Plug and Play for Combat Electronics

There is a demand for systems (and networks) to automate the detection of new device and service connections while foreseeing failures and limiting human intervention. Today Plug-and-Play architectures require a uniform electrical interface (PCI, USB, or Firewire) or a homogeneous network domain (IP or other proprietary interfaces). The Navy's combat electronic circuit boards are interconnected by multiple distinct electrical interfaces from different vendors using different, sometimes proprietary, standards. As a result, today's Plug and Play architectures are not suitable for the Navy's combat systems. The objective of this project is to develop and demonstrate a Plug-and-Play architecture that works across the Navy's disparate electrical interfaces and in so doing reduce life-cycle costs through effortless and expeditious support and maintenance of systems through performance monitoring and failure tracking.