At our webinar, "Building a Digital Thread," Systems Engineer, Andy Tapia, discussed building digital threads using integrated program management, systems engineering, and design engineering tools. These tools support the entire product lifecycle. He also discussed when to integrate and when to curate the digital products of these tools. He did all this by going through the steps of our Lunar Rover prototype, SPECTER.
2. Ask Us Your Questions
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
3. Meet Your Host
• Andy Tapia, Systems Engineer
• GMU Systems Engineering Alumni
• andy.tapia@specinnovations.com
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
4. Agenda
• SPEC Innovations Background
• Digital Thread Defined
• NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge
• Innoslate’s Digital Thread
• Initiating a Project for a Lunar Rover Prototype
• Task 1 - Research & Design
• Task 2 - Build
• Task 3 - Test
• Task 4 - Demonstration
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
5. SPEC Innovations Background
• Developers of MBSE tool Innoslate, supports the entire
Systems Engineering Lifecycle
• Constantly releasing updates to support digital thread -
most recent version is v4.7
• Interested in NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge to
demonstrate Innoslate’s Digital Thread capabilities
• Goal: Produce a lunar rover prototype system using a
complete digital thread
• Scope: System boundary limited to physical aspects of lunar
rover
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
6. Digital Thread Defined
• INCOSE’s Systems Engineering Handbook (5th Edition):
• “A digital thread is a set of interconnected, cross-discipline
model data that seamlessly expedite the controlled
interplay of digital artifacts to inform decision makers
throughout a system’s life cycle.”
• In other words…
• A digital record of all engineering data used to drive
decisions throughout the system’s life cycle!
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
7. NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge
• Competition hosted by NASA
• Solution architecture sought for:
• Excavating regolith
• Maximizing water delivered
• Minimizing mass of equipment
• Minimizing power consumption
• Mission Goal: Extract 10,000 kg of water from regolith
in 365 Earth days
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
8. Stepping Through the Lifecycle
• Used to step through the lunar rover prototype
lifecycle in Innoslate’s Digital Thread
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
9. Initiating the Lunar Rover Project
• Used Documents, Diagrams, and Project
Management Views to initiate the Lunar Rover
Project
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
10. Project Management Plan
• Defines the project’s:
• Scope
• Schedule
• Budget
• Technical Execution
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Documents View
PMP Document:
Lunar Rover PMP
11. Statement of Work
• SOW created in an Action
Diagram to define the
technical work
• Tasks include:
• Research & Design
• Build
• Test
• Demonstration
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram:
Lunar Rover SOW
Diagrams View
12. Schedule
• Auto-generated by opening a Timeline Diagram or
Gantt Chart from the previous SOW Action Diagram
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Timeline Diagram:
Lunar Rover SOW
Diagrams View
Gantt Chart:
Lunar Rover SOW
Charts View
13. Kanban Board
• Used to keep track of the status of each Task
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Kanban Board:
Lunar Rover
SOW Project Management View
14. Task One: Research & Design
• Focuses on Architecture Development and Design
phases using Innoslate’s Documents, Diagrams, and
Modeling & Simulation features
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
15. Task One’s SOW
• Sub-Tasks:
• Research
• Design
• Incorporate Innoslate’s
Digital Thread
• Produced Documents:
• Requirements, Bill of
Materials (BoM), and Task
One Final Report
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram:
Lunar Rover SOW
Diagrams View
16. Research System Architecture
• Mission Requirements
• Excavate icy regolith at
Excavation Site
• Extract water from icy
regolith using the NASA
Water Extraction Plant
• Deliver water to Delivery
Site
Additional performance
parameters and
environmental constraints
also provided by NASA
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Requirements Document:
Mission Requirements
Documents View
17. Design - Context Analysis
• “As-Is” System Architecture
• Ground Communication
• Lunar Lander
• Excavation Site
• Delivery Site
• NASA Water Extraction
Plant
• NASA Power Plant
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Asset Diagram:
System
Architecture
Diagrams View
18. Mission Scenario
• Action Diagram visualizes the Mission Scenario - includes all
actions the rover will perform on the surface of the Moon
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram:
Mission Scenario
Diagrams View
19. Existing Prototype Design Analysis & Selection
• Created a Functional
Requirements checklist to
compare each prototype design
• Final design selected using AHP
methodology
• Additional equipment selected
to fill in gaps
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Notes Document:
Prototype
Options
Documents View
20. Bill of Materials
• BoM created to ensure all
parts acquired
• Asset Diagram to track
purchase details of BoM
• Tracking #’s, Order #’s,
etc.
