Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Transport Protocol Mediation and Integration

Significance: As technological complexity increases, so too does the cost of integrating new systems. Each innovation yields geometrically more interfaces with which to integrate. Unless we develop a better approach, it will eventually become cost prohibitive to integrate additional technologies. Since integration occurs at the edges, it is necessary to obviate the differences found there with effective data mediation and protocol bridging. Data mediation ensures that interfaces are consistent in their data representation (e.g. measurement units) and the semantics (i.e. they have the same meaning). Although essential, data mediation is not a complete solution. Building on previous work, this project will tackle the integration challenges with systems leveraging disparate protocols. Hypothesis: Protocols can be bridged allowing systems with different protocols to connect without the need for manually created, point-to-point adapters. Preliminary Data: Our team completed some work on protocol bridging for the UCS Working Group which was demonstrated to enable semi-automated connectivity of disparate protocols. Specific Aims: (1) Develop a Configurable Transport Service Segment design. (2) Develop approaches for merging disparate models. (3) Develop how to characterize protocols in a data model. (4) Develop sample mappings of characterized protocol data. (5) Provide feedback to further development of existing standards.