SOSA and Open Standards for Military Embedded Computing

Published in Military & Aerospace Electronics
Written by Jamie Whitney

Embedded computing systems in forward-deployed vehicles that meet SOSA certification will enable easier replacement of components and even upgrades thanks to vendor-agnostic requirements.

The Open Group's Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) has become arguably the most influential embedded computing standard in the embedded computing industry as companies think about the boards and other components they are making for American warfighters.

Last fall, The Open Group -- an industry consortium in San Francisco dedicated to ensuring vendor-agnostic technology requirements set by the Department of Defense (DOD) are established -- rolled out the SOSA 1.0 standard. Now, the military-embedded technology sector is hard at work making SOSA goals a reality.

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) issued a directive to the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force dubbed the “Tri-Services Memo." The use of modular open standards is a “warfighting imperative” according to the DOD.

The high-level goals of SOSA include openness and being platform- and vendor-agnostic while being aligned with Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) using standardized software and hardware. The consortium aims to leverage existing and emerging open standards and align with DOD service objectives. Finally, SOSA aims to keep technology affordable and adaptable.

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