Defense Electronics

From the invention of the first integrated circuit (IC) in 1958 to the present times, astounding advances in electronics have profoundly reshaped virtually every aspect of society. Without IC-enabled electronics, which ushered in the digital age, many of the conveniences and capabilities that define modern life simply would not exist.

For example, since the Global Positioning System was made available to the general public, the satellite-based radio navigation system has become an indispensable feature of today’s world.

As basic as electronic systems are to civilian economies worldwide, defense applications of electronics may take on even greater importance: They are vital in protecting national security and are essential to virtually all military operations and programs.

With the current rise in defense budgets throughout the world and strong geopolitical pressure to sustain defense modernization, it’s no wonder that a substantial share of defense spending is aimed at electronics, which empower initiatives such as the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) effort focused on modernizing US Department of Defense decision-making processes for combat operations, or the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) to ensure European autonomy and sovereignty in defense and security. Another example is the High-Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES). HADES is the US Army’s next-generation Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) system.

From 2021 to 2026, the global market for Defense Electronics is projected to increase at a 6.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Likewise, Advanced Battlefield Management System’s (ABMS) CAGR, like the CJDAC2, is expected to reach double-digit growth in the mid-2030s when the technology will be more mature.

According to some program managers, the three most significant technological trends across Defense Electronics are:

• Multi-functional electronics. To conserve size, weight and power capacity, government customers no longer want individual line-replacement units (LRUs) for every function in a defense electronics weapon system. Instead, they are showing a preference for integrating as many functions as possible into a single black box, which tends to reduce operating costs. This allows functionality to grow without necessarily growing the number of LRUs that can negatively affect reliability, safety and mission assurance.
• Modular and open architecture. End-users of Defense Electronics are showing strong interest in plug-and-play components and subsystems instead of getting locked into the same hardware or software packages from the same original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the life of a product. This promotes reuse, supplier diversity, competition and innovation, affording improved tech insertion.
• Software-defined applications on common hardware. An example is a radio that uses software to transmit on different frequency bands or in different message formats, allowing the end-user to employ just one radio instead of multiple dedicated radios to communicate on a variety of networks, adding operational resilience.

No matter how compelling the need for modern Defense Electronics though, OEMs face major challenges despite an increasingly worrisome threat environment.

For example, politics can disrupt, if not doom, a program at almost any phase due to sharp differences of opinion between influential lawmakers and other policy and decision makers who influence and control the budgeting process.

Economics can be a huge challenge. In the case of Defense Electronics, integrating them into a platform and upgrading them on an as-needed basis — not to mention developing them according to customers’ operational requirements — is costly. The process can throw programs seriously over budget and years behind schedule.

Technology-related challenges represent another gauntlet. Program execution historically has been the Achilles heel of initiatives aimed at fielding new or enhanced technologies across the spectrum of major weapon systems. From start to finish, a high percentage of those that survive end up costing far more than originally estimated and reaching initial operational capability (IOC) late.  Acquisition success – meaning delivering overmatch affordably and rapidly – relies on a strong partnership between the Department of Defense and OEMs to be realistic about the nature of the problems to be solved by the systems of systems; history is littered with programs that failed to do so.

No less challenging are vexing and costly supply chain issues. At the heart of the matter is securing electronic components’ long-term availability, as well as alternative parts and sources throughout development, production and sustainability during the aftermarket. Exacerbating this persistent challenge for OEMs is the components supply volatility due to shortages from disasters, trade wars, single source supplier viability, counterfeits and price fluctuations.  

“Between customers’ demand for higher performing electronics at less cost and technical advances in electronic components, OEMs are under constant pressure to up their game,” according to Chris Mitchell, Vice President of Global Government Relations at IPC, the global trade association for electronics manufacturing.

With its 3DEXPERIENCE® platform, Dassault Systèmes takes a holistic approach to systems of systems from conception to manufacturing and operations. The platform integrates a suite of applications for governance; collaboration and orchestration, design and engineering; manufacturing engineering and operations; sustainment. With its cloud-based architecture, it also provides digital continuity, ensuring that data and information flow consistently across all phases of the product lifecycle.

Moreover, modeling and simulation are tightly integrated into a unified experience called MODSIM. It is more than a simulation-driven design. MODSIM enables simulation to drive the entire product development process from start to finish — from stakeholders needs to solution requirements and architecture, from validation through certification and fielding, and from product development to program management, including design exploration, processes, automation, decision and change management, and collaboration across the value network.

