November 13–14, 2024 | Online
Teaching Model-Based Systems
Engineering in Undergraduate
Engineering Education
Mehdi Vahab, PhD , MathWorks
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Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
1
Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
2
What is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)?
“The formalized application of modeling to
support system requirements, design, analysis,
verification and validation activities beginning in
the conceptual design phase and continuing
throughout development and later life cycle
phases.”
-- INCOSE SE Vision 2020 (INCOSE-TP-2004-004-02, Sep 2007)
3
What is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)?
“The formalized application of modeling to
Structured support system requirements, design, analysis,
Documented verification and validation activities beginning in
the conceptual design phase and continuing
Practiced throughout development and later life cycle
Supported phases.”
-- INCOSE SE Vision 2020 (INCOSE-TP-2004-004-02, Sep 2007)
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What is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)?
[Physical, Behavioral, Functional, ...]
Modeling is the core practice.
“The formalized application of modeling to
Structured support system requirements, design, analysis,
Documented verification and validation activities beginning in
the conceptual design phase and continuing
Practiced throughout development and later life cycle
Supported phases.”
-- INCOSE SE Vision 2020 (INCOSE-TP-2004-004-02, Sep 2007)
5
What is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)?
[Physical, Behavioral, Functional, ...]
Modeling is the core practice.
“The formalized application of modeling to
Structured support system requirements, design, analysis,
Documented verification and validation activities beginning in Practical steps in
the conceptual design phase and continuing
Practiced throughout development and later life cycle
product design.
Supported phases.”
-- INCOSE SE Vision 2020 (INCOSE-TP-2004-004-02, Sep 2007)
6
What is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)?
[Physical, Behavioral, Functional, ...]
Modeling is the core practice.
“The formalized application of modeling to
Structured support system requirements, design, analysis,
Documented verification and validation activities beginning in Practical steps in
the conceptual design phase and continuing
Practiced throughout development and later life cycle
product design.
Supported phases.”
-- INCOSE SE Vision 2020 (INCOSE-TP-2004-004-02, Sep 2007)
Almost every engineer is involved to some degree or form.
Covers many types of products (hardware, software, service)
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V-diagram explains the steps in systems development
lifecycle
Stakeholder Operation &
NEEDS Systems MAINTENANCE
System Validation System
REQUIREMENTS VERIFICATION
System Components Integration
ARCHITECTURE VERIFICATION
Component Component
DESIGN VERIFICATION
Component
IMPLEMENTATION
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Drone delivery – ship resupply mission example
System Requirements
9 Functional Architecture Physical Architecture Logical Architecture and Modeling
Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
10
Commercial companies are hiring MBSE experts
Use your favorite job search engine and search for Systems
Engineer or MBSE.
Model Based Systems Engineer Principal Model Based Systems Engineer
- Experience with MBSE tools and processes - Experience with the application of systems engineering, model based
- Comfortable working in a prototyping environment engineering, digital engineering methods and creative thought-leadership
- Experience modeling or simulating systems to mature and develop revolutionary digital engineering solutions
- Experience with the coordination and conducting of - Familiarity with multidisciplinary analysis and optimization tools and digital
design review activities engineering lifecycle management tool
[X] Systems Engineer
Senior Engineer, Thermal Systems
“… Preference will be given to those individuals with experience in a Digital Engineering
environment with Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) experience and tools...”
