System Engineering & Integration

Abstract

Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) continues to develop and improve the integrated Ballistic Missile Defense System architectures, engineer major improvements to regional Ballistic Missile Defense capabilities, and provide system improvements that enable earlier Ballistic Missile Defense engagements. SE&I develops technical roadmaps, knowledge points, and capability trades at the Ballistic Missile Defense System level to balance integration and improvement efforts. The SE&I workforce, including Industry and Contractor Support Services (CSS), also provides analysis, decision-making and planning activities for real-world operations to the White House, Joint Staff, Military Services, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Combatant Commanders (Military Utility Assessment), Operational Test Agencies, Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, Allies, and others. Systems Engineering and Integration is the single team that applies its technical expertise, tools, and facilities across many disciplines and specialties to lead the collaborative effort to define, design, test and integrate the Ballistic Missile Defense System. System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) Major Program Goals: -Develop, design, test and integrate the layered Ballistic Missile Defense System and improve Ballistic Missile Defense performance -Develop a four-Phased Adaptive Approach architecture to respond to the rapid proliferation of short and medium range ballistic missiles, provide a more effective missile defense capability for North Atlantic Treaty Organization territories and enhance U.S. homeland defense. -Develop the Ballistic Missile Defense System functional and performance requirements for the Phased Adaptive Approach -Document the functional and performance requirements for the Phased Adaptive Approach in a Future Systems Capability document and Capability Planning Specifications -Provide system-level support to the Elements for definition, design, and integration of the Ballistic Missile Defense System capabilities -Provide technical direction to Element and Component developers -Produce controlling specifications and analysis to drive the Ballistic Missile Defense System design -Establish and enforce design and construction standards -Lead collaborative and cross-Element and cross-Component engineering Verify and Assess through testing and Ballistic Missile Defense System performance and capabilities -Develop Ballistic Missile Defense System Performance Assessment parameters -Identify the Critical Engagement Conditions and data required to develop the test campaigns that will demonstrate regional defense performance, and verify and assess the capability of each Phased Adaptive Approach -Define the test objectives necessary to anchor Ballistic Missile Defense System-level models and simulations -Monitor ground and flight test execution and identify Ballistic Missile Defense System issues -Identify Ballistic Missile Defense System capabilities and limitations Analyze Architecture Alternatives and New Technologies -Provide detailed analysis to support MDA leadership and US policy decisions -Pursue architecture alternatives that are complementary to and interoperable with North Atlantic Treaty Organization systems and other theaters around the world; more adaptable and flexible to counter threat advances; and that provide increased defended areas over time -Develop architecture frameworks and operational concepts for emerging capabilities -Establish technical roadmaps for future defense capabilities -Leverage recent advances in sensor and interceptor technologies to aggressively counter growing regional threats with a more powerful and agile system -Evaluate mature capabilities using Engineering and Manufacturing Readiness Level assessments to analyze risks in advance of manufacturing processes -Develop anti-tamper approaches to enable international fielding of the Ballistic Missile Defense System Products: Fundamental to the System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) approach is development, coordination, and dissemination of fully vetted products at each stage of the SE&I process. These products document and communicate key information such as: technical goals and objectives, design trades and resulting decisions to update system design and interface requirements; integration plans and schedules; test objectives that include the collection of data needed to anchor the system representative models and simulations, assessment through ground and flight test results and fielding plans. Ballistic Missile Defense Systems Engineering provides significant and thorough guidance through the Ballistic Missile Defense System Description Document (BMD SDD) and Ballistic Missile Defense System Specifications (BMD SS) for Elements to design, build, and integrate the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The Ballistic Missile Defense System Interface Control Documents (SICDs), the Capability Assessment Plan (CAP), the Modeling and Simulation Master Plan (MSMP), and the Master Integration Plan (MIP) provide additional guidance to the Ballistic Missile Defense System Elements and Components. A brief description of some of the remaining, yet equally essential, System Engineering products follows: -Capability Needs Document (CND) - describes