Northrop Grumman is developing a digital of its flying Bombardier CRJ testbed aircraft to fully use digital engineering techniques in the development of new product lines and systems
The company’s Digital Shadow testbed will represent the airframe and subsystems and be used to test digital representations of products and systems such as fighter radars ina virtual environment.
Roshan Roeder, vice president, airborne multifunction sensors, Northrop Grumman said, “Our Digital Shadow testbed will enable the rapid iteration and assessment of various mission systems configurations and trades via digital models across the entire lifecycle.
“Extending the digital thread and developing a digital twin of our test aircraft allows us to rapidly collect valuable data of our mission systems all while reducing cost, schedule and risk.”
Northrop has been developing digital twins of its current and future capabilities across the enterprise to help reduce cost and accelerate development.
The Digital Shadow testbed will be a virtual mission systems integration laboratory and will provide the ability to correlate digital sensor representations with their physical design, further validating system and performance models, said Northrop Grumman.
The digital version of the aircraft and the onboard mission systems will enable engineers to virtually fly scenarios and sensor combinations beyond the limitations of the physical testbed.
The digital twin of the testbed is part of an initiative by Northrop Grumman to introduce digital technologies into its aerospace development programs.
