ABSTRACT
Systems engineering and systems science has become one of the most important, comprehensive, and fundamental fields, and has wide application in almost every area of our society; from the macromanagement of government to the daily production of manufacturing facilities, from the development of spacecraft to the design of small consumer products, systems engineering is being applied at all times, at different levels. As one of the engineering disciplines, systems engineering studies systems; in this first chapter of the book, we will review the basic scientific concepts of systems, understand the background for systems science, and examine the evolvement of systems and systems engineering from a historical perspective. This will help readers to understand the origin of systems science and the need for systems engineering. In this chapter, we will first define systems and systems engineering, describe the unique characteristics of systems engineering, and give a brief historic introduction to systems engineering development.
