The Cots revolution. (Complete Guide).

While the general market for defence products is shrinking, one area faces a market growth in double digits. Even before 11 September 2001, the market for embedded commercial off-the-shelf (Cots) technology was growing at more than ten per cent per year. Some observers expect this rate to increase, and even to double.

In the mid-1990s, Britain's Royal Navy needed a small laser printer for use in nuclear submarines, at the same time the author of this article needed a small laser printer for office use. Both requirements were met by the purchase of the Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 6P. The office printer sits on a small trolley close to the desk, but in RN service the unit was securely mounted in a metal frame that prevented it from suffering the angle and dangle effects of submarine manoeuvres, vibration or shock.

On 29 June 1994, US Defense Secretary William J Perry issued a memorandum `Specifications & Standards--A New Way of Doing Business'. This restated his belief that greater use of performance and commercial specifications and standards was the most important action that the Department of Defense should take in future procurement.

"Performance specifications shall be used when purchasing new systems, major modifications, upgrades to current systems and non-developmental and commercial items for programs in any acquisition category. If it is not practicable to use a performance specification, a non-government standard shall be used."

In cases where there was no acceptable non-governmental standard or were the use of a performance specification or non-government standard would not be cost effective, "the use of military specifications and standards is authorized as a last resort, with an appropriate waiver".

Although Perry's action is widely credited as the birth of the Cots, in practice the acronym and the concept have a longer history. The acronym was devised in 1972 by Bob Costello, then the US Deputy Director of Defense, at an early stage of the US initiative to decrease costs and shorten development cycles for military and weapons systems.

As the speed with which new generations of electronics hardware was being developed continued to rise, manufacturers of military hardware also faced the problem that by the time development of a weapon system had been completed, many of its sub-systems or components would be at best obsolete, and probably no longer in production. By the time that the US Navy fielded the Aegis weapon system in 1978, over half of the hardware used was no longer available.

A 2001 report by the US Army Aviation and Missile Command noted that, as a result of rising costs and shrinking budgets, the Department of Defense was buying fewer and fewer systems, and that defence procurement now accounted for only about 0.3 per cent of the microelectronics market. "Many electronics manufacturers have decided it is no longer worth the cost to chase such a small market, and they are unwilling to adapt their product lines to meet rigorous military specifications", the report warned.

By the 1980s, commercial off-the-shelf hardware was finding a military role. Two examples will serve to illustrate this trend.

By the time of Perry's 1994 initiative, a move was already underway in Europe to use commercial hardware in place of expensive military-specification components in instances where the anticipated operating environment would allow this. In many cases, navies were the first to exploit Cots, having realised that the environment inside a ship's control room is not dissimilar to those in laboratories or industrial plants.

For more than a decade, defence contractors have been `slimming down' their operations, a process which started in the commercial world during the 1980s. This had a dramatic effect on communities that depended on the defence industry for employment. In one British town where a single defence contractor had employed ten per cent of the population, the sight of boarded-up shops in the early 1990s dramatically displayed the effects of 1980s downsizing. As defence contractors focused their energies on their core activities, laying off thousands of specialized engineers, Cots products were able to replace the proprietary systems which had traditionally been developed in-house.

Under the classic Mil-Spec procurement method, the government financed the development of a product and specified that the result be rugged enough for military use. The government effectively owned and controlled the design, but paid a high penalty in time and money.

Foot of the Letter?

The `off-the-shelf' part of the acronym Cots should not be taken too literally. In practice, it is more likely to mean that the components and sub-assemblies used are not unique to military applications. Browse through the catalogues if most Cots vendors, and you'll find that the hardware is available in both commercial and ruggedised versions.

Designs that use Cots products must take into consideration the harsh environments in which these commercial devices may be used. Many Cots suppliers offer hardware built to meet greater levels of heat, cold or vibration. Such ruggedised hardware may use commercial parts that are able to withstand extremes of heat, cold and humidity, or can be qualified to do so.

Careful mechanical design of racks and chassis can help electronic subassemblies cope with shock and vibration requirements, while mechanical stiffening schemes provide increased vibration and shock tolerance. Designers need to make sure that the frequency of any mechanical resonance of a circuit board or component is not close to that of its housing.

