It’s been nearly three years since ratification of the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard 1.0 and its impact is being felt across the services as requests for SOSA aligned products are finding their way into program requirements. SOSA, an example of the modular open systems approach (MOSA) mandated by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), is also changing the way government leverages commercial technology and existing open standards like VPX. To learn more, I gathered a roundtable of SOSA Consortium members to discuss SOSA’s impact on the community, business practices, common misconceptions, and the future of what SOSA may look like five or 10 years down the road.
Open architecture approaches like the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard are changing the way defense electronics designers build tomorrow’s military platforms. SOSA’s impact is felt within the electronic warfare (EW) community as requirements for the products based on the standard become more prevalent riding the modular open systems approach (MOSA) wave within the DoD.
Naval warfare demands seamless, real-time data sharing across multiple platforms, from aircraft to surface ships to submarines. As conflicts become increasingly complex and fast-paced, the key to winning lies in the ability to communicate critical data in real time.
Cockpits featuring multifunction avionics, large touch screen displays, advanced communication systems, high performance/low consumption solutions, and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities will be part of the future daily life of military pilots.