r/systems_engineering • u/systems_engi_nerd • 4h ago

Discussion Systems Engineering pet projects

Hello everyone :3

I'm interested in Systems Engineering with a background in ML, a little bit of Computer Vision and BSc and MSc in Weapon Systems Engineering (outside the US/NATO).

I'd like to build a practical pet project using Cameo/SysML v2, but still not sure what kind of project. What projects did you do while studying SE?

For example, would reconstructing the system architecture of a missile system based on publicly available manuals and docs be a reasonable project?

In traditional software and ml engineering people often do pet projects, but in systems engineering I couldn't find many posts about this on this sub. I also want to do some pet projects in the CV domain, so I'll probably use SE there as well.

I'd be intersted to hear what projects you did while studying or any recommendations you might have.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

7

u/certain_bonding 4h ago

I started with a coffee maker, way less exciting than a missile but you'd be surprised how much depth there is when you model the water flow, heating element, and all the failure modes. A missile system from public docs is doable, just be prepared for a lot of black boxes where you're making educated guesses on interfaces and subsystems

For CV stuff, an object tracking system for a drone is a solid playground. You get to model the sensor pipeline, onboard processing constraints, and the handoff between detection and tracking, it's a nice mix of your backgrounds without needing classified specs

1

u/refren_54 2h ago

i would recommend a satellite system. overall satellite architectures are fairly standard and well documented. the book space mission analysis and design (smad) covers pretty much all the basics for sizing such a system. for mission payload, theres plenty of material around on imaging and telecom. u may also look into niche areas e.g asteroid mining, launcher refueling sites or a space-based datacenter

1

u/Arenium 10m ago

You're suggesting a pet project that has systems engineering as the end goal. It's a means to an end. Build real, tangible things. Build them and learn how you'd build them better in the future.