Many Cots applications require operation at temperatures beyond the 0[degrees] to 70[degrees]C range. In response, vendors offer components or products that operate over the full industrial temperature range of -40[degrees] to +85degrees]C, basing their designs on components that have been certified for extended-temperature operation, or they supply commercial-grade components screened to select those with the best performance over extended temperature ranges.

Screening and grading of components may allow parts to be used reliably at temperatures outside of their originally intended environment. While components can often be operated outside of the temperature range specified by the manufacturer, their operation under such conditions is not covered by the warranty. Indeed, some manufacturers have warned against the practice.

In 1997, Texas Instruments released a statement saying that the company "is aware that a number of customers and test service providers are attempting to increase the operating temperature range of semiconductor components by various `up-screening', `up-rating' or `retesting' procedures. Although well intentioned, this practice poses serious risks on all but the simplest components."

Noting that many of its components were available in ceramic and in industrial, military and commercial grade plastic-encapsulated forms, it warned "Plastic encapsulated TI semiconductor devices are not designed and are not warranted to be suitable for use in some military applications and/or military environments".

Temps & Vibes

There are two basic levels of ruggedisation: that where Cots products face an extended temperature range (for example, -20[degrees]C to 65[degrees]C), and where they are subject to significant levels of vibration.

In more extreme environments, such as on fighter aircraft, where temperatures and vibration levels are more demanding, additional stiffening may be needed, and some form of cooling incorporated. Conduction cooling can cope with temperatures of -40[degrees] to 85[degrees]C.

Inevitably, some very harsh environments will remain, with systems being required to cope with very high levels of shock, vibration or even radiation, and where temperatures can range from -62[degrees] to 125[degrees]C. Here, the solution is likely to be traditional Mil-Spec hardware.

Different approaches can be taken to ruggedisation. Some companies, such as DY4 and Radstone, develop products designed for use in extremely harsh environments, while others such as SKY Computers rely on industrial partners to develop ruggedised versions of their equipment.

By the late 1990s, a trend was emerging in which a Cots solution was customised or repackaged, to fit the specific application. The Cots vendor could be paid to repackage the product, or the technology could be licensed, allowing in-house manufacture of the customised version.

Enter Mots

The term `Modified-Off-The-Shelf' (Mots) is used by the Department of Defense to refer to Cots items that must be slightly tailored to meet the needs of the military application. Often unique to a specific programme, these are allocated a different part number to the original Cots item and must have been tested to verify their functionality.

The term Cots is sometimes informally used to mean `non-developmental'. Often referred to in terms such as `olive drab commercial', such products are militarised or semi-militarised designs created by a company at its own expense for sale to national or foreign governments.

A key essential for the widespread acceptance of Cots equipment was the existence of widely accepted commercial standards for interfaces and overall architectures. In the commercial world, these standards have played an essential role in the rapid development and deployment of digital systems--when the IT technician opens your PC to install new hardware, it is almost a matter of `plug-and-play'.

Door is Open

These standards allow the creation of open system interfaces and architecture of which are public domain rather than company-proprietary. Open standards can be freely used by hardware manufacturers, and encourage competition between software and hardware vendors. This competition spurs the development of new products, and the availability of rival products conforming to the same standards makes it relatively easy for users to switch from one vendor to another.

One early example of a commercial standard that was adopted for military purposes was the VMEbus, which was originally developed by a consortium of European companies for use in areas such as industrial control applications. Today it is a worldwide open bus standard and used in hardware intended for laboratory use, or for the demanding environments of combat aircraft and main battle tanks.

Many European prime contractors selected VME-bus for their defence programmes long before the publication of the IEEE 1101.2 standard for conduction-cooled VMEbus hardware. Although these early military applications were non-standard in physical terms, their use of VMEbus has made today's upgrades a relatively easy task.

