Technical Design process

Design Process

USN Kongsberg
Loop
Build
Loop
Test
Loop
Learn
Loop
Ship

From Concept To Water

Requirements and goals

1) Requirements

Define the mission, constraints, safety requirements, and measurable success criteria. This makes tests honest and comparable.
Concepts and trade-offs

2) Trade-offs

Compare alternatives: sensor suite, power system, compute, propulsion, and mechanics. Choose what fits your timeline and risk profile.
Design and build

3) Design & Build

Build modular. Create an integration plan so parts can be swapped and tested without large rewires or rework.

Validate, Learn, Improve

Integration and checklists

4) Integration

Establish a known-good baseline, checklists, logging, and clear interfaces. The goal is repeatability.
Testing as a team

5) Testing

Bench → shore → water. First safety, then stability, then performance. A test plan + real data enables faster decisions.
Iteration and improvement

6) Iteration

Post-test reviews, root-cause analysis, and small shippable improvements. Low risk, high learning — often.

What We Produce Each Cycle

If you want this page to be more concrete, replace the items below with your real documents and artifacts.

Engineering

  • Test plan + test log
  • Wiring/IO map
  • Risk & safety checklist
  • Change log (what changed + why)

Software

  • Release notes
  • Scenario tests + replay
  • Telemetry dashboards
  • Config presets (known-good)
Vehicle overview Subsystems