ABSTRACT
Modern systems engineering emerged during World War II as, due to the degree of complexity in design, development, and deployment, weapons evolved into weapon systems. The complexities of the space program made a systems engineering approach to design and problem solving even more critical. Indeed, the Department of Defense and NASA are two of the staunchest practitioners. With the growth of digital systems, the need for systems engineering has gained increased attention. Today, most large engineering organizations utilize a systems engineering process. Much has been published about system engineering practices in the form of manuals, standards, specifications, and instruction. In 1969, MIL-STD-499 was published to help government and contractor personnel involved in support of defense acquisition programs. In 1974 this standard was updated to MIL-STD-499A, which specifies the application of system engineering principles to military development programs. The tools and techniques of this processes continue to evolve in order to do each job a little better, save time, and cut costs. This chapter will first describe systems theory in a general sense followed by its application in systems engineering and some practical examples and implementations of the process.
