Open Architectures and Standards for Agile Space

Douglas Harris

Aerospace is helping to establish open standards for space, which can contribute to a more robust and rapid response to urgent warfighter needs.

Imagine having only a few months to transform a fully operational unmanned aerial vehicle from its passive reconnaissance mission to a lethal weapon system ready for immediate deployment to theater. The task of successfully completing all of the phases from requirements definition to full operations in such a short timeframe would seem daunting, if not impossible. But such was the case with the Predator vehicle, which was equipped with Hellfire missile capabilities for immediate deployment to Afghanistan in 2001. This is an example of how development teams—in just over 30 days—were able to rehost critical target-tracking software from the line-of-sight, antitank weapon system to the Predator's computing environment.

A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle was augmented with Hellfire missile capabilities in about 30 days for rapid deployment to Afghanistan. Critical target tracking software was easily rehosted from the line-of-sight antitank computing environment to the Predator's because it was built upon the Army's open weapon system.

Much of the credit for this success goes to the Army's open Weapon System Common Operating Environment and its application programming interface. This operating environment isolates unique software functions from the equally unique underlying operating systems and hardware. It specifies common services for managing the 1553 serial data bus and handling digital video on the Predator system. As an open and standard interface, it eliminates the need for unique integration with each new application. In the case of the Hellfire missile, it not only facilitated rapid integration and fielding on the Predator, but it did so with as much as a 75 percent reduction in software development costs while allowing seamless integration into an existing theater of operation. That is the value of open architectures and standards: they foster rapid innovation at much reduced cost and risk.

A recent Defense Science Board report on open systems cites the major challenges of growing operational demands, shrinking budgets, and rapidly changing technology as reasons for pursuing more open and agile architectures. The report states that "DOD can neither equip, train, support, nor fight in this new world without major advances in plug-and-fight capabilities…we find no viable or practical alternative for delivering warfighter capabilities better, faster, and cheaper."

The typical lead time for new systems within DOD and national security agencies does not accommodate the dynamic operational needs of users, nor can it exploit the benefits of a rapidly advancing technology base. The importance of maintaining global superiority within growing operational demands and shrinking budgets requires a more agile process for responding with the most technologically up-to-date and cost-effective solutions.

Studies and experience demonstrate that open architectures, system modularity, and common industry-supported standards will enable rapid assembly, integration, and deployment of space systems at lower cost. They can also contribute to a more robust and responsive industry base necessary for achieving responsive space objectives.

One of the best examples of an industry collaborating to create an open architecture and standards is the World Wide Web Consortium, the international organization that develops standards governing the Web. Amazingly, as expansive and powerful as the World Wide Web is today, it is built upon a relatively small number of open standards and protocols. The result is an open and standardized domain that is easily exploited for the innovation of competitive products and services across a multitude of markets. Another example is the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 50 technology and mobile communications companies that collaborated to develop a common software platform for hosting mobile applications. The alliance credits increased openness with enabling people to innovate more rapidly and respond better to consumer demands. The use of common, consensus-based services has allowed member companies to focus their resources on other efforts, such as producing the next great application.

Adopting a collaborative approach toward open architectures and standards for space presents an opportunity for the military services, national agencies, and space industry to pursue innovations in technology and practice that not only yield a greater return on investment, but are more responsive to the warfighter.

Grouping missions by bus and payload technology helps identify commonality. Maximizing commonality supports reuse of common core components into common core configurations, which minimizes the reconfiguration required in responding to a mission need. This, in turn, contributes to an agile space environment.