Duncan Young, director of marketing at DY 4 Systems, sees the Panavia Tornado as a good example of this. While it would not be cost-effective to redesign the physical shape, size and weight of individual avionics subsystems to accommodate standard Cots products, the aircraft's use of early versions of VMEbus was a real advantage during its mid-life upgrade, he mentions.

"The Stores Management System (SMS) is just one of those legacy VMEbus systems that has recently been upgraded with the latest in PowerPC technology to handle new weapons systems", says Young. "This was achieved by re-engineering a standard Cots VMEbus PowerPC product to fit into the existing subsystem to provide a huge performance boost at minimal cost. This upgrade has not only improved the performance of the overall system, but the infusion of new technology has increased the availability of new spare parts to enhance the future maintainability of the SMS in the face of real component obsolescence problems."

Another standard being adopted by vendors is PC/104. Initially released in 1992. The first PC/104 modules used the then-popular ISA bus (a PC standard of interface and expansion cards) within a compact form factor (9.14 x 9.65 cm) suitable for embedded applications. Today's PCs use the faster PCI bus, so in 1997 the PC/104 Consortium created the PC/104-Plus standard to exploit this bus architecture. As the ISA bus reached the end of its usefulness, the PCI-104 standard specified a PCI-only version of the module design.

Within a desktop PC, ISA and PCI devices use card edge connectors, but PC/104 modules use pin and socket connectors better able to cope with shock and vibration. The circuit boards within the modules are smaller than those used in PCs, so have a higher resonant frequency, which makes them less liable to damage from low-frequency vibration.

The Improved Operator Control Panel (IOCP) computer used in the US Navy's EA-6B Prowler is based on parvus Cots PC/104 computer boards, yet meets MIL-STD-810 environmental and vibration standards and is fully EMU emission shielded. The individual circuit boards are fitted with silicone shock isolators and mounted in a card cage. Tests of the IOCP by what was then Lockheed Sanders (now BAE Systems) successfully subjected the boards to vibrations between 20 and 2000Hz.

Lessons Learned

On 6 August 2001, Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems Sector and the US Air Force's Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, delivered the first Block 20 E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint Stars) production aircraft to the 93rd Air Control Wing at Robins AFB, Georgia. The 11th production aircraft, and seventh consecutive E-8C delivered early, the newly delivered aircraft was the first whose entire computing infrastructure is based on Cots technology. All existing Block 10 aircraft are being upgraded to the Block 20 standard under a programme that started in late 2001.

The computer replacement programme has reduced the number of on board main computers from five to two while increasing processing power and speed. "It is also important to note that it's all based on an open architecture that allows new capabilities to be added much more quickly and easily," says Capt. Brad Turpen, deputy of the programme office's Operations and Control Team.

Each Block 20 aircraft uses 20 AlphaServer ES40CV systems from Compaq, running the OpenVMS operating system. Eighteen of those systems will function as workstations, one as a central computer and one as a central backup.

To test the analogue, digital and RF Shop Replaceable Units (SRU) of the Radar, Operations and Control and Communications Subsystems of the E-8C Joint Stars aircraft, DME developed the Joint Stars Semi-Automated Test System (Jsats). This is a VXI-based test system using Cots hardware driven by a Pentium Pro-based PC running National Instruments LabVIEW software. The PC contains a VXI-MXI-2 interface and controls the Jsats multiple VXI chassis and rack mounted GPIB instruments. JSATS uses a Teradyne M910 Digital Test Instrument (DTI) and Lasar post-processor to test the aircraft's digital SRUs

Cots hardware and software are being used in the modernisation of the Nato fleet of 17 Boeing E-3C Sentry airborne early warning aircraft. The first E-3 to be upgraded was flown from Nato's main operating base at Geilenkirchen, in Germany, to the Boeing facility in Wichita, Kansas, in late 1999.

The mission software was rewritten in the Ada computer programming language using a commercial `object-oriented' development approach. In place of the traditional central computing dynamic used when the aircraft was originally designed, the modernisation includes a distributed infrastructure which uses software imbedded in most of the aircraft's major LRUs. An open architecture was adopted to reduce the cost of development and of in-service maintenance and support.

