1. Describe the technology.

What is the technology?

Have preliminary engineering designs for system components been developed?

Have drawings, diagrams, outlines, or other conceptual aids been prepared?

Are there remaining technical or design-related challenges? Please describe.

2. Describe the various constituent parts of the technology. How do they fit together and interact with one another?

What are the subsystems and components of the technological system? What is the status of those subsystems and components?

3. Describe the envisioned deployment of this technology.

Where will this technology be deployed?

What problem(s) has this technology been developed to solve or address? At the point of implementation, will this technology address these problems sufficiently (if not, why not)?

What is the operational environment for this technology (at the point of implementation)?

Describe the end users of the technology, and how they will use it.

(From an operational perspective)

What needs to be done to or with the technology, as it exists today, before the technology can be deployed in the manner envisioned?

TESTING: How and where has the technology—and constituent elements—been tested? What was the result? How representative is the test environment to the intended operational environment?

4. How have the technology’s subsystems, components, and concepts been tested (individually)? Please describe the results.

Have experiments on system components been conducted? In what settings were these experiments undertaken?

5. How has the integration of the various components and systems been tested?

How will their expected functionality be confirmed, both individually and in combination?

6. Has a demonstration of the full technology been conducted, or a prototype constructed? Please describe the results.

What was the scale and setting of the demonstration, compared to the envisioned deployment of this technology? Was this demonstration indicative of how the final technology may be expected to perform in the field?

Have computer simulations for system design, construction, or operations been conducted? Have case studies been conducted for other components of nonhardware or software technologies? Please describe the results.

7. Describe the most recent test conducted on the full technology. What precisely was tested, why, and how did it go?

What metrics exist for defining the development’s progress for technology?

8. How has the user community been included in the technology development process?

Have usability experiments been conducted or prototypes deployed to intended users?

If prototypes have been produced and field-tested with the intended end users, do those users use the technology as intended? If not, how has it been adapted?

If feedback from these users about the technology has been received, how has the technology been revised (if at all) to address this feedback?

(From a “proof-of-functionality” perspective)

What tests or trials should be performed on, with, or using the new technology, as it exists today, before the end user can confidently use it?