WHY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS IMPORTANT

Digital transformation and digital engineering are key topics in defense acquisitions. Many may ask “what is behind this interest” or “is this another fleeting management trend?” Like the transition from the drafting table to computer aided design (CAD) in the 1980s and 90s which dramatically streamlined the engineering to production process, we are at the cusp of a similar transition. At the core of this transformation is improved integration. The models permit tracing of requirement sets to elements in systems models which interact with life cycle data and engineering models to enhance insights and create more robust tradeoffs throughout the development lifecycle. This integration and traceability, enabled by new tools, offers a means to better manage the complex systems that exist across the DoD.
 

Largely, the digital transformation triggers the following questions: Why, when, and how should we pursue a future state of integrated models and data? What are the costs and benefits of these integrated models? How do these tools transform the way we acquire, sustain, and operate these systems? These questions are at the heart of curriculum and research in AFIT’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management.
 

AFIT HISTORY IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

AFIT has a long history of creating and applying digital models across the Graduate School to include physics-based models through operations models. These types of models are part of the digital transformation, the new challenge is integration of these models and data structures. How does one take data from a physics-based model (ex. kinetic weapons effects) and have them integrate with an operations model (ex. a sortie into denied airspace) and have those models trace to stakeholder requirements (ex. mission effectiveness and lethality) or perhaps to trade studies (ex. life cycle cost versus effectiveness across various architectures)?
 

ONGOING INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

To fulfill the promise of digital engineering, it will be necessary to integrate various models and modeling environments within a robust acquisition process. Recent AFIT systems research has focused on application of systems models using model-based systems engineering to explore systems to include smart munitions, aircraft, spacecraft, and maintenance systems.

Under the guidance of Dr. David Jacques and Lt. Cols. Jeremy Geiger and Warren Connell, a group of four recent AFIT graduates investigated networked cooperative autonomous systems. By implementing digital twins of the munitions in MBSE and AFSIM, the team investigated a range of potential system architectures and behaviors. The integration of MBSE tools with AFSIM permitted the team to explore how the combinations of these tools could be used to facilitate selection of various architectures as well as to perform verification, validation, and accreditation processes. Just one of the tools developed in this research permitted an automated verification of all system interfaces to assure their compliance with published standards (minutes versus week or months); the ability to have such automated verification provides just one answer to ‘what are the benefits?’ The associated research with mission models considered thousands of architectures virtually, allowing more informed selection of a design.
 

While the NCAS research considered a future system, Geiger and his student Capt. Patrick Assef measured and quantified the hours necessary to transition legacy documentation of an ACAT III program to full structural system models. With just under 100 hours of effort, the program documentation was transferred to permit automated queries to be completed in minutes to determine the effect of eliminating interfaces, changing components, or changing interfaces.
 

To explore how this digital transformation changes our acquisition processes MBSE tools were applied to support both airworthiness decision factors as well as physical structure design and visualization. Dr. Tom Ford led a project in which MBSE tools were used to computationally evaluate various physical arrangements of aircraft components. These tools were integrated with Engineering Sketchpad to provide additional analyses and visualizations. This arrangement provided the ability to rapidly evaluate various sizes and placements of wings among other physical components for future aircraft designs.
 

The impact of these tools are not limited to system acquisition, they influence mission engineering and operations. Space related projects led by Dr. Tom Ford, Mr. David Meyer, and Lt. Col. Paul Beach included evaluation of notional space domain awareness and satellite communication architectures. These projects included the definition of space assets using MBSE software which was integrated with either systems tool kit or AFSIM to model the dynamic performance of assets and to understand the benefits and deficiencies of various architectural solutions for addressing mission needs.
 

Besides modeling hardware and software components, work was also conducted to model human performance and support. This included research, led by Dr. Michael Miller and Maj. Joe Kristbaum that explored reference architectures for augmented reality systems to support aircraft maintenance, as well as models to analyze and guide training development. A related project led by Lt. Col. Amy Cox explored organizational structures designed to further user driven innovation through support of user toolkits. This research leveraged MBSE models to understand organizational structures, human roles, and tasks within user toolkit ecosystems described in the literature to synthesize the important roles and tasks which support user innovation using these toolkits.
 

Overall, AFIT research and graduate curriculum on digital engineering and model based systems engineering has been designed to support the DoD’s digital transformation. We are developing the workforce that can lead this transformation. We are driving research to advance our understanding of how to transform our current structures and processes. This is a transformation that spans all DoD systems; altering our acquisition processes, enhancing our insight into hardware, software, and personnel integration, and driving changes to how we ultimately carry out our missions.