Today the U.S. Navy is on the cusp of revolutionary changes in how it conducts warfare at sea. This revolution is akin to the shift from wind to steam propulsion, taking the form of high-power pulsed mission systems. These include directed energy weapons like lasers and active stochastic electronic warfare systems, radiated energy systems and advances in kinetic energy weapons. These new capabilities coupled with intense budget and schedule pressures have forced a revision to the traditional risk management strategies for the design and test of power systems. To support these new warfighting capabilities, the traditional naval warship power system must evolve from passive power regulation to one of active state anticipation with data linkage and controls between machinery and mission systems to become the agile power and energy system for the future. This evolving capability, termed Tactical Energy Management (TEM), combines proven Integrated Power System (Integrated Full Electric Drive) functionality with future flexibility upgrades in the form of advanced system controls techniques and data sharing, and shared and distributed energy storage. TEM realizes the basic premise that the power system is the foundation of the warship kill chain.
The U.S. Department of Navy has embraced digital engineering capabilities (including model-based system engineering and real time simulation) and land-based testing using surrogate power system components and mission loads representative of shipboard systems as a means to compress and strengthen the traditional power system design cycle. The key is to first evaluate risk at the component level, then at the interface and system level and finally at the total ship system level. The most cost-effective application of resources at the right time to optimize developmental cost and schedule timeline requires thoughtful allocation of risk mitigation strategy to digital representation, surrogate equipment/system representation or final system design with tactical equipment. True design and de-risking efforts via digital twin development can be realized through persistent digital engineering techniques in a model-based system engineering framework that includes real time digital simulation with power hardware and controller hardware in the loop and validation efforts using land-based surrogates followed by tactical hardware. The advent of real time simulation of complex power systems has enabled rapid early virtual prototyping of integrated power and mission systems. We are on the forefront of an explosive expansion of knowledge that has informed a comprehensive digital system engineering approach to developing next-generation warship power systems.
This paper details a four-stage process encompassing 1) persistent continuous digital engineering, 2) testing of surrogates for model validation, functional de-risking, and specification development, 3) tactical equipment testing for design demonstration and de-risking, and finally 4) shipboard confirmation and design validation, as well as the lessons gained from experience in developing this new design approach fusing the digital and physical worlds for next generation U.S. Navy Surface Combatants.
