An Overview of Digital Engineering Methods for Platform Integration of Power and Energy Systems

Abstract

US Navy ships, and combatant ships in particular, have requirements for integrated systems that are designed and configured for operational efficiency, redundancy, and survivability. Mission systems today and in the future will not always come with their own energy and many may, at times, require extreme pulse power loads.  In addition, the migration away from fossil fuels to hybrid systems with energy storage, or the requirements for autonomous platforms, is challenging our ability to design platforms for these systems.  Understanding the interdependencies between components, the systems they support, and the energy domains they are member of is a critical ontological design requirement.  This paper will address how we applied digital engineering principles and computer science to the design of ontologies that allow for the modeling of complex operational systems riding on the same shipboard energy network.  This system network must support varying levels of detail needed during design while at the same time understanding the impacts of that design on ship system operations and their energy loads over time.