Details
Form: Take-home exam
Opens: Tuesday 16th June 2020 9:00 AM.
Closes: Wednesday 17th June 2020 9:00 AM.
Duration: 24 hours
Weighting: 50%
Exam Advice
Refer to the unit website. Exam advice will be made available in Week 10.
Instructions
- If you are well prepared, the take-home exam should take you about 3 hours to complete. However, you will be given a 24-hour period, during which time you will need to download the exam questions from the unit’s Moodle website, provide typed answers to the questions in a Word document and upload this document in the submission area in Moodle. You should commence work on the assessment item as soon as it becomes available.
- You will be required to download the question paper from the “Take-home exam” assessment area when the link becomes available (Tuesday 16th June 2020 at 9:00am AEST). A link to this area will be provided below and also in the assessment menu. Note that the assessment area will also contain the submission link.
- When answering the questions, do so in your own words. Do not copy material directly from the textbook, lecture slides or other material. In this regard, read the Academic Integrity statement below very carefully. All submissions will be processed via Turnitin®.
- You are to upload your completed Word document in Moodle before the due date and time (Wednesday 17th June 2020 at 9:00am AEST). The submission link will become unavailable after this time. Any draft files will be automatically submitted by the system at the deadline for the submission. It is your responsibility to submit the correct file.
- The unit coordinator will be accessible for any exam-related queries for a period of three hours after the release of the exam paper. The unit coordinator can be reached at that time via email (d.jarvis@cqu.edu.au) and also through the following zoom link URL: todo
- For any technology-related issues, please contact the Technology and Services Assistance Centre (TASAC) on the details provided through this link (https://www.cqu.edu.au/about-us/structure/directorates/information-and-technology)
Academic Integrity
You are required to do your own work, maintaining academic integrity with all honesty. If the marker suspects a breach of academic integrity, you may be requested to attend a real-time interview via Zoom to confirm your understanding of your submission. Inability to explain or justify given solutions may result in allegations of academic misconduct.
Release of Results
The marks for your assessed answer script will be made available on Certification of Grades day (10 July). Like a regular exam, the assessed answer script will not be returned to you, unless you apply to see it as part of the first step of the review of grade process, which is an informal consultation.
Absence
If you are unable to take the exam on the specified date due to illness or some other exceptional circumstances, you need to apply for a Deferred Assessment via the Assessment Extension Request Link on the Moodle unit page and supply the necessary documentation. Be aware that Deferred Assessment applications will be refused if there are not sufficient grounds and/or supporting documentation. Note also that a Deferred Assessment is NOT a normal extension. Should your application be accepted, you will be required to take a different assessment at a specified time up to several weeks after the Term 1 grades are certified. This will mean you will not receive a Term 1 grade at the normal certification time. For further details. please refer to the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework), which can be found through this link (https://www.cqu.edu.au/policy).
COIT20275
Exam Advice
- If you are well prepared, you should be able to complete the exam in about 3 hours. You are free to take longer, but your answer document MUST be submitted within 24 hours of the release of the exam. At that time, the submission link will close automatically and you will be unable to submit. Late submissions will not be accepted.
- You are free to refer to any written material that you may consider to be useful, but answers MUST be in your own words.
- The exam has 5 questions each worth 10 marks, giving a total of 50 marks.
- In terms of questions, there are fewer questions in this exam than in recent exams. Thus, there is an expectation that more detailed answers will be provided than in the past.
COIT20275
Sample Exam Questions
- What is the difference between a product/system and an enabling product/system? Give an example of each.
- Why does the acquisition phase of a systems engineering project have three distinct design stages?
- Systems engineering employs a top-down approach to design. Explain how this approach works in practice. What benefits does it provide?
- Explain the difference between agile systems engineering and agile systems engineering. How are they both achieved?
- Is the average failure rate a good metric for reliability? Explain your answer. Explain how reliability requirements are allocated to configuration items.
- How is a RBS (Requirements Breakdown Structure (RBS) generated? How does it differ from a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)?
- What is a configuration item? Why are configuration items important in a systems engineering project?
- What is the relationship between the PMP and the SEMP? What do the two plans address?
- What are the key specifications that are generated in the acquisition phase? What do they address and how are they related?
- Explain what is meant by design for producibility, design for manuafacturability and design for assembly. How are they related?
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: All Students
I am sending this attachment here of the COIT20275-SampleExamSolutions (Brief answers provided here but you should write detailed answers) for your Exam preparation and guidance but the Answers should be detailed and elaborated with examples in your own words.
All the Best
COIT20275
Sample Exam Solutions
- What is the difference between a product/system and an enabling product/system? Give an example of each.
An enabling product/system is a product/system that is required in order for a product/system to be realised. For example, a car (product) requires an assembly line in order for it to be built. The assembly line is then a (enabling) system in its own right that needs to be designed and constructed.
- Why does the acquisition phase of a systems engineering project have three distinct design stages?
To enforce a top-down design approach that begins with a total system view that considers what we need to do (logical architecture) before how we do it (the physical architecture). Also, the logical architecture that is the output of the first stage (conceptual design can be used as the basis for tender. The second stage (preliminary design) enforces a top down design approach by only decomposing the design to the subsystem level.
- Systems engineering employs a top-down approach to design. Explain how this approach works in practice. What benefits does it provide?
