Military Embedded Systems

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems announced the IPN254, a rugged fourth generation 6U OpenVPX/SOSA aligned heterogeneous multiprocessor solution that leverages Abaco's partnership relationships.

By Max Taylor-Smith, Engineering Director, Entropy Electro-Mechanical Solutions

FPGAs – field-programmable gate arrays – are an incredibly diverse method of extracting multifunctionality from a single piece of silicon. The usefulness of these devices is encouraging a renaissance of their use in military-focused embedded systems as developers scramble to be at the front of the queue for new interoperability contracts in FACE [Future Airborne Capability Environment] and SOSA [Sensor Open System Architecture] systems. 

By C. Patrick Collier and Michael Walmsley

Open standards have been driving innovation more quickly to the end user in aerospace and defense applications for decades and now space systems are truly enbracing them. A perfect example is the SpaceVPX standard, which leverages the OpenVPX architecture through the interconnect solutions defined in VITA standards. This piece from SpaceVPX founder Patrick Collier and Michael Walmsley of TE Connectivity, the designers of the VPX and SpaceVPX interconnect, covers the basics of SpaceVPX, recent changes, and the importance of the standard interconnect, which drives down cost, results in a more robust supply chain, and maintains a path for future expansion.

By Mark Grovak and Chris Thomson
An industry perspective from Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions

Prototype designs for the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, one of the U.S. Army’s most important and game-changing initiatives, are fully embracing the open architecture design philosophy for the next-generation helicopters that will replace its fleet of OH58 Kiowa Warrior, AH64 Apache, and UH60 Black Hawk rotorcraft.

STOUFFVILLE, Ontario. Wolf Advanced Technology (WOLF) has agreed to supply to Herrick Technology Laboratories (HTL) a newly designed SOSA-aligned module, the VPX3U-RTX5000-SWITCH, for integration into new Herrick adaptive waveform processing applications.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona. Elements of the Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA) technical standard are leveraging standards developed by the VITA Standards Organization, specifically VITA 65, also known as OpenVPX. VITA has also become a participating member of the SOSA Consortium along with the Air Force, Army, and Navy. This harmonization between the services, industry, and industry standardization bodies helps drive the SOSA initiative’s strong momentum within the defense community. This webcast titled, "SOSA and VITA: Enabling Open Standards for Improved Capability," to be held on Wednesday, June 24, at 2 pm Est., will cover how the SOSA Consortium is working with VITA to enable standardization of VITA-based standards within the SOSA Technical Standard.

SOLOMONS, Maryland. Officials at the Open Group and the consortia they manage - the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) and the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) - are organizing the The Open Group FACE and SOSA Consortia Expo & TIM, to be held September 22, 2020 at the Holiday Inn Solomons Conference Center & Marina in Solomons, Maryland. FACE and SOSA Consortia Meetings will be held September will follow the expo at the same location from Sept. 23-25, 2020.

Defense funding for unmanned and artificial intelligence (AI) systems is increasing by leaps and bounds, driving the need for computing systems to be smaller, faster, and more compatible. The demand for compatibility and commonality follows the convergence of open architecture initiatives like the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA), C4ISR/EW [electronic warfare] Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS), and Modular Open Radio Frequency Architecture (MORA), just to name a few.