class meeting utilizing thernfacilities of the Aerospace Concept Design Center (CDC). The CDC provides the capabilityrnto derive space system characteristics with computer-based mathematical models. Thisrnallows the students to conduct tradeoff analyses to select a system design concept from thernpossible alternatives.