Ben Pronk

Senior Research Fellow TNO- Embedded Systems Institute (ESI)

System Engineering in defense, addressing the robotic innovation challenge

Bio.
Ben Pronk studied physics in Delft and Leiden and has over 40 years of experience in system engineering and architecting of high-tech systems. He has been a system architect in various domains, amongst others, in the medical, lighting and semiconductor industries, and worked on diverse applications like MRI-scanners, large scale connected lighting systems,  digital consumer IC’s and robotics. He joined TNO-ESI in 2021as a research fellow and has been involved in applied research projects in the fields of system engineering and system performance with ESI-partners since then.  He currently works for the ministry of defense establishing a sound system architecture for the CUGS-program.

Abstract.
Recent conflicts have reshaped the character of warfare, bringing robotic systems across the land, air, and maritime domains into focus. The rapid development cycles of these systems have, in turn, transformed our approach to systems engineering for the defense domain. The traditional model – characterized by long lifecycles- is giving way to a new reality with updates delivered quarterly or even biweekly. Furthermore, in this transformation, tender- and specification-based acquisition evolves towards co-design, and continuous development in an interconnected ecosystem. The presentation will highlight changes in approach and methods to cope with the acceleration in innovation, the introduction of digital engineering to support rapid iteration and communication across the ecosystem, and the shifts in system engineering capabilities in a co-design setting.