Courses tagged with "Information environments" (73)
This course introduces the various aspects of present and future Air Traffic Control systems. Among the topics in the present system that we will discuss are the systems-analysis approach to problems of capacity and safety, surveillance, including the National Airspace System and Automated Terminal Radar Systems, navigation subsystem technology, aircraft guidance and control, communications, collision avoidance systems and sequencing and spacing in terminal areas. The class will then talk about future directions and development and have a critical discussion of past proposals and of probable future problem areas.
General introduction to systems engineering using both the classical V-model and the new Meta approach. Topics include stakeholder analysis, requirements definition, system architecture and concept generation, trade-space exploration and concept selection, design definition and optimization, system integration and interface management, system safety, verification and validation, and commissioning and operations. Discusses the trade-offs between performance, lifecycle cost and system operability. Readings based on systems engineering standards and papers. Students apply the concepts of systems engineering to a cyber-electro-mechanical system, which is subsequently entered into a design competition.
Students will prepare a PDR (Preliminary Design Review)-level design intended for the Cansat Competition.This year's class will be taught in the form of a Small-Private-Online-Course (SPOC) and offered simultaneously to students at MIT under number 16.842 and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) as ENG-421.
This short course provides an introduction to reactor dynamics including subcritical multiplication, critical operation in absence of thermal feedback effects and effects of Xenon, fuel and moderator temperature, etc. Topics include the derivation of point kinetics and dynamic period equations; techniques for reactor control including signal validation, supervisory algorithms, model-based trajectory tracking, and rule-based control; and an overview of light-water reactor startup. Lectures and demonstrations employ computer simulation and the use of the MIT Research Reactor.
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.
This course is a survey of principal concepts and methods of fluid dynamics. Topics include mass conservation, momentum, and energy equations for continua; Navier-Stokes equation for viscous flows; similarity and dimensional analysis; lubrication theory; boundary layers and separation; circulation and vorticity theorems; potential flow; introduction to turbulence; lift and drag; surface tension and surface tension driven flows.
This subject introduces the key concepts and formalism of quantum mechanics and their relevance to topics in current research and to practical applications. Starting from the foundation of quantum mechanics and its applications in simple discrete systems, it develops the basic principles of interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter.
Topics covered are composite systems and entanglement, open system dynamics and decoherence, quantum theory of radiation, time-dependent perturbation theory, scattering and cross sections. Examples are drawn from active research topics and applications, such as quantum information processing, coherent control of radiation-matter interactions, neutron interferometry and magnetic resonance.
The purpose of this course is to discuss modern techniques of generation of x-ray photons and neutrons and then follow with selected applications of newly developed photon and neutron scattering spectroscopic techniques to investigations of properties of condensed matter which are of interest to nuclear engineers.
This course was created for the "product development" track of MIT's System Design and Management Program (SDM) in conjunction with the Center for Innovation in Product Development. After taking this course, a student should be able to:
- Formulate measures of performance of a system or quality characteristics. These quality characteristics are to be made robust to noise affecting the system.
- Sythesize and select design concepts for robustness.
- Identify noise factors whose variation may affect the quality characteristics.
- Estimate the robustness of any given design (experimentally and analytically).
- Formulate and implement methods to reduce the effects of noise (parameter design, active control, adjustment).
- Select rational tolerances for a design.
- Explain the role of robust design techniques within the wider context of the product development process.
- Lead product development activities that include robust design techniques.