A Pragmatic Approach to Teaching Model Based Systems Engineering: The PRZ-1

Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is transforming how systems engineering is practiced. System modeling with SysML (the Systems Modeling Language) drives rigor and crispness into the formulation of system behavior, structure, and parametrics. The author has introduced MBSE into the Systems Architecture and Systems Engineering courses that are part of the MS Product Development (MPD) program at the University of Detroit Mercy. This presentation will discuss lessons learned over the course of several years, culminating in the capstone project from the Spring 2016 Systems Engineering course. In that course, students were required to model a polar exploration submarine, starting from a handful of system elements provided by the instructor. Over the course of the exercise, the students matured the model, increasing its detail and complexity through organic growth. The final outcome was a respectable fraction of the size of large, professionally executed efforts (such as the 30 Meter Telescope model still under development). The significant advantages in clarity, consistency, and overall integrity of a model-driven systems engineering effort will be highlighted; an emphasis will be placed on derived work products (tables, matrices, and derived properties) and their ability to provide relevant content to stakeholders. The MS in Product Development (MPD) Program at the University of Detroit Mercy The MPD Program at the University of Detroit Mercy began in the late 1990s (the seventeenth cohort completed its course of study in January 2016). This program is derived from the System Design and Management Program/Product Development Track at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was developed in parallel to similar programs at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) through the collaboration efforts of PD21 the Educational Coalition for Product Development Leadership in the 21st Century. PD21 engaged four educational institutions (MIT, RIT, NPS and UDM), plus six corporate and government leaders (Ford, IBM, ITT, Polaroid, Xerox and the United States Navy) to develop a program aimed at future leaders of product development within large and small organizations. 1 (University of Detroit Mercy, 2017) In the years since its inception, the MPD program has enriched its subject matter to better serve its students (typically mid-career engineers at Detroit automotive OEMs). The curriculum currently includes the following courses: