In recent years there has been increased demand for readiness and availability metrics across many industries and especially in national defense to enable data‐driven decision making at all levels of planning, maintenance, and operations, and in leveraging integrated models that inform stakeholders of current operational system health and performance metrics. The digital twin (DT) has been identified as a promising approach for deploying these models to fielded systems although several challenges exist in wide adoption and implementation. Two challenges examined in this article are that the nature of DT development is a system‐specific endeavor, and the development is usually an additional effort that begins after initial system fielding. A fundamental challenge with DT development, which sets it apart from traditional models, is the DT itself is treated as a separate system, and therefore the physical asset/DT construct becomes a system‐of‐systems problem. This article explores how objectives in DT development align with those of model‐based systems engineering (MBSE), and how the MBSE process can answer questions necessary to define the DT. The key benefits to the approach are leveraging work already being performed during system synthesis and DT development is pushed earlier in a system's lifecycle. This article contributes to the definition and development processes for DTs by proposing a DT development model and path, a method for scoping and defining requirements for a DT, and an approach to integrate DT and system development. An example case study of a Naval unmanned system is presented to illustrate the contributions.
This article details the design, construction and implementation of a novel, spherical unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) prototype for operations within confined, entanglement-prone marine environments. The nature of shipwreck interiors, the exploration of which the vehicle was originally designed, imposes special risks that constrain system requirements while promoting other attributes uncommon in typical open-water UUV designs. The invention, the Wreck Interior Exploration Vehicle (WIEVLE), was constructed using 3-D additive manufacturing technology combined with relatively inexpensive commercial components. Similar inventions are compared, followed by a thorough review of the physical and functional characteristics of the system. The key attributes of the design include a smooth, spherical hull with 360-degree sensor coverage, and a fixed, upward-angled thruster core, relying on inherent buoyancy to take the place of a dedicated depth-changing mechanism. Initial open-loop control testing demonstrated stable 4[M2] degrees of freedom (DOF) maneuvering capability. The article concludes with an overview of the results of the initial testing, a review of how the key system design attributes address the unique shipwreck interior exploration challenges, and a plan for the future development of the platform.
Military bases perform important national security missions. In order to perform these missions, specific electrical energy loads must have continuous, uninterrupted power even during terrorist attacks, adversary action, natural disasters, and other threats of specific interest to the military. While many global military bases have established microgrids that can maintain base operations and power critical loads during grid disconnect events where outside power is unavailable, many potential threats can cause microgrids to fail and shed critical loads. Nanogrids are of specific interest because they have the potential to protect individual critical loads in the event of microgrid failure. We present a systems engineering methodology that analyzes potential nanogrid configurations to understand which configurations may improve energy resilience and by how much for critical loads from a national security perspective. This then allows targeted deployment of nanogrids within existing microgrid infrastructures. A case study of a small military base with an existing microgrid is presented to demonstrate the potential of the methodology to help base energy managers understand which options are preferable and justify implementing nanogrids to improve energy resilience.
This article explores the development and application of an automated computer-aided wargame to establish high-level capability requirements and concepts of operations for future Navy unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned underwater vehicles. The Joint Theater Level Simulation-Global Operations serves as the modeling environment, in which a computer-aided exercise models the impact of future intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets. Automating wargame simulations permits the replication of a large-scale exercise without the continued investment of support personnel and operating units. The environment enables experimentation that provides force planners with pertinent metrics to inform decision-making.
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