Systems engineering: application to VISTA design

The high-performance nature of VISTA, the Visible & Infra-Red Survey Telescope for Astronomy, with its widefield high-throughput f/1 optical design coupled with the multi-organisation, multi-disciplinary nature of the VISTA collaboration places significant demands on the project's Systems Engineering function. The project has relied heavily on a Systems Engineering approach, which has been vigorously applied throughout the conception, specification, and tendering stages of the project lifecycle, and is in place to be continued through the remaining phases of design & development, manufacture, assembly, commissioning, verification and acceptance. As the project matures from the Requirements/Design phase towards the Development and Manufacturing phase, the current status of the VISTA project is illustrated in terms of its Systems Engineering aspects, along with examples of how a formal Systems Engineering approach has resulted in benefits to the important project parameters of performance, cost and schedule. Key tools such as engineering budgets, configuration control procedures and the approach to risk management will be discussed in terms of their value to the project.