The Role of Systems Engineering in Autonomous Vehicles
and the future of Farming
Autonomous vehicles have become a ground-breaking idea in the rapidly changing worlds of technology and transportation. These autonomous cars, trucks, and drones illustrate systems designed to deliver goods or services in predetermined settings for the benefit of clients and other stakeholders. This Blog explores the importance of systems engineering in autonomous vehicles and is motivated by a recent historical event.
Defining the Environment and Stakeholders
The environment and stakeholders for autonomous vehicles are multifaceted, initially designed to solve urban congestion challenges and reduce road accidents. Autonomous vehicles were envisioned for bustling city streets and highways, and stakeholders include automakers, technology companies, governments, transportation service providers, insurers, and, of course, the public. However, an interesting twist in the story comes from an unexpected place. The autonomous vehicle industry includes a wide range of components, including sensors, platforms, data engineering, and safety legislation, with each of these elements acting as a platform for technological and business model developments. This draws numerous innovators with unique ideas, and the significance of systems engineering is often undervalued in this complex technological environment, particularly when it comes to safety and system integration.
The Unlikely Transformation
While self-driving cars and ridesharing have taken center stage, an untold story is the use of autonomous vehicles in agriculture. Farmers have embraced self-driving tractors and drones to transform how they manage their huge fields. Although these autonomous systems are meant to operate in an environment other than city streets, the concepts of systems engineering remain the same.
Systems Engineering Principles
Systems engineering plays a pivotal role in the development of self-driving vehicles across various critical aspects. Firstly, it involves requirements engineering, where systems engineers define and manage the operational, functional, safety, performance, and reliability requirements essential for the development of autonomous vehicle systems that both meet user needs and adhere to stringent safety standards. Secondly, systems engineers contribute to system architecture, facilitating the design of a cohesive framework encompassing elements such as actuators, perception algorithms, control systems, and sensors, ensuring they work in concert to achieve autonomy goals. Furthermore, integration and testing are core responsibilities, as systems engineers ensure the seamless integration of components and subsystems while creating comprehensive test plans and conducting tests to verify functionality and safety. Risk management is another crucial facet involving the identification and mitigation of potential safety risks, including the implementation of redundancy and fail-safe mechanisms. Lastly, systems engineers participate in the verification and validation processes, conducting extensive testing, simulations, and real-world assessments to ensure compliance with safety standards and specifications, thus contributing significantly to the advancement of autonomous vehicle technology.”
A Systematic Approach to Safety and Reliability
Assuring safety and dependability is one of the major contributions of systems engineering in autonomous vehicles. Safety-critical system regulations align with the methodical process of developing requirements, use cases, and test methods. This procedure, as promoted by INCOSE, is essential and indispensable to the development process.
How Systems Engineering Principles Make a Difference
The adaptability of systems engineering principles demonstrates how they can improve diverse fields, even beyond their original scope. Applying these principles to autonomous agricultural vehicles has led to increased efficiency, reduced resource waste, and improved crop yields. Systems engineering has helped ensure that these autonomous systems meet the specific requirements of farming while adhering to safety standards.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the role of systems engineering in autonomous vehicles extends beyond the city streets and highways. It encompasses diverse environments and stakeholders, as demonstrated by adopting autonomous technology in agriculture. The INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook’s principles, such as requirements engineering, system architecture, and verification and validation, have proven invaluable in adapting autonomous systems to new contexts. Systems engineering principles continue to drive innovation, making autonomous vehicles safer, more efficient, and beneficial to an ever-expanding range of stakeholders.
Reference:
Exploring new methods for increasing safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles. (2023, May 23). MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://news.mit.edu/2023/exploring-methods-increasing-safety-reliability-autonomous-vehicles-0523
Model based systems engineering: Testing trumps autonomous complexity — umlaut. (n.d.). https://www.umlaut.com/en/stories/trust-the-test-systems-engineering-meets-autonomous-driving
Asscheman, E. (2023, September 14). Autonomous systems at Agritechnica 2023. Future Farming. https://www.futurefarming.com/tech-in-focus/autonomous-semi-autosteering-systems/autonomous-systems-at-agritechnica-2023/
Systems Engineering Handbook. 4th Edition. Wiley. 2015.
