System Engineering in an Unknown Aerial Environment for a Communications System

Abstract

This paper presents a case study regarding risk management for a large system-of-system communications prototype. The focus of the risk is the unknown airborne environment and how that influences the risk of the design, build, and test phases of the program. Additionally, the impact of known uncertainties on schedule are discussed. The paper steps through how the team successfully identified and mitigated the risk of designing and building a communications pod without knowing the operational environment.