An Information-centric Approach to Engineering and Manufacturing Cyber Physical Systems in the Defense Industry

Engineering approaches to product development in the aerospace and defense industries still engender aspects of board-based design and prototype development. Cultural inertia pushes back on the reality that products need to be rapidly developed and produced at lower costs in order to be competitive. Aircraft manufacturers have had some success using model-based design and computer simulations to eliminate prototyping, but cyber physical weapon development is still highly dependent on past engineering experience and the development of working prototypes. This paper discusses how a model-based, information-centric environment can accelerate the design of new systems. Central to this paradigm shift is the introduction of information models to complement product models. The overall goal of information-centric product development is the reduction of the traditional engineering semi-sequential process and an over-reliance on extremely precise requirements and risk mediation. In the new model, all engineering and manufacturing processes are represented as simultaneous, asynchronous events which constitute a very complex and dynamic environment.