Description:
TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Info Systems
OBJECTIVE: Research and develop a first of its kind, innovative, configurable and robust transport service aligned to the FACE Technical Standard, Edition 3.0 for use in military and commercial applications
DESCRIPTION: U.S. Army Aviation, through policy, has selected the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard as the preferred solution for the Common Operating Environment (COE) Real Time Safety Critical Embedded (RTSCE) Computing Environment (CE). Transport services contained in the FACE Transport Services Segment (TSS) being developed and demonstrated to date are simple or thin in nature; meaning they provide little to no capabilities beyond the minimum set of a Transport Service Capability, TSS Distribution Capability, and TSS Configuration Capability. Current and future aviation platforms have a need for a portable and more robust transport service aligned to the FACE Technical Standard Edition 3.0 to safely, securely, and reliably transport and manage data utilizing well-defined open interfaces. A FACE Conformant TSS solution does not currently exist in the FACE Repository. A robust or thick transport service could provide additional selectable and configurable capabilities such as Type Abstraction, Quality of Service (QoS) Management, Message Association, Data Transformation, Messaging Pattern Translation, Transport Protocol Module, Data Store Support, Component State Persistence, and Framework Support. With these capabilities available within an instantiated FACE TSS solution, 3rd party developed software contained in the Portable Components Segment (PCS) and Platform Specific Service Segment (PSSS) can utilize these transport capabilities rather than having to develop, test, and integrate them separately.
PHASE I: Prototype and demonstrate initial transport services aligned to the FACE Technical Standard (TS) 3.0 and a reusable verification component (RVC) on at least one Real Time Operating System (RTOS) or RTOS emulator (such as CENTOS) and develop a detailed plan to extend the transport capabilities while ensuring portability. Transport services aligned to the FACE TS 3.0 will include: • The three (3) required capabilities o Transport o Distribution o Configuration • The Data Transformation and QoS Management capabilities from the nine (9) optional capabilities o Data Transformation o Quality of Service (QoS) Management o Type Abstraction o Message Association o Messaging Pattern Translation o Transport Protocol Module o Data Store Support o Component State Persistence o Framework Support • RVC for testing capabilities in a consistent, comprehensive and repeatable manner • Plan to develop a portable transport service implementing all 12 capabilities
PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate a portable robust transport service aligned to the FACE TS 3.0 addressing all 12 capabilities and a portable RVC on at least three (3) FACE Operating Environments (OEs) in the AMRDEC SED Aviation Systems Integration Facility (ASIF) Lab. • The demonstration will occur in the AMRDEC SED ASIF Lab with these available OEs o VxWorks 653 v2.3 running on Curtis Wright SVME-183 (x2) o VxWorks 653 v2.3 running on Curtis Wright VPX6-185 o INTEGRITY-178 running on Curtis Wright VPX6-187 o LynxOS-178 v2.3 running on KONTRON PENTXM2 (x2) • Provide FACE TS 3.0 Conformance Verification Matrix (CVM) for TSS to be evaluated by Army FACE VA for alignment to the FACE TS 3.0
PHASE III: In addition to current and future, manned and unmanned, DoD aviation platforms, there are commercial domains such as utilities control systems, automobile industry, manufacturing industry, remote control vehicles, and financial industries that need these capabilities. It is recommended that the software supplier pursue FACE Conformance and inclusion into the FACE Registry for promotion of these capabilities.
REFERENCES:
1: FACE Landing Page: http://www.opengroup.org/face
2: Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular for Reusable Software Components FAA AC 20-148, December 7, 200
3: Use of a Reusable Verification Component to Ensure Compatibility of Portable Avionics Software for Multiple Operating Environments paper presented at the American Helicopter Society (AHS) Development, Affordability, and Qualification of Complex Systems Specialists’ Meeting, Huntsville, AL Feb 9-10, 2015
KEYWORDS: Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE), Transport Services Segment (TSS), Airworthiness Qualification, Reusable Verification Component (RVC), Open Systems Architecture (OSA), Avionics, Aviation, Mission Systems, Data Architecture, Data Model, Common Operating Environment (COE), Computing Environment (CE), Transport Service, Distribution, Configuration, Type Abstraction, Quality Of Service (QoS) Management, Message Association, Data Transformation, Messaging Pattern Translation, Transport Protocol Module, Data Store Support, Component State Persistence, And Framework Support
CONTACT(S):
Linda Taylor
(256) 876-2883
linda.k.taylor38.civ@mail.mil
