Avionics Open Systems Architecture Standardization
Pr. Systems Architect
Rockwell Collins
Pr. Systems Engineer
Rockwell Collins
ABSTRACT
The United States (US) Department of Defense is requiring the use of open systems architectures to reduce the
lifecycle cost and enable a more frequent upgrade of capabilities in current and new weapon systems. The US DoD
and its military services are actively engaged in the development of many open architecture standards efforts, such
as the FACE
TM
, HOST, OMS, UCI, and SOSA
TM
Standards, through participation in standards consortiums and US
Government led standards working groups. Our research builds upon Rockwell Collins prior and ongoing work in
the development of open standards and implementation in our solutions. This paper will introduce relevant avionics
open architecture standards, discuss the key attributes of each standard, compare the relationship among the
standards, and examine technical approaches to develop integrated avionics solutions through the integration of
systems and subsystems implemented with different open architecture standards. Following the discussion of the
main concepts, the paper will present a case study detailing a hypothetical VTOL avionics system requiring
integration of multiple OSA standards. The case study will concentrate on not only the technical aspects of
physical/logical integration, but also on the procedural aspects of system engineering methodology.
INTRODUCTION
Open Systems has been an emphasis within the United
States Department of Defense (DoD) for twenty years,
initially focused on the interoperability of weapon
systems. The DoD’s approach to Open Systems has evolved
from weapon systems interoperability to include reuse of
commercial technologies, and now with new DoD
Acquisition Reform policies (i.e., Better Buying Power 3.0,
etc.) (Ref. [1]), there is now a focus on open systems as part
of the total life cycle to ensure weapon systems are
affordable over their life. Specific aspects of the Acquisition
Reform policies that are influencing the DoD’s Modular
Open System Approach are:
• Achieve Affordable Programs
• Incentivize Innovation in Industry and Government
• Promote Effective Competition
More specifically, the United States National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017, Section
805 on Modular Open Systems Approach in Development of
Major Weapon Systems states “A major defense acquisition
program that receives Milestone A or Milestone B approval
after January 1, 2019, shall be designed and developed, to
the maximum extent practicable, with a modular open
system approach to enable incremental development and
enhance competition, innovation, and interoperability.”
(Ref. [2])
Presented at the AHS International 74th Annual Forum &
Technology Display, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, May 14-17, 2018.
Copyright © 2018 by AHS International, Inc. All rights reserved.
FACE™, SOSA
TM
and The Open Group® are trademarks of The
Open Group.
As a result of ongoing acquisition reform, there are a number
of new open systems standards initiatives across the DoD
and industry that are relevant for VTOL platforms. Those
initiatives include but are not limited to:
• Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE
TM
)
• Hardware Open Systems Technologies (HOST)
• Open Radio Architecture
• Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA
TM
)
• Open Mission Systems (OMS)
• Joint Common Architecture (JCA)
Figure 1 provides a summary view of the architectural
aspects and system depth across the Key Open Architecture
Standards.
Figure 1. Key Open Architecture Standards Comparison
This paper presents some updates on Rockwell Collins
ongoing open systems experimentation and implementation
activities, building off of our work (Ref. [3]) to implement a
FACE computing environment in fielded systems and
migrating key software capabilities to be FACE
conformant. The rest of the paper is structured into sections
that provide an overview of the above mentioned Open
