Publication

The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) research task (RT-48) focuses on a Vision held by NAVAIR’s leadership to assess the technical feasibility of creating/leveraging a more holistic ModelBased Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach. The expected capability of such an approach would enable mission-based analysis and engineering that reduces the typical time by at least 25 percent from what is achieved today for large-scale air vehicle systems. The research need includes the evaluation of emerging system design through computer (i.e., digital) models. The first phase of the effort began investigating the technical feasibility of moving to a “complete” model-driven lifecycle and includes four tasks as shown in Figure 1. The key tasks include: 

• Task 1: Surveying Industry, Government and Academia to understand the state-of the-art of a holistic approach to MBSE
• Task 2: Develop a common lexicon for MBSE, including model types, levels, uses, representation, visualizations, etc.
• Task 3: Model the “Vision,” but also relate it to the “As Is” process
• Task 4: Integrate a Risk Management framework with the Vision

The NAVAIR sponsor envisioned this research effort would take approximately two years, but due to the ending of the original SERC contract in December of 2013, this first phase (Phase I) had a period of performance of nine months. This report provides details about each task, the focus of the research questions, accomplishments, and the plans for the Phase II efforts, which are to continue under RT-118.