3. Systems engineering bridges the traditional engineering disciplines. The diversity of the elements in a complex system requires different engineering disciplines to be involved in their design and development. For the system to perform
correctly, each system element must function properly in combination with one
or more other system elements. Implementation of these interrelated functions
is dependent on a complex set of physical and functional interactions between
separately designed elements. Thus, the various elements cannot be engineered
independently of one another and then simply assembled to produce a working
system. Rather, systems engineers must guide and coordinate the design of each
individual element as necessary to assure that the interactions and interfaces
between system elements are compatible and mutually supporting. Such coor-dination is especially important when individual system elements are designed,
tested, and supplied by different organization