the future capability requirements at a high level -Achievable Capabilities List (ACL) - a determination based on technology maturity, affordability, and emerging threat assessments of what capabilities desired by the Warfighter are achievable -Adversary Capabilities Document (ACD) - provides an engineering threat reference that details overall feasible threat space and representative Systems, including countermeasures -Analysis Guidance Document (AGD) - sets common analysis scenarios for system/Element/Component assessments and evaluations -Future System Capability Document (FSCD) - documents the functional and performance objectives for future capabilities -Capability Planning Specification (CPS) - documents the preliminary requirements for new programs and specific upgrades for the BMD System -Adversary Data Package (ADP) - provides common and consistent threat data, including countermeasures, to drive Ballistic Missile Defense System weapon system designs, ground and flight tests, digital simulations, and pre-mission analysis -Element/Component Characterizations for Analysis (E/CCA) - a database of Element, Component, and System-level performance parameters that ensure correct and consistent medium fidelity analysis inputs across the Agency System Engineering Assessment Report (SEAR) - annual end-of-year report on progress toward achieving capability objectives Collaboration: System Engineering and Integration`s disciplined engineering process consists of setting technical objectives and goals, understanding the threat, exploring alternative system design concepts, performing design trades to update the Ballistic Missile Defense System Specification, implementing the updated requirements, verifying that the specified design is properly built, integrated and fielded, and then assessing how well the system meets performance goals. This process occurs in a collaborative environment in close partnership with key stakeholders such as the Element developers, Combatant Commands, and international partners. Systems Engineering and Integration further collaborates with the Director for Operations on the system content and activities described in the Ballistic Missile Defense System Single Acquisition Master Plan (SAMP). The system engineering process defines required system-wide behavior, validates Element system designs, and assesses and verifies system capabilities in 5 stages: 1) Future concepts and planning; 2) Requirements and Design; 3) Integrated Master Test Plan Engineering; 4) Integration; and 5) Verification and Assessment. Additional engineering efforts which cross multiple stages of the system engineering process include the Countermeasures/Counter-countermeasures (CM/CCM), Threat Systems Engineering, Engineering Analysis and Quick Response Team, and Anti-Tamper and Engineering Manufacturing Readiness Levels Development programs. The Ballistic Missile Defense System Future Concepts directorate conducts the first step stage of the System Engineering and Integration process and directs the enterprise-wide lethality program, which ensures lethality, post-engagement assessment (miss/hit/kill assessment), collateral effects (such as debris) and consequences (identified for use by other agencies to determine management/mitigation strategies) are accounted for throughout the engineering process. The Design and Specification directorate performs the second step of the engineering process using data developed during the planning process and collaborates with the Ballistic Missile Defense System Element and Component engineers to develop functional performance, interface, and design suitability requirements. Using standard, commercially available system engineering tools, Design and Specification develops, defines, and specifies the detailed Ballistic Missile Defense System design. Design and Specification activities culminate in System/Subsystem Requirements Reviews to ensure correct technical execution and understanding needed to realize the Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) and increase the flexibility and effectiveness of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. Integration and Assessment conducts the third, fourth, and fifth stages of the Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) process to prove that Missile Defense works: 3) horizontal integration of software and hardware; 4) test integration, verification and model validation; and 5) operational assessments with the Warfighter to facilitate fielding. However, Integration and Assessment is involved in a coordinating role during the first two phases of SE&I, of formulating how the Elements and Components of the BMDS will be delivered and integrated for testing and capability delivery. Horizontal integration of software and hardware describes those system engineering activities and events required to structure and test new functionality as an integrated, seamless, end-to-end Ballistic Missile Defense capability. Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) builds a time-phased Master Integration Plan that defines integration phases for incremental Ballistic Missile Defense System capabilities and allocates to those integration phases the functionality and performance requirements captured in the Ballistic Missile Defense System Description Document and Ballistic Missile Defense System Specification. These bundled sets of capabilities, along with their associated model data validation requirements, form the basis of the required test program in the Integrated Master Test Plan and Ballistic Missile Defense System Level Testing. Horizontal integration includes participation in Element level design reviews to ensure Ballistic Missile Defense System specifications are being properly implemented. During test integration, verification, and model validation, engineering studies and analyses enable the allocation of test requirements to individual test events, design of test architectures, definition of target requirements, and generation of appropriate scenarios for ground and flight tests, in order to collect the required model validation data. Along with the support of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), System Engineering and Integration works with the Services` Operational Test Agencies (OTA) to incorporate operational test requirements under development to ensure the incremental capability being transferred to the Warfighter will be operationally effective, suitable, and survivable. System Engineering and Integration participates in test failure review boards, identifies shortfalls in data collection, and reallocates objectives to future test events until all identified model validation data is collected. Suitability data is collected through the Joint Reliability and Maintainability Engineering Team (JRMET) and quarterly data scoring boards with the Elements, to Warfighter commanders and increases the confidence levels in the predicted performance of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. Finally, System Engineering and Integration uses a compilation of flight tests, ground tests, performance assessments and other analyses as described in the Capability Assessment Plan to perform a technical assessment of the incrementally delivered capability, and provides a System Engineering Assessment Report (SEAR) summarizing the verification and assessment activities. This assessment activity links the Warfighter community and the Systems Engineering team, and provides sustaining engineering and analysis for configuration management, operations, and sustainment of Ballistic Missile Defense System capabilities. A permanent on-site presence in the Warfighter Support Center provides the Joint Functional Component Command-Integrated Missile Defense (JFCC-IMD) quick responses to Ballistic Missile Defense System operational capability questions. Additionally, Warfighter requested changes and modifications to the designed system are facilitated through the Prioritized Capabilities List, Modification and Fielding Request Lists, and the Warfighter Involvement Process, which is linked through Systems Engineering & Integration. The Countermeasures/Counter-countermeasures (CM/CCM) program conducts tailored system engineering to facilitate Ballistic Missile Defense System capability improvement and works collaboratively with the Threat Systems Engineering team to synchronize and integrate adversary capability development efforts. The Adversary Engineering efforts determine the range of feasible engineering approaches an adversary could use to defeat or degrade the Ballistic Missile Defense System, identifies gaps and risk in Ballistic Missile Defense System performance, and develops conceptual countermeasures to exploit these potential shortfalls. Adversary Engineering is performed by the Red Team, an external organization funded by MDA that develops countermeasures based solely on information obtained from public domain sources. The Blue Team, comprised of Ballistic Missile Defense System, element, and Component technical experts, performed integrated performance and risk assessments of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) against the projected adversary capabilities and conceptual countermeasures; identified and characterized counter-countermeasure options to mitigate Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) risks posed by these adversary capabilities and countermeasures, and performed the system-level engineering required to identify the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) baseline changes to implement and integrate the options into the operational system baseline. The White Team, an team of senior experts, reviewed the adversary capabilities and conceptual countermeasures posed by the Black Team and risk assessments and mitigation approaches presented by the Blue Team; presented their independent assessments of performance risks associated with countermeasures to the MDA Director; and recommended priorities for MDA investments in counter-countermeasures that have a strong potential to mitigate these risks. The Threat Systems Engineering team specifies adversary missile capabilities, defines parametric threat space, develops real world test scenarios, establishes system level and common and consistent threat data to support all five stages of the system engineering process, and provides threat input to key system engineering products such as the Ballistic Missile Defense System Description Document, System Specification, and the Integrated Master Test Plan. Threat Systems Engineering incorporates adversary missile capabilities and characterizations in the Adversary Data Packages (ADP) that drives Ballistic Missile Defense System design and analysis, ground tests, flight tests, digital