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Digital Engineering Transformation: A Case Study

Abstract

Model-based systems engineering and other modern systems engineering methodologies have been proposed, developed, and used for many years already. Currently, the preferred approach to the design of complex systems is a holistic view, called digital engineering, which includes the use of models instead of documents, and methodologies for the integration of data and the definition of an authoritative source of truth. Proper use of digital engineering requires a process of transformation, including a fundamental change of mindset, at the level of the whole enterprise. However, this digital engineering transformation process is not always straightforward, and it must be adapted to the specific needs of each enterprise and implemented in small steps. This chapter describes the experience of SERC researchers with the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) to initiate and support the digital transformation process at JPEO-CBRND, including obstacles and response to address them, in an ongoing journey of collaboration and initial success in digital engineering transformation.

Leads

Cesare Guariniello

Purdue University

Waterloo Tsutsui

Purdue University

Dalia Bekdache

Purdue University

Daniel DeLaurentis

Purdue University

Publications

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  6. Davendralingam, Navindran, & DeLaurentis, D. (2013). “A robust optimization framework to architecting system of systems.” Procedia Computer Science, 16, 255–64, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PROCS.2013.01.027.

  7. Davendralingam, Navindran, Daniel D, Zhemei F et al. (2014). “An analytic workbench perspective to evolution of system of systems architectures.” Procedia Computer Science, 28, 702–10, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PROCS.2014.03.084.

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  11. Gebisa, Aboma Wagari, & Hirpa G. Lemu. (2018). Investigating effects of fused-deposition modeling (FDM) processing parameters on flexural properties of ULTEM 9085 using designed experiment. Materials, 11(4), https://doi.org/10.3390/MA11040500.

  12. Guariniello, C. and DeLaurentis, D. (2017). Supporting design via the system operational dependency analysis methodology. Research in Engineering Design 28 (1): 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/S00163-016-0229-0.

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  19. Li, Xin, Huang, S. and Sun, Z (2019). “Technology and equipment development in laser-induced fluorescence-based remote and field detection of biological aerosols.” Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity, 1(2), 113–22, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JOBB.2019.08.005.

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  21. McDermott, T. and Salado, A. (2021). Application of Digital Engineering Measures. Final Technical Report, SERC-2021-TR-024, 2021.

  22. McDermott Tom, E. Van Aken, N. Hutchison, M. Blackburn, M. Clifford, Y. Zhongyuan, N. Chen, A. Salado, and K. Henderson. (2020). Digital Engineering Metrics. Technical Report SERC-2020-TR-002.

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  26. Patel, Piyush, & Piyush Gohil. (2021). “Role of additive manufacturing in medical application COVID-19 scenario: India case study.” Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 60, 811–22, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JMSY.2020.11.006.

  27. Rogers, E.B., & Mitchell, S.W. (2021). MBSE delivers significant return on investment in evolutionary development of complex SoS Systems Engineering, 24(6), 385–408, https://doi.org/10.1002/SYS.21592.

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  29. Shi, Qian, Tsutsui, W., Bekdache, D. et al. (2022). A System-of-Systems (SoS) perspective on additive manufacturing decisions for space applications. 2022 17th Annual System of Systems Engineering Conference (SOSE), Rochester, NY (June 2022). IEEE, pp. 282–88, doi:https://doi.org/10.1109/SOSE55472.2022.9812665.

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  31. Van Bossuyt, D.L., Hale, B., Arlitt, R.M. and Papakonstantinou, N. (2022). Multi-mission engineering with zero trust: a modeling methodology and application to contested offshore wind farms. International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, St. Louis, MO (August 2022). American Society of Mechanical Engineers Digital Collection, https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2022-90067.

  32. Williams, B. (2022). Applied agile digital mission engineering for cislunar space domain awareness. MS Thesis. Air Force Institute of Technology, March 2022, https://scholar.afit.edu/etd/5446.

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The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) was established in the Fall of 2008 as a government-designated University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). The SERC has produced 15 years of research, focused on an updated systems engineering toolkit (methods, tools, and practices) for the complex cyber-physical systems of today and tomorrow.


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