Published in Military Embedded Systems
Written by Jason DeChiaro
To lower the cost and help speed the pace of technology upgrades for C5ISR [command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] systems on Army vehicles – while supporting the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) mandate for modular open system architecture (MOSA) solutions – the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Ground Combat Systems (GCS) has issued an Interface Description Document (IDD) that describes the Standardized A-Kit/Vehicle Envelope (SAVE), a new physical SWAP and connector standard for fielding new C5ISR capabilities.
The Standardized A-Kit/Vehicle Envelope (SAVE), which stipulates the internal mounting and physical interfaces for connecting CMOSS [C5ISR Modular Open Suite of Standards] solutions such as radios, to platforms, is primarily intended for new integrations and systems. SAVE is only intended for modular systems that electrically or digitally integrate into Army platforms, and isn’t relevant to stowed equipment, vehicle elements such as engines or weapons, or external components such as antennas or armor.
Intended to speed and simplify the installation of C5ISR [command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] systems in Army vehicles, SAVE regularizes the size, shape, and physical interfaces (RF, data, power, etc.) for mounting those systems. SAVE joins the CMOSS standards – such as VICTORY, MORA, and OpenVPX – already called out by the GCS Common Infrastructure (GCIA) framework, but SAVE covers only the purely physical elements instead of how data flows between the systems integrated on a vehicle.
One of the key goals of SAVE is to lower the cost of deploying new C5ISR capabilities on combat vehicles. It accomplishes this by minimizing the time and effort of integrating SAVE-compliant systems into SAVE-compliant vehicles by ensuring that systems fit into the same size envelope, use the same mounting holes, and have the same connector types. The standard provides extra cable loops to support adaptation between systems without requiring new wiring.