Introduction of a design-build-fly project into aerospace systems engineering course

A second year Systems Engineering course taught at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia is described. Some particular challenges of this course are described which include the varied educational background of the international cohort of students and the abstract nature of systems engineering relative to other engineering topics. The introduction of a Design, Build, Fly component into the course was introduced in order to improve the ability of the students to grasp the system engineering concepts, which were considered abstract by students in previous years. This effort is similar in nature to Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate (CDIO) course structure, however it is atypical in that it is delivered to second year engineering students.