• Entities can be traced
to see their data on
dashboards & reports
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Notes Document:
Bill of Materials
Documents View
21. Cost Acquisition
• Created a CBS Hierarchy Diagram to record hardware
costs
• Costs were rolled up with Database View to estimate the
total cost of the lunar rover’s hardware
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Hierarchy Chart:
CBS
Diagrams View
Entity View
22. Final Prototype Design
• Used Ansys CAD tool
(SpaceClaim) to modify LEO
Rover design
• Created 3-D print files
supported by SpaceClaim for
key additional components
(Task 2)
• Used Innoslate’s CAD Viewer to
store designs of final lunar
rover prototype
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
CAD Viewer:
Final Prototype Design
CAD Viewer
23. Final System Architecture
• “To-Be” System Architecture
• Ground communication
• Lunar Lander
• Excavation Site
• Delivery Site
• NASA Water Extraction Plant
• NASA Power Plant
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Asset Diagram:
System
Architecture
Diagrams View
24. Rover Route
• Using given site locations
& distances, mapped a
travel route for the rover
• Distances scaled down to
prototype’s size for
travel time calculations
(Task 3)
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
25. Excavation Scenario
• Modeled the excavation process the rover
completes each time it navigates to the Excavation
Site
• Simulations calculated the amount of regolith the
rover can excavate per excavation
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram:
Excavation Scenario
Diagrams View
Action Diagram:
Mission Scenario
26. Task Two: Build
• Focuses on Hardware and Software Acquisition Phase
using Innoslate’s Modeling & Simulation and design
engineering tools Ansys, STK, Matlab, & Github
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
27. Task Two’s SOW
• Sub-Tasks:
• Build 3-D printer and print
additional equipment
• Assemble Lunar Rover
prototype
• Incorporate Innoslate’s
Digital Thread
• Produced SPECTER
prototype & Task Two’s
Final Report
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram:
Lunar Rover SOW
Diagrams View
28. 3-D Printer & Components Construction
• Creality Ender 3-D printer
built & tested to print
additional materials (Task 1)
• Printed additional Excavator
Claw, Storage Unit, & Tire
Fenders
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Equipment:
Creality Ender
3-D Printer
Equipment:
Excavator Claw,
Storage Unit, &
Tire Fenders
29. LEO Rover & Robotic Arm Construction
• LEO Rover assembled upon
delivery
• Configured with
Raspberry Pi via laptop
• Robotic Arm modified from
COTS product
• Assembled with servo
motors & Raspberry Pi
• Mounted Excavator Claw
to grabber’s
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Equipment:
LEO Rover
Prototype
Equipment:
Excavator System
30. SPECTER Prototype • All components assembled
together to create SPEC
Innovation’s SPECTER
• “Space Prospect Exploration
Convoy Transporting &
Evaluating Regolith”
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Equipment:
SPECTER
SPECTER
UI:
SPECTER
Camera
View and
Control
31. SPECTER UI & GitHub Repositories
• GitHub repository created for
interfacing with SPECTER
• Firmware allows components to
perform functions and display
distance & obstacle information to
user
• Token used to access GitHub via
Innoslate
• View all project repositories on
GitHub Dashboard
• Issues created for each message
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Innoslate Repositories:
SPECTER UI and Firmware
GitHub Issue
GitHub
Access via
Innoslate
32. Rover Route Analysis
• Ansys AGI’s Systems Tool Kit (STK)
used to model rover’s travel route
on the lunar surface to calculate
time-to-reach mission goal
• Assumptions
• Same route between sites
• 100 kg excavation rate per hour
• 100 kg carrying capacity
• 10 excavation cycles per battery
charge
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
STK Model:
Rover Route
STK
33. STK - Innoslate Co-Simulation
• Action Diagram simulates the mission scenario with STK
• Represents one rover excavating regolith, transporting
regolith to Water Extraction Plant, and delivering water for
storage
• Runs until 10,000 kg of water is collected or rover reaches
365 Earth Days
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram: One Rover Sequence Scenario
Diagrams View
34. STK - Innoslate Co-Simulation Cont’d
• Scripts added to Action entities to
communicate with STK software
• Initialize STK
• Create global variables to store
time-to-traverse values acquired in
STK
• Calculate duration components
(start & end times) and velocity
vector components
• Use duration components to
calculate travel times between
lunar sites
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram: One Rover
Sequence Scenario
Diagrams View
Initialize STK
Travel Duration to Excavation
Site
35. Route Analysis Results
• 10.67 months to collect
10,000 kg of water using
previous assumptions
• Calculated total distance
of 3,500 km traveled
during mission
• Majority of mission will be
dedicated to excavation
and extraction processes
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram: One Rover
Sequence Scenario
Modeling &
Simulation
36. MATLAB Verification Results
• Results verified using a co-simulation with MATLAB
• Achieved via velocity vectors retrieved from STK
through Innoslate and calculated with a Matlab file
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Modeling &
Simulation
Action Diagram: One Rover
Sequence Scenario
37. Task Three: Test
• Focuses on Phases Integration & Test, Operations Test &
Evaluation and Transition phases using Innoslate’s Test
Center and integration tools Ansys and LabView
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
38. Task Three’s SOW
• Sub-Tasks:
• V&V Requirements & Test Suites
• Lunar Environment Simulation
