Proceedings Article | 25 April 2017
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Standards development, Signals intelligence, Radar, Communication technologies, Military electronics, Computer architecture, C4ISR, Computer security, Defense and security, Network security, Software development
The Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA) is a C4ISR-focused technical and economic collaborative effort between
the Air Force, Navy, Army, the Department of Defense (DoD), Industry, and other Governmental agencies to develop
(and incorporate) a technical Open Systems Architecture standard in order to maximize C4ISR sub-system, system, and
platform affordability, re-configurability, and hardware/software/firmware re-use. The SOSA effort will effectively
create an operational and technical framework for the integration of disparate payloads into C4ISR systems; with a focus
on the development of a modular decomposition (defining functions and behaviors) and associated key interfaces
(physical and logical) for common multi-purpose architecture for radar, EO/IR, SIGINT, EW, and Communications.
SOSA addresses hardware, software, and mechanical/electrical interfaces. The modular decomposition will produce a set
of re-useable components, interfaces, and sub-systems that engender reusable capabilities. This, in effect, creates a
realistic and affordable ecosystem enabling mission effectiveness through systematic re-use of all available re-composed
hardware, software, and electrical/mechanical base components and interfaces. To this end, SOSA will leverage existing
standards as much as possible and evolve the SOSA architecture through modification, reuse, and enhancements to
achieve C4ISR goals. This paper will present accomplishments over the first year of SOSA initiative.
