Core Avionics Master Plan - NAVAIR - U.S. Navy

Core Avionics Master Plan 2011 Appendix A-1Onboard Tactical Data Fusion (JSF). (2012) The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)is planned to be delivered with increased automated sensor data fusion, which is one ofthe key features of fifth generation fighter aircraft. Most sensors are currently managedindependently and operators select specific modes of system information display. TheJSF will incorporate a fusion server that performs closed-loop sensor tasking to presentcombined system level track information. The track will still be presented with similarkey tactical parameters (location, velocity vector, affiliation and identification), but thesolution will be derived from a combination of all available sensor system inputs. Fusedcontributions from multiple sensor systems, including Electronic Warfare (EW), Radar,IFF, electro-optical, distributed aperture, as well as tactical data over networks such asLink 16 and Multi-function Advanced Data-link (MADL), will present a higher fidelity,higher confidence solution.B. Software Management Architecture. Software development has becomethe most expensive part of any new system or system upgrade. The cost per line ofcode has continued to rise and most problems encountered during initial testing arerelated to software. Complete testing of all software phases is often too expensivebecause it is hard to test every possible aspect of every state of the software. Thealternative is less than complete testing with the resultant risk of software errors,freezes, or crashes. Often the program office has to first evaluate whether or not theeffort can be entertained in a planned software block upgrade, which requires evenmore time and cost. This problem can be mitigated by ensuring that software is createdin a modular, partitioned manner. With new partitioned operating systems and the abilityto write software applications that can run in any partition on the same hardware, therequirements to modify the operating system and retest all states of the software arereduced, thus significantly reducing the cost. Even though industry has been doing thisfor years with commercial sector information management products, the Navy has beenreluctant to embrace these methods because of the critical nature of the software andthe severe consequences should the mission computer crash.1. Current Capabilities.HOL is the current state-of-the-art in software code for Naval Aviation platforms andis currently in use in F/A-18E/F, EA-18G, AV-8B, E-2C/D, P-3C, P-8, AH-1Z, UH-1Y andT-45 aircraft. HOL allows for portability of the software to different operating systemswith only minor modification. It also allows for reduction in testing by eliminating some ofthe retesting of existing software when a new capability is added. However, sincecurrent HOL generated software is still developed as a single partition, there is still thepossibility of corrupting existing software when new capabilities are added. Newrequirements must go through a rigorous integration process to reduce the possibility ofcorruption and to ensure there is enough throughput and memory to accommodate thenew requirement.The PMA209 MSMA suite of applications uses HOL versions that run in a partitionedoperating environment. This gives the added benefit of ensuring that one applicationdoes not interfere with other applications running on the same hardware. This is asignificant step toward simplifying development complexity, reducing time required totest and field modifications, and enabling MLS across partitioned applications.A-1 Information Management 6