Since first entering service in 1978, the US Air Force's E-3 fleet has undergone nearly continuous modification. The latest Block 40/45 upgrade draws on the experience gained by the Nato scheme, and will replace the current mission computer with several Unix-based Cots computers, while the existing operator workstations are being replaced by a network of Cots versions. This configuration will be connected by a Gigabit Ethernet Lan and will add digital communications both for control of the radios and for internal communications.

All software will be rewritten according to current standard business practices. This upgrade will enable the Air Force to incorporate several necessary improvements to Awacs functionality including multi-source integration, increased electronic support measures system memory, integration Of the Intelligence Broadcast System and datalink infrastructure. Improvements will comprise new tracking algorithms, software control of the communications subsystem and improved human-machine interfaces and datalink latency.

When the original specification for E-3 avionics was drawn up, this specified that all electronics should cope with an operating range of -55[degrees]C to +85[degrees]C. In practice, the aircraft (a custom-designed version of the Boeing 707 airliner) provides a more benign environment, so the specification was relaxed to demand a range of only 0[degrees]C to +50[degrees]C, temperatures which most Cots electronics can accept.

The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is fitted with a lidar (light detection and ranging radar) system used to detect contrail formation during high altitude flight. Given warning that the aircraft is contrailing, the crew can change altitude until the contrail is eliminated. Known as based unit Pilot Alert System, this uses a Cots VME-based subsystem provided by DY 4 to analyse the signals from the lidar sensor.

Earlier this year, the US Air Force began flight-testing a new version of the Northrop Grumman APG-68 radar for the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D aircraft. The new APG-68(V)9 variant uses Cots hardware and software to provide improved air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities, and the results of early flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, showed that the radar was meeting or exceeding all of its performance specifications.

Changes to this new version are considered more significant than all previous upgrades combined, both in terms of magnitude and capability, says Lockheed Martin. There are significant improvements in detection range, resolution, growth potential and supportability, while the use of advanced processing techniques improves the radar's ability to operate in dense electromagnetic environments and resist jamming.

Compared with the current APG68(V)7/8 production versions, the new radar offers:

* 30 per cent increase in detection range

* Improvements in false-alarm rate and mutual interference

* Four versus two tracked targets in the situation awareness mode (a search-while-track mode)

* Larger search volume and improved track performance in track-while-scan mode

* Improved track performance in single target track mode.

* Two-foot resolution in a new synthetic aperture radar mode

* Increased detection range in sea surveillance mode

* Improved target detection and map quality in ground moving target indication mode.

Cots = Speed x 5

The use of Cots technology has increased the processing speed by a factor of five, and provided a 10X increase in memory compared to the current production radar, and still provides a large growth potential. Radar reliability is expected increase by 50 per cent, giving a mean time between failures of nearly 400 hours. The use of Cots also resolves existing issues with availability and cost of repair parts, commonly referred to as Diminishing Manufacturing Sources.

The first production V9 radar was delivered in April 2002, and was installed in the first Block 52+ F-16 being manufactured for Greece.

The flight control/display systems for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are to be developed by Kaiser Electronics and Mai Logic (a newcomer to the defence market). One of the technologies to be incorporated in the F-35 systems is the Mai Logic Articia P chipset with GMAC/AGP4X, tailored for Kaiser Electronics' 3D and video display system. This chipset was developed by Mai Logic to cater for the move in the commercial world from AGP2X to APG4X interfaces in order to provide enhanced video/graphics and 3D capabilities. It integrates a multiple processor interface and three PCI options (AGP4X, PCIX, and PCI) to target a range of high-end, next-generation industrial control, networking, entertainment, computer, Internet and wireless communication applications.

A Software Development Factor

The Cots philosophy can also speed the development of software. The team developing the software for the Integrated Core Processor for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will use Mercury PowerStream commercial off-the-shelf multi-computer systems during the system development and demonstration phase of the programme. Under a contract worth approximately $ 5 million from Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems, Mercury will deliver PowerStream systems over a six-month period beginning in the autumn of 2002.

By the mid-1990s, the US Marine Corps realised that the mission systems and warfare management computers of the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B would need to be replaced with more powerful hardware able to handle new types of weapons and provide greater growth capacity.

