Test & Simulation Tools Supporting Development of 5th Generation EW & Data Fusion Systems

Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities and sensor datafusion have increasingly become the defining characteristics of 5th Generation aircraft and the primary driver of upgrades to legacy 4th generation systems. Enhancements and upgrades to these capabilities require ever increasing capacity in the avionics computing, memory/data storage, and avionics networks which provide the core platforms upon which these capabilities are built. These upgrades are occurring against the backdrop of the DoD's new Digital Transformation initiatives which are calling for shortened system development times and lower system life cycle costs. To support this environment where development life cycles and costs must be continually reduced, there is a strong need for a transformation of the Simulation and Test tools used to support the development, verification, and sustainment of these highly complex EW and Data Fusion systems. Software reconfigurable test and simulation systems and software tools that can support avionics network speeds from 1 Gbit/sec up to 100 Gbit/sec and multiple network protocols which include Fibre Channel, Ethernet, TSN, and InfiniBand are critically needed to cost effectively support development and test activities. These test systems also need to support many high-speed, high bandwidth optical and copper I/O to support real-time digital twin simulations during development, and functional testing during verification, qualification, and sustainment. Common reconfigurable instrumentation and front-end switching can be leveraged through all product life cycle phases of test to promote reuse, reduce TPS complexity, shorten test development cycles, and lower overall cost.