Utah Engineers Journal 2021 Issue

41 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Digital Engineering “Galaxy” THE ULTIMATE ANSWER IS “42.” WHAT IS THE QUESTION TO THE ULTIMATE ANSWER? Thomas Lockhart, Director of Engineering and Technical Management, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah M any of us can relate to Arthur Dent (the main character in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). He is a mild-mannered guy trying to protect his house when he is plucked from the earth just before it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. I, myself, felt like “poor Arthur Dent” while writing this article on digital engineering. Like many of you, I am seeking to understand and embrace digital engineering. To many of us, digital engineering is like that “tantalizing galaxy” outside our world … exciting, thrilling, and just waiting to be discovered and explored. This article will engage in a sharply humorous relation between the United States Air Force Digital Campaign and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Be prepared to learn more about the innovative realm of digital engineering and what possibilities lie beyond our grasp. Most of all, enjoy this article, share it with your friends, and have fun! Body of Knowledge No. 1. The Integrated Digital Environment Like Arthur Dent, I had to grasp that so much more exists beyond my house (the United States Air Force) and backyard (the United States Department of Defense) that beckons to be studied and understood as we move into the Digital Engineering Galaxy. The first body of knowledge I would share is an integrated digital environment. An integrated digital environment is a compilation of data, models, and tools for collaboration, analysis, and visualization across all functional domains. The integrated digital environment includes the methodology and specifications for data, models, and tools arrangement with processes and procedures to exploit informational results. The Air Force Digital Campaign needed categorization/ taxonomies for the body of knowledge tools and models being proposed to perform various lifecycle phases of system research, design, development, test, sustainment, and disposal. During the Air Force Digital Campaign tools sprint, it was generally acknowledged that the Air Force owns and manages over 700 tools and applications, plus thousands of independently developed models that perform on: • Personal computers • Client-servers • High-performance computers • On-premise clouds, and • State-of-the-art enterprise clouds In other words, the tools, applications, and models form a very complex digital galaxy. With the size and complexity of tools available on the market, the team arranged this galaxy of tools into four areas of prominence: • Model-based System Engineering • Product-Lifecycle Management • Analysis • Visualization Continued on the following page INCOSE