Using Capella in an ISE Systems Design Course

Abstract

Relative to other engineering disciplines, ISE education has been hampered by the absence of computational design tools.  Systems modeling languages, like UML and SysML are very capable for documenting system designs, but many ISE students (and faculty) are not familiar and have little motivation to become competent users. Moreover, these are modeling tools and not design tools. In contrast, Capella is an open source, Eclipse-based software tool that implements the RFLP (requirements analysis, functional analysis, logical architecture, and physical architecture) design methodology.  This talk will describe experiences using Capella along with several CICMHE design cases to teach design thinking and design principles to undergraduate and masters students. A major issue in this kind of course is the student’s lack of domain knowledge, and the use of Capella provides a natural mechanism for introducing required domain knowledge “on demand”.