SYSTEM INTEGRATION LABORATORY ‐ A NEW APPROACH TO SOFTWARE/ELECTRONICS SYSTEM INTEGRATION

This paper describes the system definition and integration approach adopted for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) M2A3 Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) program at United Defense LP. The BFV A3 Upgrade program incorporates lessons learned in the Desert Storm Operation. Upgrades are primarily in the area of fire control, electronics and software. Modern electronics and software systems are relatively complex. Subsystems have to be integrated so that they perform cohesively to implement sophisticated system functions with minimal supervision from human operators. This cohesive implementation, or system integration, requires special discipline, knowhow, facility, and organization. This paper describes a systems engineering approach that allows an understanding of the system early in the program, identifies problem areas and generates candidate solutions before commencement of system design. It also describes the advantages of this approach. The approach described was used on the BFV A3 program. A System Integration Laboratory (SIL) was constructed and a rapid prototyping methodology was adopted to generate a simulation, emulation, and stimulation (SES) early in the program to allow for a better understanding of the overall system. The SIL also created an incremental integration environment that allowed the system to be integrated using the philosophy of “build-a-little, test-a-little, and integrate-a-little” to simplify the integration tasks and reduce program risk.