- From 5–14 May 2025 (2 Weeks, 4 Lectures, 8 Hours)
- Every Monday and Wednesday at 1–3 p.m. Eastern Time (all sessions will be recorded and available for replay; course notes will be available for download)
- This is the only short course available that directly connects the Digital Engineering revolution with the aerospace Test & Evaluation processes.
- All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.
OVERVIEW
In this eight-hour short course, attendees will have a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of a wide range of recent innovative applications of Digital Engineering tools, principles, and practices. Although anyone interested in digital transformation can benefit from this integrated overview of advances in the overall methods and processes, this seminar is specifically targeted to the digital transformation of T&E and how it benefits the overall digital ecosystem. The vision for a digital T&E approach is to drive model-based enterprise decision-making, leveraging T&E enabled authoritative models and data, to ensure seamless stakeholder collaboration across the acquisition lifecycle to deliver authoritative knowledge enabling faster and better decision-making to accelerate development, delivery, operations, and sustainment of new capabilities.
· Introduction to Enabling Digital Engineering Principles and Practices
o DoD Digital Engineering Strategy guidance to the digital transformation of T&E
o Digital Thread as the architectural backbone of a lifecycle collaborative digital enterprise to achieve the overall vision
· Knowledge Graphs, Ontologies, and FAIR Knowledge Management Principles – the Hub of a Digital Transformation
o Knowledge Graphs – Where Nodes (Entities of Interest and Their Types) and Relationships Between and Attributes of the Nodes are Equally Important
o Ontologies – Used to Guide Development of the Knowledge Graph and Provide Easy, Rapid Search and Access to Knowledge Available
o Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) Knowledge Management
· T&E as a Continuum (TEaaC) – Moving from a Serial Set of Independent T&E activities to an Integrated Framework
o Test the Way We Fight – Conducting Mission Engineering, Systems Engineering, and T&E Early with a Consistent Focus on Mission Accomplishments Rather Than Requirements Verification.
o Robust Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) Environments
o Authoritative Digital Surrogate Models – a Transformative Approach to the Dynamic, Life Cycle Validation and Verification of Models
· Risk-Informed, Value-Focused Decision Making
o Value Proposition – Maximizing the Effectiveness, Suitability, and Affordability of Products and Services of Interest
o Decision Support Evaluation Framework (DSEF) – The Connective Tissue for Integrated Capability Planning, Mission Engineering, Systems Engineering, and T&E to enable Testing Like We Fight
o Integrated Decision Support Key (IDSK) – Subset of DSEF focused on optimizing T&E support to Evaluations at Key Decision Points for Acquisition Programs of Interest
o Risk-Informed Decision-Making Integrating Uncertainty Quantification into Descriptive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analytics
o Risk-Informed, Value-Focused Decision-Making OODA Loop in a Digital Environment
· Model-Based T&E Master Plan (MBTEMP) – Assuring the Implementation of the T&E Digital Strategy
o Paradigm Shift from Modeling to Support Testing to Testing to Support Modeling.
o Integrating IDSK with MBSE to develop the digital MBTEMP
o Shifting Left While Looking Right – Early Integrated Developmental and Operational Virtual Testing
o Minimizing High-Cost Operational Testing and Certification Late in the Development Cycle Through Authoritative Virtualization
· Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Support to Digital T&E Transformation
o Integrated Knowledge Graph / Machine Learning Approach to Automated Development of Authoritative Digital Surrogate Models
o Integrated Knowledge Graph and Large Language Model AI to Accelerate Authoritative Decision Making
· Digital Approach to T&E Capabilities Resourcing and Management
o Knowledge Graph Framework for T&E Facilities Management
o Value-Focused Planning, Scheduling, Staffing, Modernization, and Resourcing of Test Capabilities.
o Digital Twins Operations and Maintenance of Test Facilities
This course is intended for decision makers, program managers, chief engineers, test engineers, engineers, analysts, and data scientists from aerospace that are involved in Test & Evaluation and/or interested in Digital Engineering.
COURSE FEES (Sign-In To Register) It's not too late to register! Catch up by watching recorded lectures.
AIAA Member Price: $595 USD
Non-Member Price: $795 USD
AIAA Student Member Price: $395 USD
Ed Kraft is an independent consultant to the aerospace industry and was the Associate Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives at the University of TN Space Institute. He has over 48 years’ experience in innovative integration of high-performance computing with ground/flight testing. He is of the early pioneers and principal architects for the AF Digital Thread/Digital Twin and continues working across the A&D Industry advancing concepts for Digital Engineering applications. He is an AIAA Fellow and Digital Engineering Integration Committee member.
Classroom hours / CEUs: 8 classroom hours / .8 CEU/PDHCourse Delivery and Materials
- The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom. You can test your connection here: https://zoom.us/test
- Access to the Zoom classroom will be provided to registrants near to the course start date.
- All sessions will be available on-demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7.
- All slides will be available for download after each lecture. No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
- Between lectures during the course, the instructors will be available via email for technical questions and comments.
Contact: Please contact Lisa Le or Customer Service if you have questions about the course or group discounts (for 5+ participants).
Frequently Asked Questions
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