It’s hard to escape the headlines around the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), open standards, and individual initiatives such as those from The Open Group FACE Consortium, the creators of the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard. In 2004, the Open Systems Task Force published a Program Manager Guide titled “A Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) to Acquisition.” Since then, the industry has seen a progression in policy guidance that raised the profile of MOSA and its applicability within military systems to enable success on the battlefield while lowering acquisition costs and promoting innovation.

BOSTON, Mass. Mission-critical software company LDRA announced that it has been chosen as the FACE [Future Airborne Capability Environment] Verification Authority (VA) for Lynx Software Technologies, a company that develops open architecture software solutions for mission-critical embedded systems. Lynx will earn independent validation and verification (IVV) of its software -- designed to conform with the latest FACE Technical Standard, edition 3.1 -- as it works with LDRA Certification Services (LCS),  

By Will Keegan

Lynx Software Technologies

As a testament to the celebrated success of FACE (Future Airborne Capability Environment), mandatory conformance requirements for mission-system software have flowed down for nearly every applicable military program since the publication of FACE 2.0. But even as FACE informs and guides all aspects of software design for tactical mission systems (communications, flight control, flight map and planning, cockpit displays, etc.), the world of vehicle control harbors reservations about FACE adoption. The imperative to deliver safety critical, hard real-time control systems has raised concerns about technical feasibility impeded by the complexities inherent to the FACE multicore Operating System Segment (OSS).

Guilty until proven innocent – that is how the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) treats the safety-certification process for military avionics systems, and the software portion of these systems is no exception. Certifying DO-178 in avionics software is a detailed process by which the safety and security of the software is determined to be acceptable to fly. The certification process itself is still a work in progress: Having already undergone revisions since its conception in the late 1980s following the emergence of supplemental software in aviation, DO-178 and other safety-certification standards for military and commercial avionics are being challenged to keep pace with digital innovation.

By Will Keegan, Lynx Software Technologies

Flying cars are being demonstrated and are close to becoming a reality as the urban mobility segment experiences significant investment. We’ve also had discussions with an automotive manufacturer who is looking to build avionics platforms. So that got me thinking about the way in which the avionics and automotive industries will come together. It’s already happening.

SAN JOSE, Calif. Lynx Software Technologies, company specializing in modern platform software technologies, announced that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has adopted the LYNX MOSA.ic software framework for the Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).