Senior Laser Systems Engineer
- Experience with systems engineering and requirements management software tools and model-based
systems engineering (MBSE)
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Commercial companies are hiring engineers with MBSE
expertise
Use your favorite job search engine and search for MBSE concepts
and workflows (system architecture, modeling, simulation, testing,
verification, and validation)
Engineer II Mechanical
“Assist with designing, developing, executing, and evaluating fitness-for-use testing,
product specifications and process validation plans for a variety of moderate
complexity products and/or component”
Design Application Engineer
”Develop new product designs, specifications, define product test requirements
and support testing and validation activities”
Verification Validation Engineer
“Understanding of Model Based SW Engineering (MBSE)”
Modeling and Simulation Engineer
“Conduct modeling and simulation activities that include analysis, simulation
development, verification or validation”
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Government agencies require MBSE knowledge and
practices for their collaborators and contractors
13 https://ac.cto.mil/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Status-of-Adoption-and-Implementation-of-Digital-Engineering-Infrastructure-and-Workforce-Development-Within-the-Department-of-Defense.pdf
Engineering graduates do not think they are fully
prepared in MBSE
American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
“2020 Survey For Skills Gaps In Recent Engineering Graduates”
MBSE Hard Sciences & Engineering Digital Twin
Science Fundamentals
Very Prepared 16% 44% 3%
Somewhat Prepared 32% 44% 9%
Very Little Preparation 22% 7% 14%
Not Prepared At All 24% 1% 68%
Gained Skill 6% 4% 5%
After Graduation
14 https://monolith.asee.org/documents/cmc/2020-SURVEY-FOR-SKILLS-GAPS-IN-RECENT-ENGINEERING-GRADUATES.pdf
Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
15
State of teaching MBSE in undergraduate engineering programs:
“MBSE is for graduate school/professional training”
MBSE
MBSE
One should be a full- MBSE is too complex MBSE is for
fledged engineer to teach to Systems
before they can undergraduate Engineers
learn MBSE students
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Common challenges of teaching MBSE
Engineering
Stakeholder Design Workflows Operation &
NEEDS MAINTENANCE
Systems
System System
REQUIREMENTS VERIFICATION
System
ARCHITECTURE
Components Integration
VERIFICATION
Too Many Topics to Teach
ComponentStudents Component
DESIGN VERIFICATION
Comfort
Zone
Component
IMPLEMENTATION
Students Motivation Inaccessible Tools
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Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
18
Example 1: CalPoly Pomona – Aerospace Engineering
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
Industry Practices and Program Management
SE Fundamentals Program
MBSE
Teaming, leadership,
Design project Management
ethics, tech writing Teaming and planning
System Thinking
Senior Design
Intro Astro SE Fundamentals MBSE
Spacecraft system Pseudo aircraft design Capstone
System Architecting Launch Veh, Spacecraft,
architecture project
Aircraft
Hands-on, Design, Build, Test Project
Intro to Aero & SE Fundamentals Project Design
F-22 project: Wind/water Wind Tunnel
Astro tunnel tests, constraint Wing design optimization
Analyze, design, build,
5 Hands-on projects test
diagrams
19 https://www.cpp.edu/engineering/aro/index.shtml (Simulate) Industry review
Example 2: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
AEROSP 288/388/488 Courses
AEROSP 488
Product Development Leadership
Team Development 488 Students mentor and
Program Management coach 288 and 388 students
System Validation Systems
Ethics
Knowledge Capture
AEROSP 288 Components AEROSP 388
Fundamental of Product Development Aerospace Tools and Methods
• Requirements and Architecture • Statistical Modeling
• CAD and Manufacturing • Multi-Domain Systems Modeling
• Circuits • Physical Implementation
• Simulation (CFD, CAE)
Industry-suggested full-year projects and reviews
20 https://aero.engin.umich.edu/undergraduate/program-overview/mbse-at-u-m/
Commonalities between examples
Industry need, expertise, Topic breakdown Practicing real-world problems
and advice
Professors of practice Project management Hands-on projects
Industry advisory boards System thinking and design Design reviews
Industry partners Implementation Longer-term projects
(e.g., student competition)
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Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
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MathWorks offers dedicated tools for every step of MBSE
workflows
Engineering
Stakeholder Design Workflows
Operation &
NEEDS Systems MAINTENANCE Simulink Real-
Time
Verification
Simulink System & System
Requirements REQUIREMENTS Validation VERIFICATION HDL Verifier
System
Composer
System
ARCHITECTURE
Components Integration
Simulink Test
VERIFICATION
Stateflow
Component Component
DESIGN HDL Coder
VERIFICATION
Component Embedded
IMPLEMENTATION Coder
+100 Toolboxes and Blocksets included in
Academics Campus-Wide License
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Model-Based Systems Engineering at MathWorks
Requirements
Toolbox System Composer
MATLAB, Simulink,
Hand Code, FMU,
c
requirements
and use cases
and more
Run
implementation
and test
system
MATLAB decomposition
+ Python PhysicalStereotype
cost 800 USD behavioral
weight 2 lbs modeling
power 150 W
extensible query-based
connectivity and
properties views
system analysis data flow
and optimization
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Gulfstream chooses System Composer for their Electronic
System Architecture Modeling method
"System Composer adds
additional capabilities for
modeling integration between
systems, …capturing important
system and component
properties, …directly
connecting system architecture
models to software functional
models, and flowing data down
into specialized design tools."
