CONNECTING THE DEFENCE COMMUNITY WITH INSIGHT, INTELLIGENCE & OPPORTUNITIES

Officially Supported By: Defence Contracts International Supply2Defence

Official Media Partners for:

Writing for Defence Online, Dr Adrian Britton from official DPRTE 2021 event partner, QinetiQ, examines the crucial role played in defence by test beds.

A modern Test & Evaluation (T&E) enterprise allows militaries to rapidly and safely experiment with new technologies and processes. This, in turn, enables them to evolve and create new defence capabilities to counter emerging threats and get new technology and systems into the hands of war-fighters faster.

A key tool within the T&E regime is a test bed within which to qualify system integration, deliver spiral upgrades and conduct rapid systems experimentation.

The test bed can be used to represent the combat system of a naval ship or aircraft’s sensors, weapons and defensive aid suites. Test beds can also bring together complex weapons and/or communication systems. A representative test bed is a safe and cost-effective place to evaluate changes without direct exposure to front line platforms and systems where the risks may be higher and the need for stakeholder assurances much greater.

Test, test and test again

Through appropriate management and treatment, safe and secure testing can be conducted in a test bed. Changes can be rapidly implemented and tested to explore options and inform further development. It is better, and more cost effective, to find and resolve as many problems in the test bed rather than wait to deploy in a front line platform where additional costs, delays and assurances would be needed. However, there are inevitably some things that can only be tested on a front line system, within a truly realistic environment.

A test bed does not purely comprise all of the components that make the system; it sits within an appropriate test harness, typically a synthetic test environment, which allows a wide range of conditions, circumstances and events to be simulated. This helps lower costs and time periods compared to live trials in realistic conditions, and perhaps with live targets.

Synthetic testing can be conducted relentlessly and repeatedly as the host system evolves and matures. A standardised set of system tests can be defined to enable baselining towards qualification. With increasing experience and evolving understanding, those baselining conditions can be progressively matured.

To fully understand the function, behaviour and performance within the test bed, various common tools provide the means to instrument and analyse the system in the test bed. These tools can measure and characterise the whole system and the impact of the changing component. These same tools can be further exploited to instrument and evaluate real systems and units operating in truly realistic conditions.

Holistic support

Sub-systems can be shared and sent to other suppliers for them to conduct system integration, driving cost and time integration across the whole enterprise. The test bed should be a resource for the customer, system integrator and the supply base and will be most effective if a single capability or facility can satisfy the needs of all to provide coherency and cost effective delivery.

Policy, process and standards can be used to increase design understanding across the enterprise and minimise the need for T&E, however there is always scope for misunderstanding or errors for which undertaking T&E within a test bed is the important tool.

Test beds enable the customer to gain overall confidence and support accelerated qualification while the supplier can progressively evaluate and test a maturing product or component. This enables it to resolve uncertainties that cannot be assessed in isolation from the host system (such as within the factory). Within a mature enterprise, a collaborative and open-book approach should be adopted where the customer, system integrator and supply-chain see the outputs from a test bed and clearly show the cost and time benefits.

The system-integrator can provide the customer with confidence in their platform and they can understand priorities and concerns from the customer. The customer can see how each of the evolving parts are progressing and how the whole of the system is evolving and maturing. The right commercial environment ensures that all parties are ‘safe’ and secure, whilst maximising collaboration for the customers’ end benefit.

Training day

A well-designed test bed can also be used for wider testing with other test beds, or live units (such as in representative or realistic environments). By envisioning the test bed as being an interchangeable force component, it can be used to test or experiment within a real force, or provide a more controllable component within a force. This enables experimental capabilities to be evaluated in truly realistic conditions.

By integrating the synthetic environment and the test capabilities for the live units, compelling and game-changing testing can be conducted to further drive time and cost out of demanding programmes using live, virtual and constructive (LVC) techniques down. While typically designed and built to support the purposes of testing and integration, test beds can also be used for training and familiarisation.

This enables tactics and doctrine to be explored and evaluated alongside the development of the component to ensure that overall usability is considered in any decision and poorer choices discounted as early and safely as possible. As can be seen, the customer is empowered to build, test and operate a complex system, making the best possible decisions based upon an informed understanding of risk at the right time, thereby driving cost and time of programmes down.

A test bed is a crucial tool in the T&E armoury for rapidly and safely introducing novel technologies into front line service. By evaluating and maturing a potentially complex programme of changes into a system or platform, timely and effective decisions can be made, maximising platform availability and utility for service.

QinetiQ is an official DPRTE 2021 event partner

Taking place at Farnborough International on June 23rd with elements of the event streamed online, DPRTE 2021 is the UK’s leading defence procurement and supply chain event.

For all involved within buying for or supplying to the defence sector, it’s an unmissable opportunity to hear from and engage with industry leaders, influencers and stakeholders.

To register today as a delegate, follow this link.

To take advantage of exhibitor or sponsor opportunities, please click here.

With DPRTE 2021’s Booking Confidence Guarantee you can now prepare to join the UK’s defence procurement community at DPRTE 2021.

Defence Online is the official media partner for DPRTE 2021

If you would like to join our community and read more articles like this then please click here 

DPRTE 2021 Dr Adrian Britton QinetiQ Test & Evaluation test beds

Post written by: Matt Brown


LATEST STAKEHOLDER

Become a Stakeholder today and benefit from an exclusive marketing package which will allow you to:

  • Engage with active defence buyers and key supply chain partners
  • Create your own branded micro-site which within Defence Online which is managed by you
  • Have a dedicated Digital Account Manager to help enhance your Stakeholder page
  • Promote your news, products, press releases, eBooks and Videos as a Defence Online partner which feeds through to our homepage and social media channels
  • Have your company promoted on our partner website Defence Contracts Online (DCO)
  • All news promoted in mynewsdesk, a major hub for all of our news articles which enables news to be picked up from trade magazines, national newspapers and many other publications which offers extra exposure at no additional cost!

Contact us today or call us on 0845 557 1315 to take advantage of this exclusive marketing package


.

RELATED ARTICLES

QinetiQ GmbH has successfully delivered a new form of Air Combat Training for the Slovenian Armed Forces

February 28, 2024

Air - QinetiQ delivers training module for Slovenian Armed Forces

QinetiQ GmbH has successfully delivered a new form of Air Combat Training for the Slovenian Armed Forces, using live ammunition

QinetiQ has announced the launch of Jackdaw, a low-cost, high-performance ‘disposable’ uncrewed aerial system (UAS).

September 25, 2023

Air - QinetiQ launches Jackdaw UAS

QinetiQ has announced the launch of Jackdaw, a low-cost, high-performance ‘disposable’ uncrewed aerial system (UAS). Designed for swarming and collaborative