Logistics Advancement Through Open Architecture Application - Flipbook - Page 6
2: Development
Figure 3: Personnel from the Ocean Terminals team at Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center
Pearl Harbor work with U.S. Marine Corps, U.S Army, and civilian mission partners to load and secure nearly 400 pieces
of equipment and containers. (U.S. Navy photo)
Ef昀椀cient integration, test and delivery is critical on many fronts. Not only does it reduce program costs, freeing up budget for additional capability, it enables faster delivery of more 昀氀exible systems to the war昀椀ghter.
The application of OA throughout a program lifecycle provides an engineering environment where system component interfaces
can be standardized and modeled. Data semantics captured in a formal data model mitigate ambiguity; standards for software and
hardware enable behavioral and connectivity requirements to be modeled and tested; conformance tools aid acceptance testing of
delivered components, ensuring standard adherence of the implementation; and throughout the process, Model Based Systems
Engineering (MBSE) enables a rigorous approach to document the design, generate product speci昀椀cations, and enable early
validation activities where many potential issues can be mitigated before system integration occurs. MBSE is a critical enabler to
capturing and managing all the system perspectives required in a comprehensive OA approach.
As a result of the rigor applied in the design, a program can more easily source existing products that have been standardized and
developed. The program can also have more control over the speci昀椀cation of product requirements to suppliers, and more freedom to engage alternative suppliers. The standardization of product speci昀椀cation enables a wider supplier base to be engaged, as
the standards applied are readily available to the appropriate community – in fact many of them are publicly available. This levels
the 昀椀eld as ‘inside knowledge’ of bespoke interfaces is no longer a barrier to competition.
As a result of a more stringent front-loaded consideration toward the design, the integration, con昀椀guration and delivery of the
systems is more ef昀椀cient. This enables a greater ability to address emergent requirements during system development, a greater
ability to re-con昀椀gure systems in service and a reduced overhead associated with in-service upgrades.
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