Military Embedded Systems

The SOSA Technical Standard is just that, a technical standard, written by technical people for a technical audience. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) is no longer just a government acquisition goal -- it's now a business strategy for defense suppliers trying to move technology into the field faster, said panelists at the Military Embedded Systems MOSA Virtual Summit on Feb. 26.

Autonomous operations can range from small drones to autonomous surface vessels, with the real competitive edge shifting from who builds the best platform to who can upgrade it fastest. Open architectures promise plug-and-play tech insertion – with the hard part being the “glue”: the interfaces, timing, thermal and power behaviors, and configuration control that decide whether a new payload, compute card, or comms module drops in cleanly or triggers months of requalification. Designs that take a modular open systems approach (MOSA) help solve those interconnect challenges.

This week’s product, the SOSA Power Supply from Vicor, is aligned with the Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Technical Standard. The commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) device is designed for 3U OpenVPX systems that are aligned to the SOSA approach and is targeted for use in avionics, shipboard applications, and other defense applications.

ANDOVER, Massachusetts. TTTECH North America will provide Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) technology for the U.S. Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) program, the company announced in a statement.

The modular open systems approach (MOSA) mandated by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in 2019 for all new programs and upgrades has been embraced by all the services, including the U.S. Navy, which produced a MOSA Guidebook on how and why to implement MOSA. In this interview I conducted with Jason Thomas, Systems Engineering Lead for the Department of the Navy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, Test and Engineering, at the September 2025 MOSA Industry & Government Summit, we discussed the guidebook, the current momentum of MOSA strategies, and the benefits of MOSA from a systems-engineering perspective. We also explored common misconceptions regarding MOSA, metrics for measuring MOSA success, and what Thomas would like to see from industry regarding MOSA. Edited excerpts follow.

The radio-frequency (RF) battlespace will continue to grow more complex. Even so, with the right architectural foundations – backed by empowered governance, industrial engagement, and cross-service alignment – the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) can build modular, adaptive, and resilient spectrum systems capable of dominating this domain for decades to come. The Modular Open RF Architecture (MORA) stands as a foundational element of the larger modular open systems approach (MOSA) transformation underway across the services.

Radar and electronic warfare (EW) teams face a growing mismatch: Threats in the electromagnetic spectrum change quickly, but many fielded systems are still built in ways that make upgrades slow and costly. The Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Technical Standard is intended to reduce that gap by standardizing how radar and EW hardware and software fit together, making it easier to insert new processing and replace components without major chassis redesign. This feature explains what problems the SOSA approach is solving for radar and EW programs, why implementation can be difficult in practice, how the SOSA Technical Standard supports faster tech insertion to keep pace with emerging threats, and what obstacles remain as the ecosystem matures.

LONDON, England. Concurrent launched a 32-core 3U VPX computing board based on an Intel Xeon 6 system-on-chip (SoC) for rugged edge-computing applications, the company announced in a statement.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems introduced the SBC3518, what it terms a rugged, SOSA aligned 3U VPX single-board computer built on Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 processors (formerly Panther Lake) that is intended for use in extremely demanding defense, aerospace, and commercial applications.