simulations, and pre-mission analysis activities. Threat Systems engineering products directly support the Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) and International Cooperative Programs such as the enhanced Israeli Interceptor program, US-Japan Cooperative Program, and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization cooperative programs. The Engineering Analysis and Quick Response Team provides force-on-force effectiveness analyses, identification of system level gaps and shortfalls to defeat adversary capabilities, formulation of system alternatives and their relative contributions, engineering trade studies, Warfighter/war game analysis support, and rapid responses to senior Department (MDA Director/Deputy Director, Defense Secretary) and external (State Department, National Security Council) questions and scenarios. The team produces analyses for each stage of the systems engineering process, provides the technical basis and rationale for developing and balancing the integrated, layered Ballistic Missile Defense System, as well as performance predictions for each phase of the Phased Adaptive Approach. The BMDS Engineering Technology Protection and Standards consists of three individual programs: Ballistic Missile Defense System, Anti-Tamper, and Engineering Manufacturing Readiness Levels (EMRLs). The goal of the Ballistic Missile Defense System Anti-Tamper program is to provide protection against reverse engineering of Ballistic Missile Defense System critical technologies. Robust Anti-Tamper solutions support coalition warfare and extend the effective operational life of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The application of engineering and Manufacturing Readiness levels provides a means of evaluating the engineering and manufacturing maturity of the Ballistic Missile Defense System elements, systems, and components, by assessing the program or product against quantifiable criteria. BMDS Level Testing: In conjunction with the Director for Test, the Director for Engineering supplies test objectives that define the basic test development and ensure BMDS requirements are being met by the BMD System under test. Systems Engineering plays a key role in Ballistic Missile Defense test design and development through definition and tracking of the Critical Engagement Conditions (CECs) and Empirical Measurement Events (EMEs), as documented in the Integrated Master Test Plan (IMTP). The CECs and EMEs ensure that the design of the BMDS test includes data collection to show proper system operation; they also provide validation, verification, and assessment data for the digital models and simulations used to predict Ballistic Missile Defense System performance. These models, along with the rigorous test and verification process, will inform fielding decisions and operations. System Pre- and Post-Flight Reconstruction: System Engineering and Integration (SE&I) supports System Pre-Flight predictions for system level flight tests using the test framework set up with the Ballistic Missile Defense System configuration for a particular flight test. This provides confidence in Flight Test execution by predicting element performance and exercising element interfaces. This work also ensures the flight test will collect the required data (including CECs and EMEs) and the data management plan will support System Post-Flight Reconstruction (SPFR) objectives. System Post-Flight Reconstruction uses a hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) and/or a Digital Modeling and Simulation Environment to replicate the day of flight for the Ballistic Missile Defense System configuration, including the actual environmental conditions and target dynamics observed in the test. The results of this process increase confidence in the models and simulations by anchoring the results to the real world event, with emphasis on the Critical Engagement Conditions and Empirical Measurement Events. System Post-Flight Reconstruction is used for validation (anchoring) of models and simulations. Interdependencies: Integrated ballistic missile defense capabilities draw on space-, land-, and sea-based assets operated by multiple Services to provide the most accurate track of enemy ballistic missile threats that may cross regions and fly higher and faster, as well as a more diverse and effective set of weapons and sensors for the Combatant Commander to defeat the attack; all connected by a unifying Command and Control Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC). Integrated Ballistic Missile Defense capabilities can result in an effort funded in one Program Element being critical to the success of efforts in other Program Elements. Such results are referred to as interdependencies. Throughout the budget justification material, System Engineering`s interdependencies with the MDA directorates and the Ballistic Missile Defense System Elements and Components are highlighted in order to explain fully the relationship between different parts of the proposed program.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2012
• Source ID: MD24_0603890C_4_0400_PB_2012

Tags

Fields of Study

• Computer science
• Engineering

Readers

• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
• Missile Defense Systems.
• Software Engineering.

Technology Areas

• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control
• Space