1. Purpose and scope
This stage decides what the finished system has to do, for whom and under what conditions, before anyone commits to an architecture. A system here is a complete product built around one or more chips: boards, power, enclosure, firmware, software and the services that keep it working in the field. Its requirements reach well beyond any single chip. They cover the use cases and operating scenarios, the functions and their performance, power and battery life where it applies, size and weight, unit cost, service life, the markets it will be sold in and the approvals each market needs, and the security that owners and users can expect.
The stage also checks that the system can be built with technology that exists or is coming. The team looks at the chips, FPGAs and modules it would depend on, the power, thermal and size budget, and the software and security technology, and records each gap with a plan to close it. That is the work of the TR1: Technology feasibility review, the first of three technical readiness reviews; the others come at System design freeze and Production validation complete.
In scope: the business case at concept level, system requirements and use cases, operating conditions, certification needs by market, the first threat model and the technology feasibility assessment. Out of scope: the block structure, the split between hardware, software and firmware, and the choice of chips, which are settled in System Architecture & Partitioning.
12 more sections for registered members.