Test and Evaluation Strategies for Network-Enabled Systems

A hierarchical series of strategies is described as an approach for testing and evaluating network enabled systems and systems of systems. The approach builds upon traditional platform performance and requirements-based testing and amplifies it to encompass the additional complexities of interacting systems with their potential for emergent behavior. It is in these interactions that the preponderance of ''unknown unknowns'' resides and the number of interactions grows geometrically with the size. Future tests will never be able to test a full factorial test matrix. Test and evaluation professionals must develop a systematic approach for building up results from single network nodes to complete joint systems. The hierarchical test strategies, combined with distributed testing and high fidelity live-virtual-constructive environments, are proposed as the most expedient means for satisfying network centric test requirements within time and budget constraints while mitigating technical and programmatic risk.