Operationally Responsive Space

The Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office, located at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was established in May 2007 with the mission of developing the end state architectural blueprint and supporting technology roadmaps that will enable space system developers to field capabilities that can rapidly respond to joint force commander (JFC) needs. Aerospace is supporting the ORS Office in its charter of demonstrating operationally responsive access to space by 2010 with full mission capability by 2015. Full mission capability includes delivering a broad range of "good enough to win" space capabilities to any JFC worldwide—faster and cheaper than what it takes to field "exquisite" capabilities today. The ORS Office is charged with conducting operational prototype missions that not only address real-time JFC needs, but mature and validate the blueprint and enabling technologies that will constitute an operational architecture. Once demonstrated, the ORS Office will transition the validated architecture, enablers, and supporting concept of operations, tactics, techniques, and procedures to the military services and/or other national security and space agencies for full-scale acquisition, operations, and lifecycle support.

The ORS Office envisions a future capability for responsive space that models a U-2 Wing, whereby specific operational needs are addressed by mating the appropriate mission kit with a common platform. Aerospace is supporting the ORS Office in defining this space-based version of a U-2 Wing that can respond to urgent tactical needs by mounting "payload mission kits" to a modular and reconfigurable multimission spacecraft bus for rapid launch and immediate operations.

Modular and Open Systems Approach (MOSA) for ORS

The ORS Office has adopted the Modular and Open Systems Approach (MOSA) in pursuing the open architecture and standards necessary to achieving its goals. MOSA represents the most promising approach to achieving the agile end-to-end space architecture that can rapidly and efficiently respond to JFC's urgent needs.

MOSA is an integrated business and technical strategy based on five primary principles for developing new systems or modernizing existing ones. These include establishing an environment conducive to open system implementation, employing modular design tenets, defining key interfaces where appropriate, applying widely supported consensus-based (open) standards that are published and maintained by a recognized industry standards organization, and using certified conforming products.

The modular and open systems approach calls for systems engineering processes that employ modular design tenets and identify key interfaces where open standards should be applied. Defining "key interfaces" and "open standards" is a top-down process focused on maximizing the business, operations, or space industry benefits.

The ORS Office strategy for MOSA relies heavily upon an extended responsive space enterprise consisting of military services, national space agencies, early adopter development teams, and the overall space industry. Aerospace is assembling the tools for a networked community of practice to both inform and engage the responsive space enterprise in ORS Office business decision and systems engineering processes. This enterprise is a principle driver in defining the appropriate levels of modularity, identifying key interfaces, and recommending preferred open standards that support each "business case" for ORS. ORS will not succeed by creating an isolated market. The success of achieving responsive space depends on merging ORS needs with the wider commercial market, where both can realize the economies of scale and benefits of open space architecture.

Defining modularity and identifying the key interfaces is a top-down process focused on maximizing the business, operations, or "industrial" benefits. The market business case, intellectual property, commonality of components across missions, industrial process efficiencies, logistics, component reuse, criticality of function, volatility of technology, and external interoperability are just some of the drivers that will help identify the key interfaces. For example, the ORS Office is currently looking into key interfaces that define the use of common optical telescopes or antenna reflectors with interchangeable back-end electronics for meeting multiple missions. Common components permit common processes that reduce the assembly, integration, and testing timeline, and also reduce personnel and equipment overheads, with increased process efficiencies over time.

The ORS Office strategy for MOSA also supports international engagement objectives that are focused on revitalizing the U.S. space industry and strengthening alliances. MOSA-developed architectures and standards have the potential to revitalize the U.S. space industry by fostering more effective international partnerships and leveraging existing relationships for the use of best available technologies. It enables crossover of systems or components to commercial and international export markets, permitting economies of scale that are typically seen only in commodity production markets. An analogy is the sale of U.S. F-16 and F-35 aircraft and associated components to allied nations. Systems produced for export at lower cost with basic capabilities can expand international markets, creating a broader and more robust inventory of systems and components for responding to allied operational needs.

