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Product Complexity is Driving Digital Engineering

Product development is transitioning from a document-based design process to a model-based design process. Product models are built upon relationships containing architecture, behavior, requirements, and verification. The model is referred to as the single source of truth. Document-based design leads to critical design flaws as products and their operating environments become more complex.

Digital Engineering - Zuken US

Building Products with Digital Engineering

Deploying a Digital Engineering solution is more than adding a new tool. A digital thread is defined and deployed to enable communication and traceability throughout the organization and the development process. The model must be relevant from design to manufacturing. Therefore, to deploy a solution, there must be model access and compliance.

Replace Out-Dated Documents

Model-Based Systems Engineering starts with product or project requirements.  A product model is built upon relationships and not documents.  The product model includes the architecture, behavior, requirements, and operating environment.  GENESYS is a modeling tool for product model development.

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Single Source of Truth

In a Digital Engineering process, the product model is the single source of truth and the beginning of the many Digital Threads. The product model must stay connected with the multi-discipline development process through Digital Threads.  A product feature or parameter (e.g., weight, cost) is traceable to the product model.

MBSE With GENESYS

Model-Based Systems Engineering starts with product or project requirements. A product model is built upon relationships and not documents. The product model includes the architecture, behavior, requirements, and operating environment. GENESYS is a modeling tool for product model development.

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Genesys - Reduce the learning curve

CR-8000 System Planner

Model-Based Engineering

Model-Based Engineering is the product implementation process. Implementing the electronic and electrical subsystems of the model requires model segmentation into work assignments and the connection with each design team to convey the design envelope.  This requires a connected design chain from model to manufacturing.

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Design Verification

As products become more complex, the risk of product-model divergence grows. Product-model divergence is a misalignment between design intent and design realization. Design decisions that are not verified against the design intent are made along the way. The result is a product that may be a competitive failure.

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Design Verification in Digital Engineering

Genesys - Verification and validation

Digital Thread

The digital thread starts with the product or project requirements. The model derived from those requirements moves to detailed design and manufacturing. Along the way, not only is the design data captured, but the conversations behind the design decision are critical to avoid the question of “how did we get here.”

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Digital Engineering Process

The process is based on a model built upon relationships. The model replaces a document-based design. The model is typically created by the Systems Engineering team who converts system purpose into structure, behavior, and requirements.  The model is considered the single source of truth.

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The model must remain relevant throughout the product life cycle. This is one of today’s biggest challenges. The model typically becomes a Systems Engineering artifact and has limited use through the development and manufacturing process.  A Digital Engineering process keeps the model relevant through the product life cycle and operates as a single source of truth.

For the purpose of realizing the model in the electrical and electronic domains, the model must be decomposed into E/E subsystems. These subsystems are further decomposed into functional elements as Electronic Control Units (ECU), sensors, busses, and connections.

Realizing the model in the electrical and electronic domain requires a logical structure of design elements with the associated behavior and requirements. Model creation can be done with Vitech’s GENESYS product with the appropriate guidelines for model content.  For instance, the model does not typically contain specific component identification such as part numbers.

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When the design transitions from System Engineering to the implementation team, a design envelope must be clearly defined. The design team then knows what are the acceptable parameters in terms of cost, weight, size, power, etc.

Architecture verification is a design step prior to a detailed design where a partial detailed design is used to verify model requirements that can be met at high confidence. If a requirement can not be met at this phase, Systems Engineering must alter the model in the context of the entire system to enable a realizable implementation of the mode.

Once the design is verified at the architecture level meaning the verification requirements are met with high confidence, the design can move to detailed design. At this point domain-specific electronic and electrical design practices and tools are used to design a manufacturable product.  Learn more about transitioning to electrical design.

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The model must remain relevant through the product development process. This is accomplished through verification gates which are comprised of a set of verification requirements. The design can not proceed to the next development phase until the gate requirements are satisfied.  This ensures the product is consistent with the model.

As the design moves through each verification gate, the model must be updated to reflect the verification requirement status. This allows Systems Engineering to monitor the design progress in terms of meeting verification requirements. As the design progresses through the implementation process, Systems Engineering has a window into its model consistency.

Throughout the Digital Engineering process, discussions that lead to decisions must be recorded and retained for traceability. The Digital Thread provides the mechanism to hold those critical digital conversations.

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A Digital Engineering Approach for Electrical & Electronic Design

E3.GENESYS Connector White Paper
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