“Nanosatellites are the future of space research.” So says Matthew Tetlow, president of Inovor Technologies in Adelaide, Australia. Tetlow’s company designs small satellites, called nanosatellites or microsatellites, to help conduct space research. The “CubeSat” is one such satellite, made up of multiples of 10 x 10 x 10 cm cubic …

Recently, I was involved in a discussion about when it is that a project transitions from systems engineering to detailed engineering. My answer was, “It depends.” One of my mentors suggested that a specific design level encompasses between three and five levels of decomposition. From experience, I tend to agree, …

If you have been reading about systems engineering and the latest trends in the industry, you have no doubt come across the terms “PLM” and “digital thread.” These two phrases are overloaded terms and have slightly different meanings depending on your experience and your personal perspective in system development, production …

As the systems engineering community moves well into the first two decades of the 21st century, one of our biggest challenges is how we will extend the reach of systems engineering. Our own vision, A World in Motion, Systems Engineering Vision 2025 (INCOSE 2014), challenges us to move “well beyond …