More Perspectives on the Shift-Left and the Comprehensive Digital Twin with Mike Crist and Scot Morrison – Part 1 – Summary
In a recent episode of the Industry Forward Podcast, Dale and I sat down with Mike Crist and Scot Morrison to explore how aerospace and other companies are adapting to the rapid shift towards software-defined product development. You can listen to the episode in the player, or read a summary of the first part below.
From Monolithic Platforms to Modular Architectures
To start the conversation, Mike, an industry strategist for aerospace and defense, highlighted how development schema are changing in his sector: “Defense customers really want to get into the app development mindset… similar to the cell phone, where today you want your radar to perform one function and tomorrow you want it to do something different.”
Mike details how this vision requires moving away from monolithic, single-vendor platforms toward modular systems with standardized interfaces between sub-systems. “They want to be able to pull a different radar off the shelf, maybe from a different supplier, plug it in, and have it work without any integration activity,” Crist explained. This approach not only accelerates capability deployment but also reduces lifecycle costs and prevents vendor lock-in, giving customers greater flexibility.
Scot then added that standards are key to this shift: “There’s a drive toward open source and standards-based approaches… not just at the protocol level, but at the operating system level.” This flexibility allows operators to avoid costly, synchronized modernization programs and instead upgrade components incrementally.
We also discussed how digital transformation is enabling new service models for manufacturers. Mike pointed to an engine leasing program from an aerospace manufacturer as an example: “As they gather telemetry on the engine, they can offer scheduled maintenance and even preventative maintenance before they’re contacted for service.” This data-driven approach improves availability, helps guide future development, and creates opportunities for subscription-based offerings.
The Role of the Digital Twin
Collecting data is only the first step. “It’s one thing to gather statistics,” Crist said, “it’s a whole different thing to use those statistics to do predictive activities.” That’s where the Digital Twin becomes critical. By applying real-world performance data to a high-fidelity model, companies can answer critical questions about products in the field. In the aerospace industry, these questions may include evaluating an existing engine’s suitability for a new mission profile, testing performance against new regulations, or predicting optimal maintenance schedules.
Dale reinforced the importance of a comprehensive Digital Twin that spans electronics, software, and mechanical systems: “You have to have the comprehensive Digital Twin to really understand how that system operates enough so that you can do virtual verification.”
Enabling Shift-Left Through Systems Engineering
The conversation then turned to shift-left—bringing verification and integration earlier in the lifecycle. Morrison explained that systems engineering is critical: “There’s a tremendous explosion of variants and complexity… system analysis tools can help you track that, manage it, and test upgrades virtually.” This capability is essential for handling customization and the combinatorial complexity of modern aerospace systems.
By adopting model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and multi-domain modeling, organizations can validate safety partitioning, timing budgets, and integration scenarios
As Tutt concluded, these strategies form the backbone of aerospace digital transformation, enabling organizations to deliver new capabilities faster, sustain fleets more intelligently, and respond to evolving mission needs with agility.
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