How to Define Requirements for Complex Hardware Systems

How to Define Requirements for Complex Hardware Systems

Defining requirements in complex hardware engineering involves a similar process to software development, but with some important differences. 

The following are steps that can be followed when defining requirements for complex hardware systems:

  1. Identify stakeholders: Determine who will use the hardware system and what their needs are, including end-users, regulators, and other stakeholders who will be impacted by the system.

  2. Gather information: Collect data from sources such as market research, competitor analysis, customer feedback, and technical specifications to help define requirements.

  3. Define objectives: Establish the goals and objectives of the hardware system, such as performance, reliability, cost, and safety.

  4. Specify requirements: Document the specific features, functions, and constraints that the hardware system must meet, including physical and environmental requirements, such as size, weight, temperature, and power requirements.

  5. Prioritize requirements: Determine which requirements are the most important and allocate resources accordingly, taking into account trade-offs between performance, cost, and feasibility.

  6. Validate requirements: Ensure that requirements are accurate, complete, and aligned with the goals and objectives of the hardware system. This may involve testing and prototyping to validate requirements and identify potential challenges.

  7. Revise requirements: Regularly review and update requirements as needed, to ensure that they remain relevant and aligned with changing business and technical needs.

Defining requirements in complex hardware engineering requires a thorough understanding of the system, its stakeholders, and its objectives.

A systematic approach, including stakeholder engagement, data gathering, objective setting, requirement specification, prioritization, validation, and revision, will help ensure that requirements are well-defined and meet the needs of the hardware system and its stakeholders.

 

But what about a tool that then allows your requirements to be dynamic and link them to your precious engineering data?

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Valispace for Agile Hardware Development

Valispace is a cloud-based solution for supporting Agile hardware development.

It enables teams to save and share designs, requirements, and system models and link them in real time. This can assist in ensuring that everyone is on the same page and aid in the early detection of faults and discrepancies.

For most hardware engineering projects that want to go agile, the most helpful unique feature relates to the ability to connect requirements to engineering data.

This feature allows teams to ensure that all requirements are linked to engineering values and that any numerical data can be read and analyzed as such, rather than as flat text data.

This means that if any changes are made to your system, Valispace can automatically calculate whether this violates any of your project requirements.

Less work for your engineers, smarter insights for your project managers, and happier customers that love your product.

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Get closer to connecting your requirements to your precious engineering data, get better insights, and start delivering projects on time. 

Find out why thousands of engineers love using Valispace. 

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