WRT-1043- DAU Digital Engineering Simulation (Option Year 1)
DAU DIGITAL ENGINEERING SIMULATION
WRT-1043
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Principal Investigator:
Dr. Nicole Hutchison, Stevens Institute of Technology
TASK ORDER NO. 0179 Final Technical Report SERC-2023-TR-007
Co-Principal Investigators:
Dr. Dinesh Verma, Stevens Institute of Technology
Dr. Peter Beling, Virginia Tech
May 26, 2023
Sponsor: Defense Acquisition University (DAU)
Human Capital Development(Evolving Body of Knowledge)
The purpose of this task is to develop a digital engineering simulation for use in training students at the DAU to enhance their digital literacy. This simulation would need to have the necessary depth (varying levels of abstraction – from mission level models to physics-based models/parametric models) and breadth (multiple domains and disciplines) to convey the richness of possibilities and the potential benefits derived from transforming engineering and systems engineering via digital engineering. A theme of the task will be the development of principled approaches to selecting the elements of a notional U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) weapons system and missions to be modeled and represented throughout the development lifecycle to include pulling the digital thread from concept through production and sustainment.
The architecture of the simulation should provide for extensions and changes to the simulation depending on future enhancements such as a cyber security or logistics, modules to show the students the use of digital engineering across multiple acquisition related disciplines. These approaches will take into account significant design and operation issues that arise in the utilization of the notional weapons system, including (1) consideration of what data is collected for input. (2) what configuration (subsystem) is fielded for data collections, and (3) what update rate is required for assessing the collected information.
The approach will also consider important aspects of the impact that the digital thread can have on acquisition methodologies, including: (1) the ability to conduct tests after the system is fielded, (2) signaling of the need for system updates, and (3) early recognition of safety or cyber-related problems that require system modifications. Such capabilities are expected to grow in importance as systems increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI).
The simulation will also be used to teach students how digital engineering is used to inform representative program decisions across a system’s lifecycle.
Furthermore, the complexity of the problem, the technological and engineering response, and the overarching context of the problem and the resulting simulation must recreate real-world constraints and operational scenarios. Wherever possible, this development should leverage the research already conducted within the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) to realize cost and schedule efficiencies – and should allow the transformation of the pedagogical approach within the systems engineering educational ecosystem in general and DAU in particular to provide students, faculty, practitioners, and researchers with a digital engineering environment and asset that can support the continued transition of the DoD and the related Defense Industrial Base. It is an aspiration of this project that this digital engineering simulation could provide a common touchstone for numerous aspects of the DAU curriculum into the future. In this regard, the simulation should be architected in a manner that allows future extensibility into additional disciplinary areas.
Finally, the simulation must be designed for use in DAU’s learning environment using virtual led instruction in both synchronous and asynchronous modes.
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