Technology Infusion Methodology for COTS-based Systems

The objective of this proposed effort is to research innovative methods for facilitating COTS technology infusion into embedded computer systems with a focus on affordability and ease of transition. Many of today's systems have become dead-ended due to architecture and hardware evolutions. As the technology curve has steepened, system components become dated in an ever-decreasing period of time. End-of-life issues are generally solved by wholesale replacement. However, if discipline is applied in design, the anticipated, future migration effort for even differing architecture systems can be significantly minimized. The intent of this effort is to provide infusion assessment and management tools, strategies, and methodologies for creating resilient system designs. Although recent reform has enabled COTS deployment within defense systems, the approach to developing these systems relies on "Specialized" high end components to meet requirements. This stategy, albeit significantly more cost effective than full military development, has some significant disadvantages due to the relatively small user base. However, as the demand for desktop processing and throughput continues to pace technology growth, a convergence of capability is likely to be realized in the near future. A strategy to capitalize on this convergence will allow governement programs to fully benefit from "True COTS" by leveraging a vast user base orders of magnitude greater than today's specialized COTS market. The concepts developed under this research will assist in realizing a vision of ageless system designs.