ORS MOSA and Standards Implementation

At the heart of the 2015 blueprint for ORS is the Rapid Response Space Works (RRSW), which will respond to JFC needs by rapidly assembling, integrating, and testing the appropriate mission spacecraft from within hours to days. Aerospace is supporting the ORS Office in developing a prototype RRSW called "Chile Works" at Kirtland Air Force Base. The application of MOSA guides the development of spacecraft architectures to an optimal level of modularity that enables the RRSW to rapidly respond to operational needs without maintaining a large, expensive inventory of hardware and personnel. Moreover, MOSA drives the open interfaces that permit fast and economical insertion of fresh technology and innovation. Finally, MOSA serves to integrate RRSW operations with the other components of the end-to-end mission architecture, such as space vehicle transport, launch and range, command and control, tasking, and data dissemination.

This diagram illustrates a flow of common components for multiple missions that consolidates processes based on physics (i.e., radio frequency, optical, and bus). Common processes reduce personnel and equipment overheads and enable increased efficiency for a more rapid response over time.

Aerospace is working with the ORS Office, the space industry, and other defense and national agencies in identifying open standards for potential key interfaces. The standards strategy of "adopt, adapt, and as a last resort develop" has led the ORS Office to leverage heavily upon existing standards work within the command and control, tasking, processing, exploitation, and dissemination (C2/TPED) and launch communities. A major area of standards work for the ORS Office is defining the spacecraft architecture and standards that enable responsive operations. The vision of building a space-based U-2 Wing calls for developing a common mission platform (a multimission bus) that can rapidly integrate and launch on the Minotaur 1, Minotaur 4, or Falcon 1E launch vehicles into either LEO or HEO orbits. A modular multimission bus architecture must be defined to support responsive operations through its ability to rapidly reconfigure (to the extent necessary) for the full range of ORS payload "mission kits" and orbits. A multimission bus that maximizes reuse of common core components in common configurations is a multiplier for RRSW operations as it maximizes the reuse of assembly, integration, and test equipment and procedures, thus reducing timelines, inventories, personnel, maintenance, and training.

The ORS Office has adopted two major bodies of work as input to its standards activities. The first is a body of standards developed by the Integrated Systems Engineering Team (ISET); commissioned by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of Force Transformation in 2005 to produce an optimized set of performance requirements and standards for meeting potential ORS missions. The second is the Space Plug and Play Avionics (SPA) standards developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The ISET standards specified a generic one-bus-fits-all description in addressing the maximum number of ORS missions. Meeting the full range of ORS missions, however, requires adjusting the ISET standards to a modular and reconfigurable multimission bus. The SPA architecture and standards enable this additional level of modularity for responsive operations by addressing the full spectrum of ORS missions. As a result, the ORS Office is working to incorporate and demonstrate the SPA standards within the existing ISET definition to produce a validated ORS multimission bus architecture.

The SPA architecture with its Satellite Data Model manages the self-discovery of SPA-enabled hardware and software components, much like the way personal computers recognize and configure USB components and peripherals. Self-discovery provides a means to rapidly assemble or reconfigure satellite systems. Each SPA- enabled component is described by an XML-expressed data sheet, called the "extensible Transducer Electronic Data Sheet" (xTEDS). The TEDS standard was originally created by the IEEE 1451 standards group as a means of storing device descriptions within each individual device. The xTEDS uses both XML and TEDS standards to provide a structured way to describe the features, actions, and services (data, commands, interfaces, and requirements) of each SPA-enabled component. The SPA architecture employs an IP-based protocol to route messages point-to-point between SPA-compliant components using the widely accepted SpaceWire transport standard. It will also register components (both hardware and software) along with their capabilities within a common database so that any spacecraft component or external system can query that repository for specific characteristics and then subscribe to that component's capability or service. A similar model is under development by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) called the Spacecraft On-board Interface Services. NASA and international space agencies are currently looking into this approach, and the ORS Office plans to collaborate with both NASA and CCSDS to achieve a standard consensus-based approach for future interoperability.

The Operationally Responsive Space Office is working to deliver an end-state operational capability that can respond to joint force commander needs in minutes (Tier 1), days (Tier 2), or within a year (Tier 3). A modular and open systems approach (MOSA) represents the most effective means to evolve and maintain a responsive space capability that can rapidly deploy space capabilities with seamless integration into existing theater operational architectures.