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9256753
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9925816
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10311180
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Researchers at TU Hamburg picked System Composer
for novel aircraft systems architecting
“Model-Based Framework for Data and Knowledge-Driven Systems
Architecting Demonstrated on a Hydrogen-Powered Concept
Aircraft” [Kuelper, Nils, et al. INSIGHT 27.1 (2024): 47-60]
▪ Accelerate the development cycle to reduce the time-to-market
and costs of novel aircraft
▪ Comparison between System Composer and three other tools in
18 criteria
“Based on evaluating different modeling
languages and tools, MathWorks System
Composer is selected as most suitable tool for
knowledge-based systems architecting.”
26 https://incose.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/inst.12475
MathWorks is preparing to support the SysML v2 standard
▪ Work in System Composer today and
be ready for SysML v2 tomorrow!
API
– System Composer is well-aligned with the
Project
concepts of SysML v2
API
API
SysML v2
Repository
▪ Interoperability is our top priority.
– We plan to provide access to System
API
Composer model data through SysML v2
RESTful APIs
External SysML v2
Services
27 To request joining the beta program: https://www.mathworks.com/products/sysml.html
Agenda
• What is MBSE?
• Why is it important to teach MBSE to undergraduate engineering students?
• What are the challenges of teaching MBSE concepts and workflows?
• What are the common methods to teach MBSE?
• Why use MATLAB/Simulink to teach MBSE?
• Recourses for teaching/learning MBSE
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Motivate your students with short videos on MBSE
Video series: Managing System Complexity
What Is Systems Towards a Model-
Engineering? Based Approach
The Benefits of An Introduction to Some Benefits of Model-
Functional Architectures Requirements Based Systems Engineering
29 https://www.mathworks.com/videos/series/systems-engineering.html
Reduce barriers to learning systems architecture design
by System Composer Onramp
▪ Free self-paced online training
▪ Learn how to perform model-based systems
engineering by creating architecture models +
simulations using System Composer in 2 hours
▪ Short video demonstrations and hands-on exercises
with immediate feedback
▪ Learn by doing:
– Build a descriptive architecture
– Generate views with filters
– Link requirements to the architecture
– Elaborate the architecture with behavioral models
– Simulate and test the architecture
30 https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com/simulinkcourses/orsc
Teach with a MBSE modular courseware
Model-Based Life-Cycle with MATLAB
and Simulink
– Prof. Jon del Olmo [Mondragon University]
▪ Main topics
– Requirements
– Architecture
– Design
– Validation
▪ Course modules
– Presentations
– Codes and models
– Exercises
31 https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/136389-model-based-life-cycle-with-matlab-simulink
More educational resources are available for MBSE
subtopics
Introduction to Engineering with Introduction to Engineering
Arduino [Course Modules] Design [edX]
Simulating a Quadcopter's Simulating a Quadcopter's Assembling and Testing a
Flight [edX] Electromechanics [edX] Quadcopter [edX]
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Summary
M B S E
MBSE
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Thank You
© 2024 The MathWorks, Inc. MATLAB and Simulink are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc.
See mathworks.com/trademarks for a list of additional trademarks. Other product or brand names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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