Systems and Software Engineering
Areas of Expertise
NTA’s systems engineering team combines the knowledge base of electronics development, software development, and environmental testing to provide a comprehensive process for developing and maintaining requirements for weapon systems and test systems. NTA works closely with each customer to capture top-level requirements and define a functional baseline for the system. NTA utilizes expertise from each engineering discipline to evaluate and flow down these system requirements to each subsystem, forming the allocated baseline and capturing each detail in a requirements database with bi-directional tracing. The systems engineering team functions as the glue between the design team and test team to ensure verification of each system and subsystem requirement.
NTA’s modeling and simulation team provides support to various DoD customers requiring expertise in the area of six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) missile simulations. NTA develops and applies models, simulations, and other software tools to support hardware/software development efforts, perform scientific analyses, and aid in the decision-making process. Modeling and simulation activities range from development and maintenance to verification and validation. Simulation types include software-only, open-loop simulations interfaced to GPS/INS hardware, and closed-loop hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulations.
NTA develops and maintains HWIL simulations for several DoD program managers. These facilities provide the highest fidelity test of each weapon system short of an actual (and costly) live-fire test event. The 6DOF forms the backbone of each HWIL simulation, and external modeling capabilities, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite simulators, are added to exercise as much system hardware and software as possible. NTA utilizes HWIL simulations to provide pre-flight predictions, conduct post-flight reconstruction, execute software qualification testing, investigate system anomalies, and integrate new technologies.
NTA’s software engineering team utilizes a rigorous process to design, code, and test software for a variety of weapon system applications, including missile flight software. This process, as outlined in the Software Development Plan (SDP), requires an in-depth peer review at the culmination of each phase (analysis, implementation, test) of a software development ticket. Software development issues are managed and documented via an easy-to-use ticket-tracking database. NTA’s software engineers work hand-in-hand with systems engineers to ensure the proper implementation of each requirement in the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) and each algorithm provided in Algorithm Description Documents (ADDs). NTA utilizes exhaustive unit tests, code-coverage tests, static code analysis, simulation tests, HWIL tests, and various levels of system integration tests to vet each software product before conducting a Formal Qualification Test (FQT) according to the Software Test Plan (STP) and Software Test Description (STD).
NTA provides test and evaluation (T&E) engineering and analysis expertise in support of rocket and missile systems programs. We develop and execute system-level test plans for munitions and launcher platforms to include management of the test event, collection and reduction of data, system operational effectiveness and performance evaluation, root cause failure analysis, and data analysis test reports. The T&E team develops software data analysis tools to assist in requirements validation, system performance evaluations, and root cause failure analyses. We support the Army Test and Evaluation Command in formal operational tests, providing system-level evaluation support to data managers for reliability failure scoring. The team provides T&E support for launcher instrumentation and data acquisition systems to support near-real-time system monitoring during test, and data collection for post-test analyses. We actively participate in various Integrated Planning Teams, Test Working Groups, and Technical Interchange Meetings.
Join Our World-class Team
Employees are provided with challenging hands-on technical work and are rewarded for outstanding work ethic and professional excellence. These factors combine to create a very desirable work environment at NTA.