Advantages of Using Complex Decision Support Tools in Planning Multi-Modal Test Programs

Abstract

Emerging systems being tested in complex environments require the development of alternate test modalities, including hardware in the loop (HITL) and modeling and simulation (M&S) environments. The investment in these modalities are often significant. For example, testing the survivability of space system uplinks requires difficult over the air (OTA) testing or the development of threat models, orbital models, and propagation models tied together in a HITL or M&S testbed accurately simulating the problem. If properly designed, these testbeds could meet developmental or operational test requirements and potentially be used across a range of space acquisition programs. This research highlights challenges and approaches for developing alternate test modalities and proposes a multi-modal decision support tool for understanding the usage of the testbeds and evaluating tradeoffs. A specific example is explored for the space EW test use case.