ADAPTING EXPERIMENTATION AND TESTING
the product’s needs in a clear and concise manner from a user’s perspective. Once these models are created in a digital engineer- ing ecosystem, they afford traceability to downstream teams, and systems continue to work from the authoritative source of truth. Tis means that if changes are made upstream, then predefined workflows will roll those changes down to affected areas in the model.
Modeling a functional architecture is an important step in digi- tal engineering because it identifies and leverages the product’s primary and secondary functions, and the associated interac- tions, to demonstrate how they support the system’s mission. Tis step forces the team to think in greater detail regarding functions versus preconceived solutions. Tis opens the door to innovations that wouldn’t have necessarily been considered had the team never taken the step to distill the system down to clear primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary functions.
Te use case step is used to create a clear picture of how a singular function in the system is used by its operators and the interac- tions they have with each step in using the product or system. Te use case diagrams are used to ensure that each stakeholder understands what the system does.
Te course allowed the students to test their knowledge via several unique examples and highlighted how different viewpoints can affect the overall solution.
FUTURE VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT Now that the first digital engineering overview course has been completed, the cross-functional team will keep that course in its kit for potential use as new personnel are assigned to the XM30 or other projects. Te NGCV CFT will update and offer the model-based requirements digital engineering course in the future, as the need arises.
“We are maximizing the best, most modern tools available to us to ensure that the vehicle that we deliver will be the best, most capable combat vehicle on the battlefield of tomorrow,” Eisen- lohr said.
CONCLUSION In 2023, the Army awarded contracts to two vendors to create new digital designs and to build physical prototypes of the XM30. Tose designs and prototypes will then be tested by Soldiers and evaluated by Army engineers and other specialists before a final design for the vehicle is ultimately selected. Te XM30 is sched- uled to be the first unit issued by the end of 2029.
https://asc.ar my.mil 33
While digital engineering has become the norm in many commercial manufacturing settings, it is still a relatively new concept to the Army.
For more information, contact Dan Heaton at
usarmy.detroit.devcom-gvsc.mbx.ngcv-cft@
army.mil.
DAN HEATON is the director of communications for the NGCV CFT, based at the Detroit Arsenal. He became an Army civilian and joined the NGCV CFT in 2020 after a long career in the media and local government service. He also serves as a senior master sergeant and public affairs specialist in the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing and has more than 30 years of military service. He holds an M.S. in marketing from Walsh College and a B.A. in human resource management from Spring Arbor University.
GERALD GOMES is the chief systems engineer contracted to support the NGCV CFT through the Army Futures Command. His professional career includes 20 years at original equipment manufacturers in the auto industry in numerous leadership roles, including five years as an advanced engineering manager at a Tier 1 auto supplier, and more than three years in the defense industry. He holds an M.S. in manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Kettering University.
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