MS/SE Concentration in
Architecture-Based Systems Integration (ABSI)

There is much interest today in the engineering of systems that are themselves comprised of other component systems, and where each of the component systems serves organizational and human purposes. These systems families are often categorized as systems-of-systems, or federations of systems. The design of architectures is a major ingredient in the design of systems families and provides the conceptual basis for achieving system integration. Towards this end, the Department of Defense has issued new regulations for acquisition of systems. These require an architecture-based approach and focus on how a proposed system will be integrated with other existing or planned systems. Industry is expected to follow the new guidelines.

The GMU Architecture-Based System Integration concentration was created to prepare system engineers for these new demands. Studies cover: formulation of the system integration problem, definition of architecture frameworks, use of structured analysis and object oriented methodologies for the design of architectures, modeling and simulation for evaluation of architectures and approaches to integration. Both defense and industrial applications are considered. A Graduate Certificate in Architecture-Based Systems Integration is also available

Basic methods course:
Students must complete the following:

• SYST 620 - Discrete Event Systems

Concentration-specific courses:
Students must complete two required courses and one elective course from an approved list. The two required courses are:

• SYST 618 Model-based Systems Engineering
• SYST 621 System Architecture Design

The list of approved elective includes all basic methods courses and the following:

• SYST 513 Total Systems Engineering, Re-engineering, and Enterprise Integration
• SYST 542 Decision Support Systems Engineering
• SYST 630 Systems Engineering Management II
• SYST 683 Modeling, Simulation, and Gaming