Engineering Systems:Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World

This chapter contains sections titled: Half Title, Engineering Systems, Title, Copyright, Contents, Series Foreword, Foreword, Preface View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: The Genius of Invention, Inventions Begin to Be Connected, Networks and Infrastructures, Growing Systems Interactions, From Engineering to Engineering Systems, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: The Changing Role of the Engineer, A Definition, What Else Distinguishes an Engineering System?, Functional Types, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: The (Re)Visioning Perspective, Scale and Scope, Function, Structure (or Architecture), Temporality, Integrated Social Complexity, Complex Causality, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: The Importance of Not Simply “Working”, Quality, Safety, Usability/Operability, Maintainability/Reliability, An Expanding View, How the Ilities Are Related, Flexibility, Resilience, Interoperability, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: Defining the Scale and Scope of Systems, Describing and Delivering Functionality, Analyzing the Structure of Systems, Quantifying Temporality of System Behavior, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: Influence of Designed Artifact Scale on Engineering Design, A Large-Scale, Sociotechnical Example: The Toyota Production System, The Partially Designed, Partially Evolved Electrical Grid, The Partially Designed, Partially Evolved Boston Transport System, The Partially Designed, Partially Evolved Internet, Characteristics and Future of Large-Scale Sociotechnical Design, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: A Brief History of Engineering Education, Engineering Education's New Phase, The Growing Impact of Engineering Systems in Academic Institutions, Much of Traditional Engineering Education Has Changed Focus, An Identity Problem Revealed, Challenges in Academia from Other Integrative Disciplines, The Future Engineering Systems Curriculum, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: Grand Challenges, Enablers of Success, Scenarios for the Future, Where Are Engineering Systems and the (Re)Visioning Perspective Headed?, What Does the Future Hold for Engineering Systems as a Discipline?, A Global System of Systems?, Suggestions for Supplemental Reading View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: Complexity in Engineering Systems, Basic Terms Related to Engineering Systems, Ilities and Related System Issues, Design/Manufacturing Concepts and Approaches, Risk/Uncertainty/Safety in Design/Manufacturing and Operation, Management and Related Social Science Issues, General Concepts and Approaches Related to Systems, System Theories View full abstract»

This chapter contains sections titled: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Appendix View full abstract»

Engineering, for much of the twentieth century, was mainly about artifacts and inventions. Now, it's increasingly about complex systems. As the airplane taxis to the gate, you access the Internet and check email with your PDA, linking the communication and transportation systems. At home, you recharge your plug-in hybrid vehicle, linking transportation to the electricity grid. Today's large-scale, highly complex sociotechnical systems converge, interact, and depend on each other in ways engineers of old could barely have imagined. As scale, scope, and complexity increase, engineers consider technical and social issues together in a highly integrated way as they design flexible, adaptable, robust systems that can be easily modified and reconfigured to satisfy changing requirements and new technological opportunities.Engineering Systems offers a comprehensive examination of such systems and the associated emerging field of study. Through scholarly discussion, concrete examples, and history, the authors consider the engineer's changing role, new ways to model and analyze these systems, the impacts on engineering education, and the future challenges of meeting human needs through the technologically enabled systems of today and tomorrow. View full abstract»