What is Digital Engineering?

So, what is digital engineering? In general terms digital engineering serves two key functions. 

1. The first is where digital engineering is used to “connect the dots”. Its purpose in this regard is to deliver an organisation or a business operational efficiency by connecting disparate, siloed machines or information systems using a single “digital thread”. 
2. The second function is where digital engineering also allows complex processes, objects or facilities to be “virtually developed” and tested prior to real-world physical development. This saves time, allows for more accurate resourcing, uncovers efficiencies, identifies inefficiencies, and saves money.

At the heart of digital engineering is a single subject

Digital engineering is not a proprietary technology or a single system; it is a process of linking up siloed systems with a digital thread to create a cohesive grouping, called a System of Systems (SoS).

At the centre of the System of Systems is a subject. A subject could be a person, an animal, a satellite, a missile, a car or any number of things.

Digital threads connect separately developed systems concerning a particular subject to improve processes, enhance access to information, increase safety, and drive greater operational effectiveness.  

Expert systems are often developed in isolation without consideration of the many other systems that also serve the single unifying subject – this is where digital engineering adds great value; by connecting all those systems with a digital thread. One example is an aged care facility that may have around 40 or 50 separate specialisations and systems, yet they have a single unifying subject: a resident.  

What can a digital thread connect?

Digital engineering can use a digital thread to connect any of the following things into a System of Systems:

• Machines that generate digital data, like weight scales, heart monitoring equipment, satellites, security cameras, and earthquake monitoring sensors, to name just a few.
  

• A digital program, like CRM’s, email and calendar software, AI tools, and databases.

When should digital threads be utilised?

Many environments contain multiple discrete information systems that concern a single subject that could be made safer or more effective by a digital thread. Clinical environments, like hospitals and aged care facilities are prime examples, as are naval vessels.  

In both of these examples, co-ordination across systems is presently imperfectly co-ordinated by humans.  Where safety-criticality and timeliness are imperatives, digital threads are a high-value investment.

Residents are serviced by many disciplines including general practice, nutrition, medications, wound management, hygiene, physiotherapy and lifestyle, to name a few. Then add monitors for heart rate, blood sugar, fall alerts, and blood pressure and you have an extensive portfolio of disconnected but related systems.  

An initial review was done, known as an operational effectiveness baseline, which established many safety issues were caused by the way information was separately compiled in the facility.  

The review showed that a digital thread was likely to improve safety and efficiency. Daily tasks, recorded in separate systems, could be grouped according to efficiency or the convenience of residents, instead of being completed according to which information system was being used.  

For example, a patient’s wound management activities were grouped with hygiene, resulting in greater efficiency for carers and more convenience for residents because the residents did not have to disrobe multiple times.  

Resident weight, like many others, had an immediate impact on safety and quality - there was a 57 percent gain in effectiveness of care. The digital thread reduced time spent on completing documentation - a reduction from 20.4 percent to 6.4 percent.  Resident health evaluations, a critical factor in ongoing individualisation of care, increased by 56 percent.^[1]

Why do digital threads offer great potential in all sectors?

The speed at which markets and militaries demand new capabilities is accelerating. So, while complexity threatens to extend timelines and delay schedules, time waits for no one, and neither do adversaries or competitors.

The most dramatic shift in our technology-dependent world is the sheer complexity of modern systems. In many ways, the threads that link systems cross physical domains; for example, a car receives GPS data from a satellite in space, channelled through a data centre, to guide travel on the ground. It is especially these interconnected qualities of modern systems that are forcing organisations to reckon with painful but promising change. 

Defence systems have different characteristics to human-centric ones. The requirements for safety-criticality, security and cyber-resilience are, however, common to both.  Analysis of data quality and contemporaneousness has demonstrated a digital thread is a crucial enabler of decision sciences, decision support, machine learning and artificial intelligence.  The real-time data that proceeds from a digital thread enables much faster activity co-ordination, and task execution across multi-disciplinary teams.    

The level of integration that can be achieved by a digital thread depends in large part on the portfolio of systems to be linked. Investigating and documenting the thread is a first and significant step toward connecting the dots.  

Many fields stand to benefit from digital threads. Integration standards, methods and tools remain important enablers of the benefits of digital engineering going forward. UNSW Canberra is pursuing research and education efforts focused on building digital engineering capabilities transferrable across complex domains.

^{[1] Bail, K, Merrick, E, Gibson, D, Strickland, K, Smith, B, Hind, A, Vann, B, Thomas, N, Paterson, C & Redley, B 2020, Evaluation of ACE in Residential Aged Care: the impact of a digital point-of-care system on residents and staff. University of Canberra, Au}