• Test SPECTER Prototype
• Conduct Performance &
Environmental Analysis
• Incorporate Innoslate’s Digital
Thread
• Produced Task Three’s Final
Report & Overall Final Report
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Action Diagram:
Lunar Rover SOW
Diagrams View
39. Verification Testing
• Test suites were created in Innoslate’s Test Center
to verify the SPECTER prototype and subcomponent
functionality
• Test cases traced back to corresponding
requirements for verification
• Test suites verified the following:
• Robotic Arm and Servo Motor
• Excavator Claw
• LEO Rover Prototype
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
40. Excavator Design Analysis
• Ansys’s SpaceClaim & Static Structural were used to
analyze and locate design flaws for the excavator claw
• Metrics calculated:
• Surface Area
• Volume
• Maximum Load Capacity
• Maximum Pressure Tolerance
• Metrics used for simulating Mission & Excavation
Scenario models
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
41. Ansys SpaceClaim
• Used to analyze the excavator claw
design’s CAD drawing
• Calculated excavator claw’s surface
area and volume
• Modified density equation to
calculate the maximum load mass
capacity the excavator claw can
support per dig during excavation
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Max Load Mass
= Regolith Density *
Excavator Claw Volume
= 231.9 g of regolith
Ansys Spaceclaim:
Excavator Claw
Equation Editor
42. Ansys Static Structural
• Continued SpaceClaim analysis of excavator claw
• Determined excavator claw pressure tolerance
during excavation using varying load capacities
• 60% Load Capacity = 139 g
• 80% Load Capacity = 185 g
• Utilized Pressure Equation for each partial load
capacity to calculate the pressure tolerances the
excavator claw can endure during the lunar rover
mission
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
43. Ansys Static Structural Cont’d
• Pressure = Mass Load Capacity *
Lunar Gravity * Excavator Claw
Surface Area
• 60% = 3.355 Pa
• 80% = 4.466 Pa
• Identified pressure points and
area where the excavator claw
will be impacted during
excavation
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Ansys Static Structural:
Excavator Claw
Equation Editor
44. Excavator Analysis Results
• Used to perform structural analysis
of the excavator design
• Determines strength and stability
of the design under loading
conditions
• Analysis conducted for both
carrying capacities:
• Strain Test
• Stress Test
• Deformation Test
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
45. LEO Rover Testing
• Test Suite for LEO Rover
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
46. Validation Testing
• Test plans created in Documents View before
simulating lunar environmental conditions to
validate the SPECTER prototype
• Test plans created to validate the following
functionality:
• Navigation - Speeds & travel times
• Excavation - Regolith excavation & collection
• Storage - Materials containment & protection
• Equipment Protection - Dust mitigation
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
47. Performance Analysis
• Conducted to validate SPECTER’s functionality and
efficiency
• Parameters calculated:
• Total landed mass
• Rover equipment
• NASA Water Extraction Plant
• Total power consumption
• Rover
• NASA Water Extraction Plant
• Total water mass delivered
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
48. Landed Mass Analysis
• LEO Rover prototype has a mass of 6 kg and a carrying
capacity of 5 kg, resulting in a ratio of 5:6
• Full-size rover should carry 100 kg, using the 5:6 ratio
estimates the rover body mass of 120 kg
• Prototype to full-size rover mass ratio of 1:20
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Prototype
Mass
Full-Size
Mass
Prototype to Full-
Size Ratio
Carrying Capacity 5 kg 100 kg 20:1
Rover Body 6 kg 120 kg
Carrying Capacity
to Mass Ratio
5:6
49. Landed Mass Analysis Cont’d
• The following masses have also been added to the rover’s
body for excavation functionality
• Each piece of equipment reduces total carrying capacity (5
kg) and by consequence also reduces how much regolith or
water it can store at any given time in the mission
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Equipment Prototype
Mass
Mass to Carrying
Capacity Ratio
Scaled, Full-
Size Mass
Robot Arm 1 kg 1:5 20 kg
Storage Unit < 1 kg < 1:5 < 20 kg
Battery < 1 kg < 1:5 < 20 kg
Solar Panels 0.3 kg 0.3:5 6 kg
Regolith Mass < 3 kg < 3:5 < 60 kg
The full-size lunar
rover can hold an
additional mass of
less than 60 kg at any
point in the mission
* Max Carrying Capacity
< 66 kg
Total Mass
50. Landed Mass Analysis Summary
• In conclusion, the total mass of the full-size rover,
including its supporting equipment, is <186 kg
• The NASA Water Extraction Plant has a landed mass of
700 kg
• Therefore, the total mass to be landed on the surface of
the Moon for this mission is estimated to be 886 kg
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
51. Environmental Analysis
• Conducted to ensure SPECTER will withstand extreme
environmental conditions on the surface of the Moon
• Mitigations outlined for each environmental risk:
• Low temperatures
• Warm electronics box encloses rover avionics
• Reduced gravity
• Wide set body frame & rugged wheels for stabilization
• Vacuum
• Non-pneumatic tires
• Lunar dust
• Tire fenders to prevent dust from entering rover body
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
Documents View
53. Thursday, October 12th, 2023 at 2:00 PM ET
Program Management in MBSE
Mark Your
Calendars
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia
54. SPEC Innovations
@SPECInnovations
Innoslate Users Group
Innoslate.com/blog
571.485.7800
innoslate.com
54
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Proprietary of SPEC Innovations® September 21, 2023 Andy Tapia