RTI Announces First Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Connectivity Software for Military Avionics Systems Based on FACE 2.1 Standard

RTI Technology Will Enable More Cost-Effective Software Development and Integration

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—May 27, 2015—Real-Time Innovations (RTI), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity platform company, today announced the availability of its Transport Services Segment (TSS) software based on the new Technical Standard for Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE™), Edition 2.1 (an Open Group standard). This is the first commercially available and supported TSS 2.1 reference implementation. It allows avionics software developers and platform integrators to rapidly assemble best-of-breed technologies with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components that have proven safety certification credentials. These systems will reduce integration and airworthiness certification risk while facilitating reuse across both manned and unmanned systems. For example, a surveillance system built for a Navy aircraft can be used in another vehicle without requiring a rebuild from the bottom up.

"RTI's COTS Transport Services Segment software expands the range of commercial solutions for global military customers," states Chip Downing, Senior Director of Aerospace and Defense at Wind River and Chair of the FACE Business Working Group Outreach Committee. "The FACE industry partners are rapidly developing a rich ecosystem of FACE aligned components, enabling government customers a wide range of powerful and proven COTS components that can quickly deploy advanced solutions into next generation aircraft."

RTI's TSS technology is built on the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard developed by the Object Management Group (OMG). This includes RTI Connext DDS Cert, which is certifiable to DO-178C Design Assurance Level (DAL) A and is ideal for resource-constrained applications. Additional benefits of RTI TSS include flexible communication due to the publish/subscribe paradigm, physical transport independence and real-time Quality of Service (QoS). The RTI TSS is also interoperable with non-FACE DDS applications, such as those that comply with the UAS Control Segment (UCS) architecture.

"We announced our FACE TSS two years ago and have since worked with several military organizations to enable interoperable and reusable avionics systems," said David Barnett, VP of Product and Markets at RTI. "This new FACE TSS 2.1 reference implementation will drive the power of DDS into next generation systems using an open, flexible and robust COTS communications foundation."

The objective of the FACE Consortium, a consortium of The Open Group, is to create an open architecture and business strategy that will result in the development and procurement of portable and interoperable technology products and components, which will cut costs and reduce maintenance requirements in avionics systems. The FACE Technical Standard leverages more than100 proven-in-service Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) including POSIX, ARINC 653, OpenGL and DDS. It couples these components with business models that encourage rapid innovation. These technical standards are driving a new era of COTS avionics solutions in both military and commercial markets.

The FACE TSS encompasses those APIs used for exchanging data between software components, for example, between a radar and display application. To ease integration, the FACE standard also specifies that exchanged data must conform to a well-defined data model with unambiguous semantics. The RTI TSS includes a compiler that generates C++ data types and the TSS API from a FACE data model, simplifying both development and integration.

Pricing and Availability 

The RTI FACE 2.1 TSS is free of charge to RTI Connext DDS users. It is distributed as portable source code; customers have the ability to modify the software to meet their own system requirements. For additional support and enhancements, RTI offers a FACE TSS Support Package for $26,000* (USD pricing in U.S. and Canada).

*All pricing is subject to change. Please contact RTI Sales for the most current pricing information. 

About RTI

RTI provides the connectivity platform for the Industrial Internet of Things.

Our RTI Connext^® messaging software forms the core nervous system for smart, distributed applications. RTI Connext DDS allows devices to intelligently share information and work together as one integrated system. RTI was named "The Most influential Industrial Internet of Things Company" in 2014 by Appinions and published in Forbes.

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.