OPEN SYSTEMS INTEGRATION OF INTELLIGENT SUBSYSTEMS

A REQUIREMENT EXISTS TO INTEGRATE THE RESULTS OF A HIGH-LEVEL FUNCTIONAL EMULATION OF FINITE STATE MACHINES AND VARIOUS INTELLIGENT SUBSYSTEMS INTO MULTIPLE CO-OPERATING PHYSICAL SUBSYSTEMS THAT PRESERVE THE FUNCTION OF THE EMULATION, INTEGRATE STAND-ALONE COMPONENTS,AND PERFORM THE TASKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INTELLIGENT WEAPONS PLATFORM AUTOMATION (IWPA) PROGRAM OF ARDEC. IN THIS PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT OF A SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY FOR REDUCTION OF COMPONENT SUBSYSTEMSINTO CO-OPERATING SUBSYSTEMS OF AN INTELLIGENT OPEN SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE IS PROPOSED. THIS REDUCTION WILL PRESERVE THE FUNCTIONAL INTEGRITY, INPUT AND OUTPUT RELATIONSHIPS, TIMING, CONTROL LAWS, AND STATE TRANSITION DEFINITIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL SUBSYSTEMS AND RESULT IN A SPECIFICATION FOR THE INTERFACES AND HARDWARE COMPONENTS OF THE INTELLIGENT SYSTEM, THE STANDARDS FOR THE EMBEDDED SOFTWARE, AND THE MESSAGE-PASSING MECHANISMS REQUIRED TO INTERFACE THE COMPONENT SUBSYSTEMS INTO THE OVERALL SYSTEM. WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE IWPA PROJECT, THE CHOSEN ARCHITECTURE MUST SUPPORT THE EMULATED FINITE STATE MACHINES DEVELOPED UNDER THE HIERARCHICAL CONTROL EMULATION SOFTWARE AND REDUCED TO C CODE.