Innovative System Modeling Methods and Tools

WarpIV Technologies, Inc. proposes to demonstrate the WarpIV Kernel parallel discrete-event simulation engine and its extensive collection of software tools to address the cross-cutting modeling needs of the NASA integrated science mission modeling community. The WarpIV Kernel is a layered open-system architecture where each layer in the architecture is permitted to utilize (i.e., depend on) services from lower layers, but not the upper layers. With this hierarchical dependency structure, the architecture layers can be thought of as composable libraries that are ready for standardization by the international Modeling & Simulation (M&S) community. Any technology layer could be swapped out and replaced with a different (perhaps optimized for a particular hardware/network configuration) implementation developed by any other organization. The plug-and-play composability design strategy of the WarpIV Kernel promotes composability both for (1) technology insertion and (2) composable plug-and-play software models potentially developed by multiple geographically distributed organizations to facilitate collaboration. The software abstractions and overall composability methodology support both arbitrary and mixed levels of fidelity for systems and subsystems hierarchically composed of models. Support for plug-and-play model composability within the WarpIV Kernel simulation engine is essentially complete and could be used by NASA today to support MBSE. However, the set of tools used to (a) construct models and (b) specify their composite structure needs to support MBSE standards such as SysML. The model data, interface, and system-structure metadata that is captured by the WarpIV GUI tools have not yet been translated to SysML format and vice versa, so this step needs to first be evaluated for feasibility and then demonstrated with initial capabilities. This effort will also demonstrate a conceptual spacecraft mission executing with a set of simple composable models in parallel.

Any NASA M&S program that requires a usable MBSE capability that implements most (or all) of the major SysML capabilities needed to support MBSE. The discreet-event and entity-centric modeling constructs are ideal for space mission modeling. The direct benefit to NASA will be unifying support for both (1) MBSE-based space mission modeling and (2) computationally intense science modeling. The greatest potential NASA application would be the reuse of composable model code and creation of model and interface packages for use on future projects.

The OpenUTF and its WarpIV Kernel open source reference implementation are being prepared for eventual standardization and widespread use across multiple DoD agencies and programs including ARL, DMSCO, MDA, and AMSCO. WarpIV Technologies, Inc. has had several technical discussions with the Navy (and other defense agencies) on MBSE to shift to the more modern WarpIV/SysML paradigm.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.