In evaluating design concepts, many companies build and test each alternative to select the one that will be taken to detailed design and manufacturing. This can be done effectively only if the concept evaluation is also based on knowledge of the key issues in hardware implementation. Real systems will rarely fail because of the lack of modeling and analysis, because the chosen concept is built and extensively tested before it is manufactured in quantity. Problems inevitably do arise, however, once the product is in service, and customers always want better performance and more features. These issues can be addressed effectively only if adequate modeling has been performed, resulting in a thorough understanding of the system.
Most universities fail in the areas of physical modeling and experimental ver-ification.
Mathematics is the language engineers use to model physical sys-tems and gain insight into the systems behavior. Undergraduate mathematics courses for engineers must be taught from this point of view to impress on the students the importance and relevance of the mathematics they are studying. In addition, we should never allow actual physical demonstrations and individual hardware experience to be replaced by computer simulations. Balance between modeling, analysis, simulation of dynamic systems, and hardware implementation is the key. We must be sure that we address this deficiency as we work on this project.