SPA interface standards also enable the adoption of a modular panel architecture that employs quick panel-to-panel electrical/mechanical interconnects. This allows rapid assembly of a variety of structural configurations suitable for responding to the expected range of ORS missions using a smaller set of standard panels as "building blocks." SPA standardizes the mechanical mounting of components to the bus structure. Standardized connection nodes are freely locatable on panels and can provide power service or SPA device ports for connecting SPA-compliant components with SPA-specified harnessing.

An underlying requirement to optimize performance for a reconfigurable multimission bus is a Mission Design Tool (MDT). An MDT will provide mission design and systems engineering for defining new mission configurations for rapid assembly from common building blocks (panels, components, and software modules). The MDT will maximize the efficiency of the multimission bus with its hosted payload in terms of on-orbit dynamics, mass properties, and thermal management. Although specific mission performance can be optimized through limited modularization of the payload, power storage/collection, attitude control, software, telecom, and propulsion subsystems, the inclusion of the SPA plug-and-play interfaces and architecture enables modularity to the piece part level for nearly complete system reconfigurability.

The ORS Office strategy for selection of standards is to "adopt, adapt, and as a last resort develop." This diagram illustrates the priority by which the ORS Office adopts or adapts standards.

In the near term, ORS spacecraft architectures must support the integration of both SPA and legacy components. For legacy interfaces, the self-discovery function supporting the rapid integration process requires the inclusion of a SPA standard adapter called the Appliqué Sensor Interface Module. This module provides the specific hardware and software to adapt the legacy device interface for the SPA protocol, and can eventually be removed from the spacecraft as future component developers adopt the SPA or equivalent standard into their developments.

The ORS Office has concluded that adapting the ISET and SPA standards into the spacecraft architecture and RRSW operation along with adopting the standards currently used by the C2/TPED and launch communities represents the most effective means for the ORS Office to operate like a U-2 Wing while supporting fast and seamless integration into existing theater operational architectures.

Summary

An agile space environment represents the most viable strategy for responding to the broad post–Cold War spectrum of risk within a rapidly changing technology-driven world. Increased operations tempo and diminishing budgets are driving the national security space community to pursue more flexible and economical means of responding to global threats. Open architectures and standards clearly enable more flexible and timely responses to warfighter needs with their ability to more rapidly incorporate the latest technological advances while reducing development and operational costs.

The ORS Office conducted several demonstrations using the Space Plug-and-Play Avionics (SPA) standard-enabled spacecraft developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. These demonstrations helped define an early baseline of processes, metrics, and lessons learned for defining the prototype Rapid Response Space Works called "Chile Works." Technicians were able to assemble a fully functional plug-and-play bus (shown) from its component piece parts in less than four hours.

Achieving open architectures and standards for space is not without challenges. The low market volume that characterizes the existing environment for space systems makes it unpalatable for the space industry to invest in significant, nonrecurring expenses and adopt modular and open architectures without expecting a sufficient return on investment. Getting the space industry on board with these standards requires commitment from the broader government community. On the other hand, government commitment requires adequate demonstration of these new architectures and standards to instill confidence, establish flight heritage, and address mission assurance. Rapidly demonstrating new architectures and standards for exquisite systems that require higher mission assurance is just not possible within current acquisition budgets and timelines. The ORS Office may be able to provide a solution to this "chicken and egg" problem. It offers the broader space community an economical and low-risk proving ground to quickly gain flight heritage for new open architectures and standards that can equally enable the objectives of "good enough" or "exquisite" space capabilities.

Although driven to deliver assured space power that is focused on timely satisfaction of JFC needs, the ORS Office also offers an opportunity for collaboration across the greater space community that is focused on mutually beneficial architectures and standards that support overall rapid response, innovation, and reduced costs.