Requirements Analysis

Requirements Analysis is one of the Systems Engineering tools to do the design and optimization of a system.

A system as a whole has a statement of what we want it to do. This is in the form of goals, values, mission description, performance requirements and such. It also needs ways to measure how good a given design is. These can be things like "minimum cost", "minimum waste output", and "maximum efficiency". These statements and measures are often in verbal form. Requirements Analysis is the process of putting them in numerical form, breaking them down to more detail, and assigning them to functions who will perform them. The assignment ensures that somewhere in the system the top level goals are met. At the most detailed level a subset of the requirements are assigned to a single function box. This now becomes the conditions that a specific engineering design needs to meet.

Global Village System Identification

The first step is to identify what is the system we are working with, and what is outside the system (the environment). The Global Village Construction Set is a set of machines and technologies, but are not sufficient in themselves. You also need land on which to use the machines, people to operate them, and information so the people know what to do. These combine to form a Global Village System, which as a whole serves the purposes for which it is designed.

The environment in which the system operates is everything outside the boundary of the system, in other words the entire rest of the universe minus the system. Among the outside entities the system can interact with are more copies of itself. You can define inputs and outputs that flow across the system boundary. As a time series, at first more inputs are required, otherwise the system would be empty. During it's operating life both inputs and outputs will occur. If the system reaches an end of life and is dismantled, then outputs will outweigh inputs until nothing is left, and all parts are disposed of properly.

Multiple versions of the system can exist during design as alternatives. Once design is completed, multiple versions can exist to account for differences in number of people, land area, climate, geology, starting funds, diet preference, and surrounding region economic state and technical infrastructure. As a starting point, a single nominal "design point" can be established, from which versions can be derived.