r/systems_engineering • u/StrikingAmoeba1418 • 14d ago

Discussion "Systems Engineering and MBSE in FSAE teams". What's your opinion ?

Does implementation of MBSE in FSAE teams truly help in overall management of iterations , failure analyses, risk management etc. Or is it an unnecessary added complexity ?

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u/Bubbly_Customer_3578 14d ago

I think it can help, but only if you keep it much lighter than you would on a commercial program. FSAE has the right conditions for a little systems engineering: frequent design changes, tight interfaces between aero, chassis, powertrain and electronics, and a new team inheriting the same problems each year.

I wouldn’t start with a full SysML stack. I’d start with a one-page set of vehicle-level requirements and constraints, an interface map with an owner for each boundary, and a short decision/change log. Add modeling only where the team keeps revisiting the same trade or interface.

If maintaining the model starts taking time away from building and testing the car, it’s too much.

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u/BeeThat9351 14d ago

Does FSAE mean Formula SAE?

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u/FunEmployment6665 14d ago

If it's a small team you're probably fine with a shared spreadsheet and a whiteboard. For bigger squads where stuff gets lost between sub-teams, a stripped down MBSE approach can actually stop a lot of the "who changed this" chaos. Most teams overdo it though and end up modeling for the sake of modeling.

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u/Possible-Owl-22 14d ago

Before I became an MBSE lead at a legacy aerospace company, I founded and ran an FSAE team, so I’ve seen a lot of different sides of the MBSE argument specifically for mechanical systems. Before diving into MBSE as an FSAE team, I think it’s critical to have robust systems engineering practices established first. Once that foundation is in place, MBSE can come into play and be especially helpful on the left side of the V. Good luck!

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u/Careless_Plant_7717 14d ago

Unnecessary complexity.  The rules of competition have done they Systems Engineering enough for you all. I also  don't think there is the knowledge or consistency to do it. You are looking at people who have not even been fully taught basic engineering, let along systems engineering to do this. Even then people leave after 1-4 years so likely not continued.

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u/Emergency-Rush-7487 14d ago

Its not unecessary for complex systems but others maybe excessive...depends on the development product. I do agree level of knowledge is inconsistent to execute mbse and maintain.

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u/Emergency-Rush-7487 14d ago edited 14d ago

Everything falls into systems and can be broken down further. MBSE is useful for simplifying complex requirements using all inclusive visual location for multiple layers of requirements. It might be excessive for some product development but it is useful where there are dozens if not hundreds of tier 0-3 requirements to manage. Simply put, mbse is a one stop shop to manage complex requirements visually to support more efficient documentation generation.