5G technology will enable many new applications across the commercial sector, government, and military. This modern wireless platform is expected to power self-driving cars, smart cities, telemedicine, next-generation agriculture, and more.
The Department of Defense’s FutureG Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is working to develop a 5G smart warehouse for Naval Base Coronado. The project aims to solve some of the Navy’s most complex logistics challenges while serving as the Department of Defense’s testbed for multiple cutting-edge technologies and applications. The Smart Warehouse project is intended to be the standard setting for how the Department of Defense innovates with advanced technology. This fits into a broader set of efforts to improve combat force readiness by avoiding human error and keeping us all safe.
smart warehouse
5G smart warehouses are expected to improve efficiency across inventory management, storage, receiving, shipping, and delivery. It is also expected to reduce lost, stolen, and damaged materials while fulfilling orders faster and more accurately.
A 5G smart warehouse includes a private 5G network, providing reliable, high-performance, and highly secure communications transport. 5G networks are designed to support multiple advanced technologies and applications, including radio frequency identification, augmented reality, and autonomous robots., and Internet of Things solutions.
Interoperability, cybersecurity, and operational resiliency across 5G network subsystems can be particularly challenging due to the diversity, interdependence, and rapid evolution of each subsystem technology. An essential resource for making all these elements work together smoothly is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).
Although MBSE has been around for many years, it is in a relatively early stage within the Department of Defense. It is essential for projects such as the Coronado Naval Base Smart Warehouse. MBSE is the process and practice of using digital models for engineering design and evaluation of system requirements, functionality, and architecture. MBSE helps ensure coordination and interoperability of interfaces across 5G networks, applications, and other external networks and systems.
One of the first benefits the development team saw was that MBSE made it easier to track and document requirements, behavior, and architecture. The deliverables produced by MBSE are critical to ensuring Risk Management Framework (RMF) compliance and achieving the Navy’s rigorous authority to operationalize requirements. This is significant because this smart warehouse is the first project of its kind to pass the Navy’s RMF certification process.
Review milestones faster and more efficiently
Initially, smart warehouse developers primarily used MBSE models to understand requirements and generate documentation. Once the model was built, it was set up to assist in the creation of naval RMF artifacts derived from the model. Project managers now save time by using MBSE models to generate more than half of their compliance deliverables, allowing systems engineering technical reviews to be completed in weeks instead of months.
The model was tuned to produce “fit for purpose” views to facilitate these technical reviews. By viewing complex systems from multiple perspectives, planners were able to understand the interactions between changes to requirements, design, and testing. MBSE helped project managers explore systems from various perspectives such as physical interfaces, ports, protocols, subsystems, and IP addresses.
Digital representation of the entire system
Due to the complexity of smart warehouse projects, we found that traditional systems engineering processes needed improvement. Previously, separate workstreams for requirements gathering, requirements definition, and high-level detailed design each produced large amounts of artifacts in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Visio, or Excel.
Some documents are organized and formatted to meet RMF requirements, while others relate to format, functionality, or business requirements. Using the MBSE approach, a single, cohesive model allows developers to view the system from all perspectives. It becomes a single source of truth for all components, subsystems, and features. This means all stakeholders know the status of the project, can accurately generate documentation, and can keep track of changes. Eliminate the need for large amounts of paperwork and separate digital files.
Achieve smooth collaboration
The U.S. Navy began requiring MBSE on projects in part because it helps coordinate work across its wide range of contractors and subcontractors. 5G networks and a separate MBSE model for operational warehouse applications will allow the Navy to manage, coordinate and integrate work across different contractors, allowing smart warehouses to securely interconnect to many other systems It will look like this.
The future is now
The development team also used models to represent the future state of the system, predicting how future changes would affect the system. This was essential to allow us to extend and extend the foundation and architecture to support the complete vision of the project.
Federal agencies can use smart warehouses as a blueprint for using 5G technology to solve the urgent needs of their constituents. MBSE helps you develop innovations quickly, efficiently, and securely, whether supporting combat forces or powering smart cities.
Tracy Gregorio is CEO. G2 operationis a digital engineering, cloud, and cybersecurity services company serving governments and private enterprises.
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