and coordination process. It provides solutions and advice to senior decision- makers, warfighters, Congress and other stakeholders through information sharing, alignment of effort and coordi- nation of priorities. Te communities of interest provide a forum for coordinat- ing S&T strategies across DOD, sharing technology opportunities, jointly plan- ning programs and measuring technical progress.
Te ERS community of interest steer- ing group selected Dr. Jeffery Holland, director of research and development and chief scientist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as director of its Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), as lead in March 2013. Te ERS program, developed in 2013 and headquartered at ERDC, likewise has the mission of coalescing the com- munity around a common approach and techniques.
Putting theory into practice, Hol- land rapidly engaged military research organizations and conducted targeted demonstrations across multiple platforms. Te early days focused on understanding existing ERS-related technology, and program leaders worked to
facilitate
knowledge sharing among subject matter experts across the services and the coun- try. Now, some five years later, ERS is the glue for its more than 60 stakeholders and partners across DOD, industry and academia.
THE ERS APPROACH At the outset of the ERS program, researchers from ERDC, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and the Carderock Division of
the Naval
Surface Warfare Center focused on the conceptual design phase. Tis proved to be fertile ground for the ERS approach, thanks to those within the acquisition
Design alternatives and system capability trade-offs now can be
generated in hours rather than months.
community who understood the benefits of transitioning from point-based design to set-based design. Point-based methods begin with an existing design, which is then revised one component at a time (for example, engine size) until a design is established that meets all criteria. Te traditional technique, which depends on both the project team and the qual- ity of the initial design, is considered by acquisition experts to be workable rather than optimal.
By contrast, set-based design combines requirements to produce a list of design possibilities that is all-encompassing. Te method allows the generation of millions or even billions of designs, often referred to as a tradespace. By vastly increasing the number of designs considered, ana- lysts have the input and tools needed to properly examine and rank alternatives.
Tough the benefits of transitioning to set-based design are clear, software used for the approach lacked maturity, and an updated multidisciplinary approach was necessary to integrate numerous codes. Working through additional problems such as limited network access and a shortage of support tools, ERS program leaders set out to remedy concerns and help users analyze a greater volume of design options. Using both government and commercial off-the-shelf software, ERS released its first suite of products in 2014. Known as TradeStudio, the suite
allows users to define the design space, set element parameters, optimize output for creating tradespace, and analyze, nar- row and select designs.
Te combination of advanced physics- based modeling and tradespace analyses offers more insight than ever into alter- native decision paths. It allows for the comparison of designs using accurate digital representations of environmental conditions and then the assessment of integration with various wargaming sim- ulations. With a variety of tools available, users can customize analyses to resolve individual needs and concerns. Te pro- cess is coupled with a single open-source architecture that allows industry and academia to connect, and a computing infrastructure that includes multiple sup- port environments. High-performance computing sustains the process from beginning to end.
EXPONENTIAL ADVANTAGE Te ERS program assisted the Naval Sea Systems Command in 2013 as it analyzed options for a new class of amphibious transport dock warships, the LX(R). Designing a new class of ship, a complex and lengthy task, historically included the examination of five to 20 potential solutions. Using ERS methods, research- ers evaluated more than 22,000 concept designs in just three months, a time frame previously unheard of. Based on the suc- cess of the project, ERS researchers again
ASC.ARMY.MIL 81
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184