And here’s why that’s so important:

All of these solutions native to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform are integral to digitally-enabled model-based systems engineering (MBSE). So significant are its business benefits that the US Defense Department and the aerospace and defense industry as a whole are encouraging OEMs to utilize MBSE on all major programs to reduce program execution risks and cope with increasing systems complexity.

Why the push towards digitally-enabled MBSE?

Government customers are demanding traceability, from initial product requirements to final system validation. While prototypes are key to delivering the finished Defense Electronics product on time and on budget, simulation tools — including the virtual twin — are unmatched for eliminating technical risks early in the design process and prior to testing real components and integrated circuit boards.

The ability of systems engineers to rapidly reorganize model-based information to address particular stakeholder concerns means they can validate architecture earlier in the design process, avoiding errors of omission and inconsistency. Whereas the digital enablement augments that with avoiding errors from data inconsistency or action.

As digital engineering tools proliferate through the aerospace supply chain, customers and OEMs using MBSE have touted benefits such as streamlining maintenance activity, reducing costs and refining data used to inform new defense electronics systems as they are being designed.

One of the most notable areas where the 3DEXPERIENCE platform can help defense electronics manufacturers is meeting the Defense Department’s Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) to the development of electronics systems. MOSA is one of a number of approaches to which almost all electronic defense products produced in the US must comply.

Unique to the platform is a range of digital solutions that OEMs can use to manage the MOSA system throughout a product’s lifecycle. Dassault Systèmes architected some of these solutions and applications specifically for conducting key analyses to help shape the super architecture and module architectures for MOSA compliance.

Other solutions can help manage every stage of a product’s development to ensure it conforms to the Defense Department’s technical requirements pertaining to both complex hardware and software. The solutions also can ensure that defense electronics suppliers in the manufacturing process meets MOSA’s architectural principles. They include, among other imperatives, maximizing interoperability and interchangeability of modules minimizing the impact of hardware and operating-system upgrades.

Aside from MBSE, how else can the 3DEXPERIENCE platform support Defense Electronics suppliers?

Unified electronics library, engineering collaboration and advanced electronics-design analysis involving the use of 3D virtual twins — in combination with modeling and simulation — also reside on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The digital twin can even accelerate the design process by allowing the simulation and optimization of every aspect of a Defense Electronics system before committing to a physical prototype.

For example, the electronic thermal performance of a more advanced system meant to improve the capability of an air superiority fighter can be fully modeled, simulated and analyzed to ensure the most effective approach is achieved even within aggressive design schedules. Due to the versatility of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the interactions between the electrical and software domains can be fully explored and refined — including identifying potential problems early on — without creating a single physical model or going into production, thus saving time and money.

Rather than offering electronic computer-aided design tools per se, Dassault Systèmes partners with major electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) vendors to enhance the development of complex electronic systems by capturing and managing electronic data in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. By doing so, electronics engineering teams can leverage complementary processes proposed within the platform, such as standard component management and electronics design analysis.

For example, Dassault Systèmes teamed up with Cadence Allegro to optimize the entire value chain for electromechanical systems modeling, design, simulation and product lifecycle management. The partnership involved combining the 3DEXPERIENCE platform with Cadence Allegro’s platform to create a joint solution to the challenges that high-performance electronic systems present, starting with providing electrical and mechanical engineers with an unparalleled collaboration experience to accelerate the end-to-end mechatronics system development process.

Based on user experience employing the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, typical measurements of high-performance electronics included a 30% reduction in prototypes through virtual validation and improved architecture; 30% reduction in unsatisfactory product quality through the use of digital twins, as well as full requirements and manufacturing-rules compliance; 7% reduction in R&D costs associated with the assembly of printed circuit boards as a direct result of a 60% reduction in non-value added activities; and 2% savings in the cost of global components.

In response to a new era of geopolitical uncertainty and a rapidly shifting national security environment, the US and its NATO allies are transforming their military capabilities.

As new mission needs in this transformation take shape across multidomain operations, Defense Electronics will play a critical role that demands equipment and software suppliers deliver the most capable systems on time and on cost. As former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told a professional audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “The future of warfare will be defined by those who can harness and integrate advanced technologies, including sophisticated Defense Electronics. Our investment in these [and other] areas is crucial for maintaining strategic advantage and deterring aggression.”

Dassault Systèmes’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform, with all of its digitally-enabled capabilities, is more than just an option for how the industry could help its national security partners answer the call of duty in the best possible way. It is a proven set of integrated digital solutions that has enabled defense electronics providers to achieve quantifiable results in meeting the demanding expectations of their end-user customers.