SYS 671 Conception of CPS: Deciding What to Build and Why
The first course focuses on the conceptual design portion of the lifecycle of Cyber-Physical systems. Critical elements include the ideas of systems and design thinking, and elegant design. An Ideation process, as pioneered by the likes of IDEA and other prominent design firms is used to spark the creative process. The opportunity is conceived and defined using Kano Maps, marketing segmentation and conjoint analysis techniques. A QFD process is used to collect, organize and analyze customer needs, and transform these into product specifications. Concepts are generated, selected and tested. Finally, these concepts are specified using concept of operation, conceptual design and using case scenarios and technical requires. A workshop on Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), particularly, SysML is used as a means for specification and also to provide a foundation for future modeling work. Lectures are interspersed with individual and group project based activities. the students go through a design review process in preparation for their final report.