AISE: AI for Systems Engineering, a Digital Design Assistant

To address NASA’s need for advanced model-based systems engineering (MBSE) methods and tools that integrate digital engineering and science activities across the entirety of the mission and program life cycle, Orbital Transports proposes to develop AI for Systems Engineering (AISE), an innovative digital design assistant to provide semantic search and classification of systems design work products enabling reuse of systems models in new missions and contexts. Historically, knowledge about a system or its context would be siloed within a single mission or even a single project. AISE will make system models and institutional systems engineering knowledge broadly accessible across the organization for use with other missions and programs, greatly accelerating risk-informed and evidence-based decision making. The proposed digital design assistant utilizes OpenAI’s Generative Pre-Trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) to identify and classify systems engineering models expressed in SysML v2 for retrieval from a repository of SysML v2 models using symmetric and asymmetric queries. Symmetric queries use an engineer’s current work context to recommend similar models from the repository developed within the organization in different projects and contexts, reducing redundancy and errors, thus streamlining development by encouraging reuse of previously validated work products. Asymmetric queries enable NASA engineers to use naturalistic, free-form prompts to pursue effective lines of inquiry through the repository, easily finding relevant engineering designs and work products even when the exact target of search is not clearly known or well-formed. The Phase I effort will validate methods for extracting and saving embeddings of SysML v2 work products, and for processing symmetric and asymmetric searches of a repository of systems models. The proposed effort will deliver a proof-of-concept demonstrating these methods to support efficient retrieval and usage of organization work products.

AISE will help NASA teams and projects achieve higher value collaboration across all programs, teams and stages of the NASA life cycle. This work will also support decision making within projects by facilitating access to information and evidence in designs and work products, accelerating evidence-based decision-making. Access to industry partner-generated designs and work products as part of the proposed innovation will enhance inter-agency and NASA/industry collaboration while promoting data-centric information exchange.

Customers for AISE products include commercial groups and Government agencies deploying MBSE with significant needs: to make system models and institutional knowledge accessible across their organization; to identify models for normalization and reuse in ongoing design and future development; and to utilize previously validated models, reducing errors and streamlining development.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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