Enhancing Systems Engineering for Complex Systems with Digital Thread

A System of Systems (SoS) is a collection of pooled resources, capabilities, and subsystems used to create a cohesive and overarching system that offers more functionality than the sum of its components. However, a SoS engenders more complexity due to the summation of designs, components, tools, and layers of abstraction of all its subsystems. These complex systems bring to the forefront significant issues in the areas of design, verification, validation, performance, maintenance, and simulation. In response to these issues, the Praeses team implemented a prototype in Phase I as a proof-of-concept of a potential approach to modeling and simulation platform integration. Praeses proposes to scale this approach into a full demonstration of a SoS digital twin and digital thread solution in Phase II called AMASS (Advanced Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of SoS). The Praeses team believes that this project offers immense value with minimal investment due to the complexity and organizational cost of the problems it aims to solve. A Phase II AMASS will provide the AFRL Sensors Directorate a significant set of capabilities for modeling, managing, and simulating complex systems of systems.