In recent years there has been increased demand for readiness and availability metrics across many industries and especially in national defense to enable data‐driven decision making at all levels of planning, maintenance, and operations, and in leveraging integrated models that inform stakeholders of current operational system health and performance metrics. The digital twin (DT) has been identified as a promising approach for deploying these models to fielded systems although several challenges exist in wide adoption and implementation. Two challenges examined in this article are that the nature of DT development is a system‐specific endeavor, and the development is usually an additional effort that begins after initial system fielding. A fundamental challenge with DT development, which sets it apart from traditional models, is the DT itself is treated as a separate system, and therefore the physical asset/DT construct becomes a system‐of‐systems problem. This article explores how objectives in DT development align with those of model‐based systems engineering (MBSE), and how the MBSE process can answer questions necessary to define the DT. The key benefits to the approach are leveraging work already being performed during system synthesis and DT development is pushed earlier in a system's lifecycle. This article contributes to the definition and development processes for DTs by proposing a DT development model and path, a method for scoping and defining requirements for a DT, and an approach to integrate DT and system development. An example case study of a Naval unmanned system is presented to illustrate the contributions.

This paper presents an approach to the utilization of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) early in the system lifecycle, which focuses on early identification of desirable system characteristics to support mission engineering (ME). The paper relies on the definition of an analysis approach and the associated mapping of architectural products. The analysis strategy focuses on integration of the results of operational simulations and system synthesis models through tradespace visualization. The architectural mapping presents the association of Systems Modeling Language (SysML) products to the analysis strategy. The coordination of these elements is presented as a demonstration of the role that MBSE concepts can play in support of ME. The approach is demonstrated through a case study analysis of a conceptual mine warfare system conducting mine countermeasure operations.

This paper describes an approach that leverages computer simulation models and statistical experimental designs for exploration studies during the early conceptual design of a system. We apply the approach to a naval ship design problem and demonstrate how we can illuminate trade decisions among multiple design decisions and evaluation measures using a dynamic dashboard. After performing experimental designs on a collection of simulation models, we can fit statistical models that act as surrogates to these simulations. These surrogate models allow us to explore a wider variety of system alternatives rather than fixating on a narrow set of alternatives. The purpose of the approach is to simultaneously explore the operational and physical domains using statistical surrogate models in order to illuminate trade decisions between the system's operational effectiveness and physical design considerations.

This article presents an educational approach to applied capstone research projects using a mission engineering focus. It reviews recent advances in mission engineering within the Department of Defense and integrates that work into an approach for research within the Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Postgraduate School. A generalized sequence of System Definition, System Modeling, and System Analysis is presented as an executable sequence of activities to support analysis of operational missions within a student research project at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). That approach is detailed and demonstrated through analysis of the integration of a long-range strike capability on a MH-60S helicopter. The article serves as a demonstration of an approach for producing operationally applicable results from student projects in the context of mission engineering. Specifically, it demonstrates that students can execute a systems engineering project that conducts system-level design with direct consideration of mission impacts at the system of systems level. Discussion of the benefits and limitations of this approach are discussed and suggestions for integrating mission engineering into capstone courses are provided.

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