TABLE OF CONTENTS In large and complicated system acquisitions, a wide range of technical specialists (or experts) will be involved with producing a wide variety of subsystems. The specialists perform work in the traditional engineering fields such as electrical, civil, mechanical, and aeronautical engineering, and in very specialized and detailed areas such as electromagnetic interference/compatibility and corrosion control. With all of these specialized areas working on the same project, there is a significant requirement for a coordinated approach to the integration effort. The integration effort must be managed to ensure that compatibility exists between the different areas. The task of systems integration falls within the bounds of systems engineering management and can be managed effectively by ensuring that adequate attention is paid to the functional interfaces between the different areas.
The task of integrating different system elements is managed primarily through the ICD, which was introduced in Chapter 3 as an example of a type B specification produced during preliminary design. The ICD is responsible for specifying the functional and physical interface requirements that exist between the different subsystem elements within the system. It should be remembered that interface requirements are defined in both the development and product specifications for the respective CIs. The ICD, however, identifies the CIs, between which there needs to be an interface. Through the definition of that interface, the ICD ensures that the communication occurs between the different design teams. This is a critical process because interfaces often result in additional derived requirements being placed...
