In the world of model-based systems engineering (MBSE), there is still a fair amount of confusion around what makes a good—or even acceptable—MBSE model. George E. P. Box, the English statistician, famously observed, “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” He further clarified that idea with this expansion, “Remember …

In any system design project there are always three systems of importance. The first of these is what we call the system of interest or the solution system. That is the system we intend to design. (Note: For the purposes of this discussion, the name “system of interest” may be …

Systems engineers and systems architects have many architectures of which they need to be aware: there’s the architecture of the system-of-interest (or system under design), the architecture of the larger system in which the system-of-interest must operate (the context system), and the architecture of the enabling system (the enterprise or …

Although modeling has always played a role in engineering, it has become a central focus with the advent of model-based systems engineering. While we as engineers are focused on engineering and building systems, sometimes the topic of modeling, as both an art and a science, still gets short shrift. If …