A Framework for Reliability and Safety Analysis of Complex Space Missions

Long duration and complex mission scenarios are characteristics of NASA's human exploration of Mars, and will provide unprecedented challenges. Systems reliability and safety will become increasingly demanding and management of uncertainty will be increasingly important. NASA's current pioneering strategy recognizes and relies upon assurance of crew and asset safety. In this regard, flexibility to develop and innovate in the emergence of new design environments and methodologies, encompassing modeling of complex systems, is essential to meet the challenges

Model-Based Systems Engineering Pilot Program at NASA Langley

NASA Langley Research Center conducted a pilot program to evaluate the benefits of using a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach during the early phase of the Materials International Space Station Experiment-X (MISSE-X) project. The goal of the pilot was to leverage MBSE tools and methods, including the Systems Modeling Language (SysML), to understand the net gain of utilizing this approach on a moderate size flight project. The System Requirements Review (SRR) success criteria were used to guide the work products desired from the pilot. This paper discusses the pilot project implementation, provides SysML model examples, identifies lessons learned, and describes plans for further use on MBSE on MISSE-X

-ilities Tradespace and Affordability Project – Phase 3

One of the key elements of the SERC’s research strategy is transforming the practice of systems engineering and associated management practices – “SE and Management Transformation (SEMT).” The Grand Challenge goal for SEMT is to transform the DoD community’s current systems engineering and management methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) and practices away from sequential, single stovepipe system, hardware-first, document-driven, point- solution, acquisition-oriented approaches; and toward concurrent, portfolio and enterprise- oriented, hardware-software-human engineered, model-driven, set-based, full life cycle approaches.This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract H98230-08- D-0171 (Task Order 0031, RT 046).This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) under Contract H98230-08- D-0171 (Task Order 0031, RT 046)

A contingency base camp framework using model based systems engineering and adaptive agents

This research investigates the use of adaptive agents and hybridization of those agents to improve resource allocation in dynamic systems and environments. These agents are applied to contingency bases in an object oriented approach utilizing Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) processes and tools to accomplish these goals. Contingency bases provide the tools and resources for the military to perform missions effectively. There has been increasing interest in improving the sustainability and resilience of the camps, as inefficiencies in resource usage increases. The increase in resource usage leads to additional operational costs and added danger to military personnel guarding supply caravans. The MBSE approach alleviates some of the complexity of constructing a model of a contingency base, and allows for the introduction of 3rd party analysis tools through the XML metadata interchange standard. This approach is used to create a virtual environment for the agents to learn the system patterns and behaviors within the system. An agent based approach is used to address the dynamic nature of base camp operations and resource utilization. , helping with extensibility and scalability issues since larger camps have a very high computation load. To train the agents to adjust to base camp operations, an evolutionary algorithm was created to develop the control mechanism. This allows for a faster time to convergence for the control mechanisms when a change is observed. Results have shown a decrease in resource consumption of up to 20% with respect to fuel usage, which will further help reduce base costs and risk --Abstract, page iii

A Model-Based Approach To System-Of-Systems Engineering Via The Systems Modeling Language

In the field of Systems Engineering, a movement is underway to capture the aspects of a system in a centralized model format instead of various documents. This is the basis of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). In order to better formalize this change, the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) was developed to characterize an ontology for MBSE. Despite the growth of both MBSE practices and SysML tools, they have yet to be rigorously analyzed as to their applicability to the field of System-of-Systems (SoS). This thesis applies SysML to a methodology for System-of-Systems Engineering (SoSE) known as the Wave Model, which focuses on an iterative approach to SoS development. Each applicable step in the Wave Model is performed within SysML. Three different SoS types - directed, acknowledged, and collaborative - are studied within the domain of a distrubuted sensor management problem. As each SoS is established, evaluated, and updated, the applicability of SysML to each step is discussed. It is found that SysML is capable of defining, analyzing, and evolving a SoS via the processes described in the Wave Model. SysML excels at strictly defining and organizing the elements and features of a SoS while requiring more development in the analysis portions of the SoSE process