U.S. Army, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems and RTI Announce Framework for Development of Avionics Systems That Extends the Value of Technology and Reduces Costs

RTI to Provide Communications Software for a FACE™ Aligned Open Architecture Platform Enabling the Government to Build Interoperable, More Cost-Effective Systems

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—September 3, 2014—Real-Time Innovations (RTI), the real-time infrastructure software company, today announced that its Transport Services Segment (TSS) software will be integrated into a prototype next generation open architecture (OA) for U.S. Army UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Ground Control Stations. This OA platform will allow military contractors to develop whole solutions and components that can be re-used within existing systems or to generate new solutions, greatly extending the life of UAS Ground Control Stations. This ability to leverage technology across the military will result in a dramatic reduction in spending and higher quality solutions.

This standardized architecture is an important part of efforts undertaken by the consortium of government and industry avionics experts; the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium, a consortium of The Open Group. The objective of the FACE Consortium is to create an OA and business strategy that will result in the development and procurement of portable and interoperable technology products and components that will cut costs and reduce maintenance requirements in avionics systems, including UAS. Additionally, this will encourage technology development that will extend the capabilities and life of products developed for the Army and the other services, while being sensitive to strict standards and budget limitations. The framework will serve as the underlying platform for which all next generation Army UAS Ground Control Stations will be built, providing a modular, portable and interoperable system that meets government-mandated standards.

Existing Department of Defense systems have typically been developed for a unique set of requirements by a single vendor with long lead times, platform-unique design limitations, and barriers to competition within and across platforms. The result has been siloed projects that have resulted in solutions that must be discarded then completely redesigned and produced to meet current requirements. The Army, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems and RTI, as well as other members of the FACE Consortium are changing that.

"In developing the common software framework for the Army's UAS, we seek solutions and technologies that support our OA design and concept," said John van Dyke, senior director, sensors and processing at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. "As the FACE Reference Architecture, RTI's TSS provides us with the flexibility to rapidly and cost-effectively integrate avionics capabilities in support of the Army's dynamic mission requirements."

RTI's TSS technology is built on the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard developed by the Object Management Group (OMG). Serving as the abstraction layer in the FACE Aligned Reference Architecture, the TSS provides a standard interface between portable applications, common services and platform-specific services, powering easy system integration while maximizing deployment flexibility.

"Our technology allows portable avionics applications to be affordably integrated with disparate aviation platforms," said David Barnett, VP of Product and Markets at RTI. "In working with the Army our primary objective is to enable avionics systems to be more reusable and interoperable while meeting stringent government standards. The Army has more UAS systems than the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy combined and we see this as a crucial and innovative step for future government agencies."

The open framework will be made available for reuse by other organizations looking to build UAVs and Ground Segments in line with government standards.

About RTI

RTI is the real-time distributed infrastructure software company.

Our RTI Connext™ messaging software forms the core nervous system for smart, distributed applications. RTI Connext allows devices to intelligently share information and work together as one integrated system.

Our customers span the breadth of the Internet of Things, including medical, energy, mining, air traffic control, trading, automotive, unmanned systems, industrial SCADA, naval systems, air and missile defense, ground stations, and science. The total value of system designs that trust RTI for their fundamental architecture exceeds $1 trillion.

RTI is committed to open standards, open community source and open architecture. RTI provides the leading implementation of the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard.

RTI is the world's largest embedded middleware provider, privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

About the FACE Consortium

The Open Group Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium was formed in 2010 as a government and industry partnership to define an open avionics environment for all military airborne platform types. Today, it is an aviation-focused professional group made up of more than 70 industry suppliers, customers, academia, and users. The FACE Consortium provides a vendor-neutral forum for industry and government to work together to develop and consolidate the open standards, best practices, guidance documents and business strategy necessary for acquisition of affordable software systems that promote innovation and rapid integration of portable capabilities across global defense programs.