THE DEVELOPMENTAL TEST AND EVALUATION (DTE) ACCREDITATION PROCESS OF THE INTEGRATED SYSTEM TEST CAPABILITY (ISTC)

摘要

The Integrated System Test Capability (ISTC) is a National Missile Defense (NMD) System Test and Evaluation (T&E) Resource. It is a source of system test data to support Developmental Test and Evaluation (DT&E), Operational T&E, Element Program Managers (PMs), the Lead System Integrator (LSI) and System Engineers. It is used in the execution of Integrated Ground Tests (IGTs), and Pre-mission and Post-mission support of Integrated Flight Tests. ISTC provides a controlled and repeatable test environment. Because of ISTC's hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) architecture, it may be used to verify the functional interfaces between elements and will be a primary source of data to verify NMD system requirements. ISTC's software-in-the-loop (SWIL) architecture also supports verification of NMD software integration. In accordance with the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) Directive 5002, accreditation of the ISTC is defined as certification by competent T&E authority that the ISTC produces a realistic, unbiased credible measurement of specific performance or suitability parameters when operated within a specific domain of scenario and environmental conditions for the examination of specific test issues. This paper describes the ISTC DT&E accreditation process, links the definition of the acceptability criteria to test requirements, and describes how necessary and sufficient information required for the accreditation of the ISTC framework, the individual integrated NMD element representation test articles and the integrated System Test Configuration are generated for the IGTs.