Digital Engineering Effectiveness

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe 2018 release of the DoD’s Digital Engineering (DE) strategy and the success of applying DE methods in the mechanical and electrical engineering domains motivate application of DE methods in other product development workflows, such as systems and/or software engineer-ing. The expected benefits of this are improved communication and traceability with reduced rework and risk. Organizations have demonstrated advantages of DE methods many times over by using model-based design and analysis methods, such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) or SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), to conduct detailed evaluations earlier in the process (i.e., shifting left). However, other domains such as embedded computing resources for cyber physical systems (CPS) have not yet effectively demonstrated how to in-corporate relevant DE methods into their development workflows. Although there is broad sup-port for SysML and there has been significant advancement in specific tools, e.g., MathWorks®, ANSYS®, and Dassault tool offerings, and standards like Modelica and AADL, the DE benefits to CPS engineering have not been broadly realized. In this paper, we will explore why CPS devel-opers have been slow to embrace DE, how DE methods should be tailored to achieve their stakeholders’ goals, and how to measure the effectiveness of DE-enabled workflows.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Exploring Blockchain Adoption Supply Chains: Opportunities and Challenges

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe 2018 release of the DoD’s Digital Engineering (DE) strategy and the success of applying DE methods in the mechanical and electrical engineering domains motivate application of DE methods in other product development workflows, such as systems and/or software engineer-ing. The expected benefits of this are improved communication and traceability with reduced rework and risk. Organizations have demonstrated advantages of DE methods many times over by using model-based design and analysis methods, such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) or SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), to conduct detailed evaluations earlier in the process (i.e., shifting left). However, other domains such as embedded computing resources for cyber physical systems (CPS) have not yet effectively demonstrated how to in-corporate relevant DE methods into their development workflows. Although there is broad sup-port for SysML and there has been significant advancement in specific tools, e.g., MathWorks®, ANSYS®, and Dassault tool offerings, and standards like Modelica and AADL, the DE benefits to CPS engineering have not been broadly realized. In this paper, we will explore why CPS devel-opers have been slow to embrace DE, how DE methods should be tailored to achieve their stakeholders’ goals, and how to measure the effectiveness of DE-enabled workflows.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Exploring Blockchain Adoption Supply Chains: Opportunities and Challenges

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research SymposiumThe 2018 release of the DoD’s Digital Engineering (DE) strategy and the success of applying DE methods in the mechanical and electrical engineering domains motivate application of DE methods in other product development workflows, such as systems and/or software engineer-ing. The expected benefits of this are improved communication and traceability with reduced rework and risk. Organizations have demonstrated advantages of DE methods many times over by using model-based design and analysis methods, such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) or SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), to conduct detailed evaluations earlier in the process (i.e., shifting left). However, other domains such as embedded computing resources for cyber physical systems (CPS) have not yet effectively demonstrated how to in-corporate relevant DE methods into their development workflows. Although there is broad sup-port for SysML and there has been significant advancement in specific tools, e.g., MathWorks®, ANSYS®, and Dassault tool offerings, and standards like Modelica and AADL, the DE benefits to CPS engineering have not been broadly realized. In this paper, we will explore why CPS devel-opers have been slow to embrace DE, how DE methods should be tailored to achieve their stakeholders’ goals, and how to measure the effectiveness of DE-enabled workflows.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

A guided tour of asynchronous cellular automata

Research on asynchronous cellular automata has received a great amount of attention these last years and has turned to a thriving field. We survey the recent research that has been carried out on this topic and present a wide state of the art where computing and modelling issues are both represented.Comment: To appear in the Journal of Cellular Automat

Systems Engineering

The book "Systems Engineering: Practice and Theory" is a collection of articles written by developers and researches from all around the globe. Mostly they present methodologies for separate Systems Engineering processes; others consider issues of adjacent knowledge areas and sub-areas that significantly contribute to systems development, operation, and maintenance. Case studies include aircraft, spacecrafts, and space systems development, post-analysis of data collected during operation of large systems etc. Important issues related to "bottlenecks" of Systems Engineering, such as complexity, reliability, and safety of different kinds of systems, creation, operation and maintenance of services, system-human communication, and management tasks done during system projects are addressed in the collection. This book is for people who are interested in the modern state of the Systems Engineering knowledge area and for systems engineers involved in different activities of the area. Some articles may be a valuable source for university lecturers and students; most of case studies can be directly used in Systems Engineering courses as illustrative materials

Innovative Composite Materials for Sound Absorption and Insulation

Materials with sound-absorbing or sound-insulating properties have been rapidly evolving in recent years for several reasons. On one side, there is the ever-increasing awareness of the adverse effects that noise and lack of acoustic comfort may have on human health. On the other, the availability of more sophisticated fabrication techniques, calculation methods, and new materials, has stimulated researchers and, more and more frequently, industry to develop customized materials with improved properties.This book collects contributions from different researchers covering several topics. A group of papers investigated the use of 3D printing to obtain perforated panels with extended frequency response, as well as to ideally design an optimized cell distribution to print (when fabrication techniques will make it possible) a porous material with a broader sound absorption. The role of the geometrical and microstructural properties of granular molecular sieves is investigated by another paper. A second group of papers focused its attention on the use of natural or recycled components to create a skeleton of porous materials with good sound-absorbing properties and low environmental impact. Cigarette butts, recycled textile waste, and almond skins have been investigated by different authors.Finally, the last batch of papers included a review of sound insulation properties of innovative concretes and two research papers focussing on a numerical and experimental analysis of wood plastic composite (WPC) panels and on the potential of semi-active solutions employing compressible constrained layer damping (CCLD)

Acoustic Properties of Absorbing Materials

Thanks to the progress made in materials research and to the introduction of innovative manufacturing technologies, a wide range of sound-absorbing elements are currently available to adjust the acoustic features of an environment. Nowadays, performance is only one of the required specifications, together with environmental compatibility, longevity, and affordable cost. This book collects the most recent advances in the broad-spectrum characterization of sound-absorbing materials used in civil, industrial, and tertiary applications, by means of experimental, numerical, or theoretical studies