Systems Engineering Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition

15OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT

15.1 INSTALLING, MAINTAINING, AND UPGRADING THE SYSTEM

The operations and support phase of the system life cycle is the time during which the products of the system development and production phases perform the operational functions for which they were designed. In theory, the tasks of systems engineering have been completed. In practice, however, the operation of modern complex systems is never without incident. Such systems usually require substantial technical effort in their initial installation and can be expected to undergo significant testing and component replacement during periodic maintenance periods. Occasional operational glitches must also be expected due to operator error, operating stresses, or random equipment failures. In such cases, systems engineering principles must be applied by system operators, maintenance staff, or outside engineering support to identify the cause of the problem and to devise an effective remedy. Further, large complex systems, such as an air traffic control system, are too costly to replace in their entirety and therefore are subject to major upgrades as they age, which introduce new subsystems in place of obsolescent ones. All of these factors are sufficiently significant in the total role of systems engineering in the overall system life cycle to warrant a special place in the study of systems engineering.

The principal sections of this chapter summarize the typical activities that take place in the course ...