Naval Postgraduate School SE 3100 Homework Assignment #7 Objective: 1

Naval Postgraduate School

SE 3100

Homework Assignment #7

Objective:

1. To practice applying suitability concepts.

Reading:

1.  Read B&F Ch’s 12-16 (first two sections of each chapter)

Assignment:   IED-Detection Robot System Suitability

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have been and continue to be a serious threat to military forces and to civilian populations.  You are a lead systems engineer with Advanced Robotics, Inc.  DoD has asked your company to develop a remotely-controlled portable robot system to support area clearance of IEDs in both urban and remote (rugged) environments.  This system is responsible for the identification of IEDs.  The neutralization or destruction of the IEDs will be handled by other systems or operators.   

1. Perform a quick “FMECA” on some aspect of the IED Detection Robot System

• Functions: Identify one function that the system is expected to perform.
• Failures: Identify the known and potential failures that could prevent or degrade the ability of the system to perform the identified function.
• Failure Effects: Identify the known and potential effects that would result from the occurrence of each failure
• Failure Causes: Identify the known and potential causes for each failure

2. Maintainability for the IED Detection Robot System:

- Preventive maintenance – identify and discuss some preventive maintenance concepts for the system.

- Corrective maintenance – identify and discuss some corrective maintenance strategies for the system.

- Design for maintainability – identify and discuss one aspect of the system design that can support maintainability during operations.

2. Pick one of the following suitability objectives and write a paragraph or two explaining a systems engineering strategy for achieving that objective for the IED-Detection Robot

• Survivability
• Safety
• Usability