The Integrated Test Information System (ITIS) was chosen to apply Evolutionary Design of Complex Systems (EDCS) technology and demonstrate its utility in a Department of Defense application. Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) operates a wide variety of aerospace testing facilities. These facilities perform the critical testing role in the development of virtually all modern aerospace systems. These test facilities comprise wind tunnels, aeropropulsion test cells, rocket test cells, high speed G ranges, and equipment for many other testing modalities. The operation of these tests generates large quantities of data, which must be analyzed, correlated, and presented to design engineers. In addition to real-time measured data and analysis, other information from data archives, design information, prior simulations, and fiscal budgets must be available online. The requirements for any one test change rapidly, requiring a method to adapt the information systems to satisfy these requirements. The availability of this information at low latencies enables on-line test direction, saving millions of dollars per year and reducing development cycle times.

The ITIS addresses the need to integrate diverse sets of information from distributed, heterogeneous data sources into a seamless real-time data system. The approaches used allow for rapid generation and customization of test information systems that track changing user requirements. The ITIS allows secure, uniform access to search metadata and retrieve test data from geographically distributed engineering teams.

EDCS technology is used for ITIS to automatically synthesize complex test information systems using high level system models. The Model-Integrated Computing (MIC) approach to ITIS makes it possible to automatically configure individual test systems based on modeled group membership. Using model integrated technology, the system can manage rapidly changing requirements for the interconnection of a wide variety of data sources and analyses.