Take aerospace MBSE to the next level with a mission-driven approach  

Product complexity in aerospace and defense has exploded. This complexity manifests not only in the numbers of systems, subsystems and parts, but also in the millions – or even billions – of functional interactions between these areas. On top of that, companies are expected to deliver products faster and at lower costs.  

To build these increasingly complex products while minimizing technical risk, cost and time, aerospace engineering teams need to take their systems engineering processes to the next level with a mission-driven approach to aerospace MBSE.  

Ensure program success with mission-driven aerospace MBSE  

What does it mean to take a mission-driven approach to model-based systems engineering (MBSE)? It means considering a product’s end-use mission, including intended variants. This approach requires leveraging a holistic process for continuous integration, verification and optimization across the full product and lifecycle. A mission-driven approach to aerospace MBSE enables seamless collaboration across domains and stakeholders, and utilizing powerful multidomain simulation helps mitigate technical risk from both internal and outsourced portions of the design.  

Why is this approach necessary? Because of the explosion of complexity mentioned earlier, aerospace systems engineering is increasingly perilous. Beyond an increasing number of systems and subsystems, there are also multiple interfaces and intersections between systems and components. It’s here where the risk of errors grows exponentially, putting entire projects and programs at risk. The Siemens approach to aerospace MBSE can help ensure mission success.

Integrate early to keep aerospace programs on track

Integration issues can consume large parts of a program schedule and budget – anywhere between 30-70%. This arises from the traditional “spec-design-integrate” approach to product development. However, this leads to siloed engineering data and “optimized” systems that don’t perform well when they intersect and interact with others. Costly and time-consuming rework in the late stages of product development can put entire projects and programs at risk.  

Key elements of a mission-driven approach to aerospace systems engineering

There are three key success requirements for taking a more holistic, mission-driven approach to aerospace systems engineering: 

Integrated processes

Rather than taking a build-then-integrate approach, integrate processes across the complete product and lifecycle to achieve optimal interconnectivity. Integrating across all domains, disciplines and stakeholders from the start enables the development of an integrated baseline architecture of trustworthy engineering models.  

Seamless collaboration

A comprehensive digital twin can facilitate early, easy collaboration among all disciplines and domains and both internal and external stakeholders. Detailed information and data can be shared so that the design process can account for intersections across domains and with suppliers.   

Multidomain simulation

Simulation tools can validate integration by visualizing and analyzing system performance in context. It enables teams to verify and optimize the complete product instead of individual parts and resolve issues early in development.  

Siemens solutions for aerospace MBSE

While you may be employing aerospace MBSE in your organization already, you might still be experiencing data silos and facing integration issues late in the product development process, putting your project and program in jeopardy.  

The Siemens Xcelerator portfolio takes aerospace MBSE beyond a single domain or part, enabling aerospace and defense companies to optimize across the entire product and lifecycle. The robust interface integration and collaboration capabilities, coupled with continuous verification, can help mitigate risk upfront, saving projects and programs from late-discovered issues that lead to ballooning timelines and costs.  

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