Globalization of the electronics manufacturing industry has provided consumers a low cost high volume product pipeline. Open architecture standards for hardware and software have matured along with design and simulation platforms resulting in a toolbox approach for systems development. Almost every major semiconductor corporation offers systems developer’s access to pre written software for their open architecture devices. Designers have the luxury of using verified code, which are governed by third party committees or standards organizations. The open standards ensure interoperability between multiple hardware vendors. Consequently, developers go quickly from concept to product with a high probability of success on the first try.

The USB interface standard is a good example of an open standard protocol, which created a plethora of companies who brought products to market in less than 6 months. With the open standard for both hardware and software (plug and play) inserting a USB compliant device into a computer having a USB receptacle guarantees that the computer will be able to interrogate the device and set up a connection enabling other applications and hardware no matter who made the device. Microprocessor device manufacturers, driven by Moore’s law to ever-smaller gate sizes have been enabled by the transistor race to offer cost effective integrated families of logic blocks with specific functionality. Today any number of combinations of DSP cores, communications protocol cores, and microprocessor cores are available. The ease of use gained by open standards, coupled with integration at the silicon level, and has spawned fierce competition between semiconductor corporations for board space on consumer products. Each new generation of device will have increased functionality, higher operating speeds; operate at lower voltages, or all three. The open architecture software standards and toolbox approach to hardware development have allowed for tremendous gains in time to market, functionality, and multiple protocol devices. Moore’s Law has driven device designers to develop new generations of devices to coincide with each new fabrication process node or face declining market share based on cost or functionality.

An unforeseen result of the relentless drive for ever-smaller devices is consumer product life cycles are now 12-18 months. This runs contrary to military systems, where serviceable lifetimes are measured in decades. The good news is that with open standards in place, many legacy systems can be re-engineered to fit in the given space and perform as planned with greater reliability and less weight. Nevertheless, just tossing a board over the fence for re-engineering it to accept a new processor may not be the only aspect to consider. Today, the EMPF and ACI’s Center of excellence stand at the ready to engage upstream with designers, and engineers, and downstream with end users to facilitate designs which drive legacy systems to a modular, extendable and field serviceable platform that can deliver performance, new functionality, and ruggedness. The following applications demonstrate the importance of upstream engagement and open system architectures.

Design Scenario One
In a program sustainment, application for the AN/ARS-6(V) personal locator system (PLS) ACI was tasked to upgrade the radio functionality using COTS parts, and open architecture while sustaining the service life of the AN/ASR-6(V) transmitter receiver unit , control display unit, and remote display unit.. The original PLS unit used conduction cooling while many of the replacement sustainment COTS components were designed for forced convection cooing. The system display had to meet an additional requirement of being viewable by persons wearing night vision goggles. The redesigned unit must pass functional testing, accepting data from GPS (global positioning satellites) and SARSAT (Civilian Satellite based search and rescue) waveforms and be compatible with the newer CSEL survival handheld radio, which would be provided by a separate vendor in module form. The original PLS contained two ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) which provided the basic functionality and used the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) waveform for location. In this case, the ASIC’s we no longer available without re-design and the additional functionality required would need to be incorporated into the operating system. ACI engineers examined the systems and decided that the best way to provide functionality, and be sustainable in the future would be by the incorporation of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The FPGA eliminated the original ASIC devices, and need to develop new hardware for the other functions. The FPGA could be set up to run in any of the required modes, and since all of the protocols were open standards, the firmware implementations were straightforward. This made the overall finished product smaller than its predecessor did. The FPGA would be easier to shield and the resulting system is currently undergoing Airworthiness Certification.

Design Scenario Two
A system design engineer is tasked with adding a card interface socket that enables wireless communications. Open architecture is available for many protocols including PCMCIA, PCI, Mini PCI, USB and SDIO. Each of the listed types was created primarily to make a physically smaller card to address the commercial desire for smaller, less expensive devices. Most offer Bluetooth™, 802.11, and Ethernet protocol. The system designer must weigh the pros and cons of his applications expected service life, and how long each of the successively larger open architecture platforms will be serviceable.

Conclusions
In order for military systems designers to exploit the open standards and produce field serviceable, supportable and rugged systems, designers will need to anticipate allowing for more than one interface/communications standard in their boards. New designs should support multiple protocols, and use modular design techniques. By adopting modular designs, many systems will be able to share common module designs. This enables field serviceability, and re-use, driving ownership costs down. Open Architectures allow for rapid design cycles and multiple protocols to exist in a given product. The planners of products and systems, either new or re-engineered must work upstream with engineers, and designers to deliver systems downstream, which the harness and exploit the ability to quickly modify the performance, capability, and specific functionality offered by modular design concepts.