SAN DIEGO – A team from the Navy’s Undersea Integration Program Office (PMW 770) was selected for the 2016 Innovation Excellence Acquisition Team of the Year award by Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RD&A). The team was recognized by the Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I) during an awards ceremony Nov. 28, 2016.
The award acknowledges PMW 770’s Model Based Systems Engineer (MBSE) team for its development of an integrated modeling environment that reduces costs and risks associated with developing and modernizing submarine communications components, systems and system of systems.
The team joined other acquisition excellence awardees at the Pentagon Nov. 17, 2016 for an awards presentation by the Honorable Sean J. Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for RD&A, DON Recognizes Acquisition Excellence.
“Being recognized by the Navy for our innovative efforts and success in using resources more efficiently is excellent. Our engineering need drove us to adopt the MBSE modeling tool, in this case helping us do more with the same, I personally feel the real benefit is showing our workforce that not only is innovative thought advocated, it is rewarded. I am most excited for the next innovative solutions,” said Capt. Ed Anderson, PMW 770 program manager.
Anderson was joined by the MBSE team; Brent Starr, Todd Trahan, Brent Murray, Anthony Russell and Peter Brklycica when recognized during both ceremonies. Starr, as the team lead, provided an overview of how he and his team applied MBSE to integrating submarine communications during a PEO C4I all-hands awards ceremony.
"We started to use the model to help better understand the finest details of the end-to-end NC3 architecture and our cybersecurity posture. I think this has almost universal application across the Navy to both shore and afloat environments," Starr said.
The MBSE Team documented more than 18,000 components and interfaces within the submarine communications realm and entered the data into a computer-based integrated modeling environment where they can analyze the effects of adding, taking away or changing a component or system. The MBSE provides a 400 percent increase in detail availability to traditional development and modernization tools. This reduces the risk of outages by 30 to 60 percent during system integration and modernization.
"The visibility the MBSE model gives us throughout the systems engineering process allows us to provide more secure, more robust and better sustainable systems. This has a direct impact on performance in the field and reduces the maintenance load on our Sailors," Starr said.
PMW 770 is now using MBSE to address one of the biggest challenges many Navy program offices face today and that is how to quickly integrate commercial off-the shelf technology and modernize the Navy’s current technologies to work with already existing systems. PMW 770 is one of the first program offices to use MBSE to document and control submarine communication baselines and upgrades.
“PMW 770 is leaned on heavily by the fleet to maintain awareness of and champion new capabilities, opportunities and remove challenges. We are doing a very good job staying out in front of new technology,” Anderson said.
Anderson said he is most excited about the next innovative solutions his team will develop as they continue to support one of the Navy’s most critical missions.
PMW 770 delivers integrated and interoperable C4I capabilities by creating, connecting and maintaining communication infrastructures for both afloat and shore for the undersea domain. Their mission keeps the undersea forces connected through the latest advances in communication technologies critical to the unique mission submarines and other undersea vehicles conduct in support of national security, nuclear deterrence and in the event of a nuclear threat including the Navy’s Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) assets.