Course content

The course introduces master’s students to systems engineering through activities merging theory and practice, such as the development of autonomous maritime vehicles. It emphasizes the application of systems engineering principles across the entire system lifecycle — from requirements and architecture to integration, testing, evaluation and operation.

Students work in multidisciplinary teams to plan, implement and demonstrate a functional prototype in the department’s laboratories, building upon legacy systems and components from previous years. The project integrates process and product, via hardware, software, and control systems, highlighting the interplay between design, operation, and performance in realistic maritime contexts. Through this work, students gain hands-on experience with system definition, interface management, and verification in a collaborative engineering environment.

Lectures and exercises provide methods for structuring and managing complex engineering projects, covering the fundamentals of system architecture, lifecycle processes, stakeholder needs, and performance assessment. Emphasis is placed on connecting theoretical frameworks with practical implementation enabling students to translate abstract systems concepts into tangible technical outcomes.

The course also explores how decisions made during design and development influence "ilities", such as operability, safety, and reliability of autonomous systems. Students are encouraged to reflect on trade-offs between performance, complexity, and cost, and to evaluate how system architecture affects long-term maintainability and scalability.

By combining lectures, guided exercises, and project-based laboratory work, the course provides a holistic understanding of how large, functionally complex systems are conceived, designed, and realized. It aims to develop the student’s ability to think systemically, collaborate across disciplines, and contribute effectively to the creation of advanced maritime technology.

Learning outcome

Having passed the course it is expected that:

Knowledge and skills

• Understands fundamental principles of systems engineering and how product, process, people, and performance interact in a maritime context.
• Can apply systems engineering methods to develop a functional prototype of an complex maritime vehicle, such as autonomous systems.
• Has experience with requirements definition, architecture development, system integration, and verification.
• Understands lifecycle processes, stakeholder expectations, and performance evaluation in engineering systems.
• Can combine holistic view (e.g. lifecycle analysis, stakeholder perception) with domain-specific knowledge (naval architecture, mechanical, control, software, electrical, etc.) to solve practical integration challenges.

Competence

• Can contribute to multidisciplinary teams developing complex maritime systems.
• Can identify, analyze and communicate design choices and trade-offs in complex maritime vehicles development.
• Can interpret and apply systems engineering principles in industrial and research-oriented projects.
• Can document, present, and justify prototype performance and design rationale to stakeholders.

Learning methods and activities

The course combines lectures, workshops, and project-based laboratory work. Students work in teams to design, build and test a prototype of a complex maritime vehicle, integrating subsystems such as propulsion, control, sensors, and communication.Lectures introduce systems engineering theory, which is then applied directly to the project work. The project is documented in a technical report and demonstrated at the end of the semester.

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

None

Required previous knowledge

None

Course materials

Compendium: the course is based on the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook (https://www.nasa.gov/reference/systems-engineering-handbook/, 2019 version). Additional lecture notes, support reading and papers will be made available in Canvas.