A computer systems engineering perspective on a multi-disciplinary engineering design project

The Virtual Corporation is a research initiative at Arizona State University that introduces multidisciplinary, concurrent-design techniques into the undergraduate engineering curriculum. Sponsored by the ARPA Technology Reinvestment Program and supported by industrial partners, the Virtual Corporation offers participants a unique opportunity to work with students from several academic disciplines in the design and development of a commercially-oriented product in a simulated industrial setting. For the past two academic years, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has offered this program to upper-division students as an option to the traditional senior capstone project. This paper considers how this inter-disciplinary design approach differed from the traditional computer science capstone course and how software design paradigms were applied to other engineering disciplines in this multi-disciplinary design project. We also consider how differing perceptions of the adaptability of mechanical, electronic, and software designs affected the system design in this concurrent development environment.