Learn how SERC researchers advance development and delivery of operational capabilities through engineered systems and transition that research into impactful practice.
We are working to advance the digital and data-driven methods and tools used to store, access, analyze, and visualize evolving systems’ data and models across engineering, acquisition, program management, product management, test & evaluation, sustainment, and other functions.
SERC conducts research on data-driven ecosystems, ontologies and linked data, trade space analysis, data/model management, human and machine collaboration, AI and machine learning, and automation – all to improve the speed, trust, scale, and transparency of engineered systems.
Our research intersects with technical and social science disciplines, going beyond capabilities of a system to the qualities affecting its reliability, availability, dependability, integrity, safety, security, and resilience – all qualities of trust. While trustworthiness is a property of the system, trust is a property of the relationship between a user and the system.
Using model-based methods, SERC researchers are making systems more resilient to cyber-attacks and advancing system design and test methods for trust and resilience of AI-enabled systems.
Our research is at the forefront of system complexity and scale. Today, systems are being designed for change, combine durable and attritable systems, and are not constrained in or on a physical or virtual platform. Capability analysis is increasingly at the mission, system-of-systems (SoS), and enterprise levels. Future systems will be more complex, nonlinear, and non-stationary in their behavior, and we can no longer analyze or design them effectively via traditional SE decomposition. SERC is using AI and data visualization to advance enterprise portfolio analysis, mission engineering, testbeds for future wireless systems, and management of megaprojects.
From our very first research task, which resulted in the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK), SERC research continues to contribute directly to human capital development. SERC helps the government develop its current and future workforce with advanced technical and employability skills.
Featured projects include the Helix assessment to understand what makes systems engineers effective, a digital engineering simulator for Defense Acquisition University, the Capstone Marketplace, and more.