Conceptual design is only concerned with the logical architecture and only system level requirements are considered. Once the system level requirements are in place, we then move to preliminary design, where a candidate physical architecture is proposed but only detailed to the subsystem level. Then in Detailed Design and Development, subsystem design is fleshed out. So what we end up with is an initial specification of overall system behaviour that then gets progressively refined and allocated to the physical architecture. By doing things this way (ie top down) we begin with an overall understanding of the whole system, which means that we can avoid unnecessary optimisation of subsystems, we can allocate work more effectively and we can be flexible with respect to design decisions – we may not need to commit up front to technologies or detailed design decisions
- Explain the difference between agile systems engineering and agile systems engineering. How are they both achieved?
The former is concerned with the provision of flexibility into the systems engineering design process. As noted in Q3, the top down approach inherent in the systems engineering process means that detailed design decisions can often be deferred to the later stages of the design process, thus providing flexibility. The latter is concerned with designing systems that are flexible / adaptable in terms of their operation / use. Software is a good way for achieving this – e.g. Tesla’s use of software updates to achieve things (increased ground clearance) that in the past would have required engineering modifications.
- Is the average failure rate a good metric for reliability? Explain your answer. Explain how reliability requirements are allocated to configuration items.
Failure rate is time dependent – high early in the lifecycle of manufactured components and high towards the end of component life. In between, it might be ok (e.g. for electronic components) or it might be less so (e.g. for components subject to wear and tear). However, it is easy to measure, so it is widely used. But you need to be careful.
When we choose a CI, the reliability of the CI must not break the reliability of the system / subsystem that the CI is part of. Note that calculation of system/subsystem reliability is dependent on how its component Cis are connected (ie serial or parallel)
- How is a RBS (Requirements Breakdown Structure (RBS) generated? How does it differ from a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)?
In the Conceptual Design stage, we begin by identifying system requirements (both functional and non-functional) e.g. aircraft turnaround time for ACME Air. We also develop functional decompositions for key use cases, e.g. aircraft turnaround. FFBDs are useful in this regard. We then allocate requirements to functions and sub-functions to produce the RBS. This will require requirements to be refined – e.g. we will need to estimate the times required for turnaround activities such as refuelling. Note also that in this particular case, some activities can be done in parallel – e.g. refuelling and disembarking, while others must be done sequentially – e.g. disembarking, cleaning, embarking. This can be captured in the FFBDs. As a consequence, the total turnaround time will not be the sum of all the activity durations. Note the systems approach here – ACME air is acquiring aircraft, but we are looking at enabling systems (refuelling, catering etc) as well as aircraft requirements. Furthermore, the aircraft requirements that impact on this use case are quite limited – e.g. capacity, no of doors for exit/entry …
- What is a configuration item? Why are configuration items important in a systems engineering project?
“A configuration item (CI) is any service component, infrastructure element, or other item that needs to be managed in order to ensure the successful delivery of services.
Each CI has several characteristics:
- A classification, or type, which indicates what kind of item it is.
- Attributes, which vary by classification and describe the characteristics of the individual CI.
- A status value, which represents the CI’s state in the lifecycle used for CIs of this classification.
- Relationships, which indicate how the CI is related to other CIs.
- An owner, the person who is responsible for the CI.
CIs vary in complexity, size, and type. They can range from an entire service, which may consist of hardware, software, and documentation, to a single program module or a minor hardware component. The lowest-level CI is usually the smallest unit that will be changed independently of other components.”
A CI contains the technical documentation required to define completely the physical and functional performance of any service component, infrastructure element, or other item that needs to be managed in order to ensure the successful delivery of services. Furthermore, those documents are current, approved and available for use as required.
- What is the relationship between the PMP and the SEMP? What do the two plans address?
- PMP: is the master planning document for the project. It describes all activities, including technical activities, to be integrated and controlled during the life of the program.
- SEMP: is the master planning document for the systems engineering technical elements. It defines SE processes and methodologies used on the project and the relationship of SE activities to other project activities.
- The SEMP must be consistent with, and evolve in concert, with the PMP.
- What are the key specifications that are generated in the acquisition phase? What do they address and how are they related?
Specifications produced during the Acquisition Phase include
- System Requirement Specification (SyRS)
- Interface Control Document
- Development Specifications
- Product Specifications
- Process Specifications
- Material Specifications
- Explain what is meant by design for producibility, design for manufacturability and design for assembly. How are they related?
“Design for manufacturability (also sometimes known as design for manufacturing or DFM) is the general engineering practice of designing products in such a way that they are easy to manufacture. The concept exists in almost all engineering disciplines, but the implementation differs widely depending on the manufacturing technology.”
“Design for assembly (DFA) is a process by which products are designed with ease of assembly in mind. If a product contains fewer parts it will take less time to assemble, thereby reducing assembly costs. In addition, if the parts are provided with features which make it easier to grasp, move, orient and insert them, this will also reduce assembly time and assembly costs. The reduction of the number of parts in an assembly has the added benefit of generally reducing the total cost of parts in the assembly. This is usually where the major cost benefits of the application of design for assembly occur.”
Producibility extends manufacturability (and assembly) to include the ability of a manufactured item to be
- Packaged,
- Transported and
- Delivered to the point of use
in a timely manner.
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