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Movement toward more-electric architectures in military and commercial airborne systems has led to electrical power systems (EPSs) with complex power flow dynamics and advanced technologies specifically designed to improve power quality in the system. As such, there is a need for tools that can quickly analyze the impact of technology insertion on the system-level dynamic transient and spectral power quality and assess tradeoffs between impact on power quality versus weight and volume. Traditionally, this type of system level analysis is performed through computationally intensive time-domain simulations involving high fidelity models or left until the hardware fabrication and integration stage. In order to provide a more rapid analysis prior to hardware development and integration, stochastic equivalent circuit analysis is developed that can provide power quality assessment directly in the frequency domain.

The diverse and complex requirements of next-generation energy optimized aircraft (EOA) demand detailed transient and dynamic model-based design (MBD) to ensure the proper operation of numerous interconnected and interacting subsystems. In support of the U.S. Air Force's Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (INVENT) program, several software tools have been developed and are in use that aid in the efficient MBD of next-generation EOA. Among these are subsystem model libraries, automated subsystem model verification test scripts, a distributed co-simulation application, and tools for system configuration, EOA mission building, data logging, plotting, post-processing, and visualization, and energy flow analysis. Herein, each of these tools is described. A detailed discussion of each tool's functionality and its benefits with respect to the goal of achieving successful integrated system simulations in support of MBD of EOA is given.

The trend of moving towards model-based design and analysis of new and upgraded aircraft platforms requires integrated component and subsystem models. To support integrated system trades and design studies, these models must satisfy modeling and performance guidelines regarding interfaces, implementation, verification, and validation. As part of the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Integrated Vehicle and Energy Technology (INVENT) Program, standardized modeling and performance guidelines have been established and documented in the Modeling Requirement and Implementation Plan (MRIP). Although these guidelines address interfaces and suggested implementation approaches, system integration challenges remain with respect to computational stability and predicted performance over the entire operating region for a given component. This paper discusses standardized model evaluation tools aimed to address these challenges at a component/subsystem level prior to system integration.

The diverse and complex requirements of next-generation energy optimized aircraft (EOA) demand detailed transient and dynamic model-based design (MBD) to ensure the proper operation of numerous interconnected and interacting subsystems across multiple disciplines. In support of the U.S. Air Force's Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (INVENT) program, several MBD-derived software tools, including models of EOA technologies, have been developed. To validate these models and demonstrate the performance of EOA technologies, a series of Integrated Ground Demonstration (IGD) hardware tests are planned. Several of the numerous EOA software tools and MBD-based processes have been updated and adapted to support this activity.