Meeting the Challenges for Digital Engineering

Abstract: In the whitepaper, "Meeting the Challenges for Digital Engineering," Steven H. Dam, Ph.D., ESEP, addresses key challenges in the field of Digital Engineering (DE) faced by the US Air Force. The challenges include multi-level security, intellectual property security, data and model curation, enterprise-wide scalability, and transitioning from legacy practices.

Dr. Dam introduces SPEC Innovations' Innoslate® tool as a solution to these challenges. Innoslate® is a cloud-native, collaborative systems engineering and program management tool with extensive capabilities. It is already approved by the USAF, hosted on secure networks, and containerized for added security.

The whitepaper highlights how Innoslate® addresses the multi-level security challenge by creating secure sandboxes within an "Innoslate® Organization" for individual projects. It also introduces the concept of "cross-project relationships" to share data securely between projects at different classification levels.

For intellectual property security, the whitepaper suggests using Innoslate® to manage shared projects while allowing contractors to keep sensitive data within their own controlled environments. This approach ensures data security and controlled access.

Innoslate® supports data and model curation through features like project organization, version control, and test cycle recording. It offers tools for file uploads, including CAD files, and facilitates verification and validation of models.

Regarding enterprise-wide scalability, Innoslate® was designed with scalability in mind, supporting millions of objects and hundreds of simultaneous users. The whitepaper also discusses potential enhancements using data mesh technology for broader scalability.

Finally, Dr. Dam introduces the concept of the Lifecycle Modeling Language (LML) as an easier-to-learn alternative to SysML for translating and communicating design engineering information. LML is taught at various academic institutions and is implemented in Innoslate®. The whitepaper emphasizes that embracing LML could facilitate the digital transformation of the entire enterprise.

In conclusion, the whitepaper provides insights into how Innoslate® and LML can address critical challenges in DE, offering a comprehensive solution for secure collaboration, data management, scalability, and language simplicity in the complex field of digital engineering.