Modeling and Simulation

Research and Software Development Supporting DLR’s Spacecraft Activities

MBSE in the Concurrent Engineering Facility (CEF)

The modeling and simulation group is supporting DLR’s space engineering activities with state-of-the-art software products providing innovative solutions for the future spacecraft and launcher design. Questioning today’s systems engineering processes, we discover new ways of working and thinking in the digitalized world of tomorrow. These solutions encompass new technologies that evolved from sophisticated scientific research. Using a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach, we discard the former document-centric engineering and replace repetitive and boring tasks by automatic computer procedures. Our research and software products ease the project engineers’ life allowing them to work the way they like, being creative.

Virtual Satellite software

Working in this cross-border field of MBSE, software engineering, development, and research, many topics have to be taken into account. Our broad knowledge helps us to provide the software and methodology engineers need to carry out efficient system development. Here are some examples:

Model-Based Systems Engineering – To provide the right tools and methodologies, we need to understand the way project engineers are thinking and working. Based on this knowledge, we introduce the models required to convert systems engineering to digital and computer enabled processes.
Virtual Satellite Software – Virtual Satellite is the software tool carrying the research work of our group and delivering MBSE to the projects. It is build applying state-of-the-art software engineering processes, and is partly available to the public from software.dlr.de
3D interactive visualization and smart devices – New technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality change the way of how systems engineering is performed. Those interdisciplinary topics together with MBSE become crucial building blocks in the vision of a digital industrial evolution.

Smart modeling devices

As a backbone to these activities, our group pursues fundamental research and science. Specialists PhD students in the areas of computer science, space engineering, and mathematics investigate the potential of innovative ideas in several fields such as:

Supporting procedures for space systems engineering – Each planning step of a space mission should be covered and processed by computers. Starting with requirements engineering, natural language requirements have to be converted to instructions a computer can process. Next, the designing procedure in a concurrent engineering (CE) session has to be supported by appropriate planning tools. But also further aspects like early evaluation and designing of fault tolerant systems (FDIR) are investigated.
Modeling methodologies – Enabling simpler and more distinct, hence more understandable and reusable ways of describing systems are addressed here. This requires the development of meta-models for flexible system extensions. Conceptual Data Models (CDMs) and multi-level modeling are current research activities to aim at a system design which conflates all system development life cycle phases. The implementation and adjustment of the QUDV standard in order to correctly deal with physical units is already available (Paper Publication). But also graphical modeling approaches (interface and structure modeling), considering uncertainty of (sub-)systems in the design, and parallel mission operation sequences are important research objectives.
Automated design optimization – The investigation of formal, mathematical methods for helping the engineers to find better and faster decisions is the core focus here. The goal is to analyze possible design variants quicker and more efficient. This should yield a better total performance of space systems. Together with the High-Performance Computing department, we are collaborating on investigations to figure out what kind of optimization applications would be possible with quantum computers.
Formal Verification – In contrast to simulations, this topic is supposed to finding mathematical proof that the designed system is correct, reliable, and robust. Model checking is the preferred approach but often unpractical because of state explosion. We are investigating alternative methods which can be applied even in CE sessions. (Paper Publication)