The upgrade was carried out under the Boeing-led Open Systems Core Avionics Requirement (Oscar) programme, an international project that also involved the navies of Spain and Italy (both of which operate the AV-8B), and which was intended to reduce aircraft lifecycle costs and to improve capabilities by replacing the older computers with new Cots hardware and software, and to re-engineer the operational flight program (software) to use a commercially-available operating system and application interfaces.

The new MSC is a variant of DY 4's DMV-177 single board computer, which is based on a PowerPC 603e running at 200 MHz. Earlier versions of the DMV-177 have been used in the Army's M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank, and Nasa's X-33 Test Vehicle. The new software architecture used on the AV-8B is also is the US Air Force upgrade schemes for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Hornet and T-45 Goshawk trainer. These aircraft will also use variants of the hardware used on the AV-8B.

The AV-8B is also due to receive the Tactical Aircraft Moving Map Capability digital map system developed for the F/A-18 C/D, F/A-18 E/F, UH-1, AH-1 and CH-60. This incorporates a digital map computer and an advanced memory unit (AMU). Intended to replace the current data storage unit, the AMU uses two commercial PCMCIA cards for data transfer, one for mission data and one for maintenance data (the earlier DSU used a much larger tape cartridge). As PCMCIA cards of greater capability become available in the future these can be used to replace the existing cards.

Visuals

As part of the mid-life upgrade of the Spanish Air Force F/A-18A/B Aircraft, Eads-Casa is replacing the current head-up display analogue video camera with a Kaiser Electronics cots-based digital camera that provides better low light capabilities and a more accurate representation of the pilot view.

The latest form of head-down display used in the Boeing F/A-18E/F is a 15.9 x 15.9-cm reflective micro LCD projection-based unit developed by Kaiser Electronics using commercial-off-the-shelf projector components and technologies. Designated the Digital Expandable Color Display, the unit was developed to replace an earlier Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display Multipurpose Color Display, and is part of a Boeing F/A-18E/F Cost Reduction Initiative aimed at reducing costs and improving performance and reliability of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

The sonobuoy release interface unit for the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA.4 maritime-patrol aircraft is one of several line replaceable items that Io is supplying for the aircraft's Boeing-designed tactical command system. The unit contains an embedded Intel processor module, which takes commands from the master I/O processor computer via Ethernet and uses digital I/O to control the release of sonobuoys. Io is also responsible for the I/O processor interface, AC-to-DC power supply and pilot tactical control panel and interface. Like the release unit, these use ruggedised versions of the commercial-off-the-shelf products developed for embedded control applications.

For the C-130 AMP and 767 Tanker Transport programmes Smiths Aerospace is integrating several avionics software applications, including the Flight Management System and the Communication Management function, onto a single PowerPC processor. This unit will host the Tornado for Safety Critical Systems environment which combines Wind River's VxWorks AE653 securely partitioned real-time operating system (RTOS), the Tornado III integrated development environment and safety-critical features necessary to fully support robust partitioning of applications. Robust partitioning allows several applications at different safety and criticality levels to be safely integrated onto a single processor. They will run on the same RTOS kernel, but be fully protected from each other.

Tornado for Safety Critical Systems allows avionics equipment manufacturers to mix and certify applications created in C or Ada programming languages, applications based on the Posix and Arinc standards, or existing Wind River VxWorks-based applications. Once each individual application is developed and certified, it becomes a reusable software component that can be placed alongside other applications developed for Integrated Modular Avionics systems.

Ada Core Technologies is developing a set of software tools that supports various levels of safety-certified applications on Tornado for Safety Critical Systems. These include an adaptation of the GNU Visual Debugger, which allows debugging of mixed language applications in Ada and C, as well as simultaneous debugging of several applications in different partitions.

The Aircrew Data Transfer Device used aboard C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft is a shock-mounted and repackaged version of the Dolch NotePAC computer. Located at the loadmaster's station, this has a cast-magnesium case in which all the hardware except the keyboard is located behind the display. It can cope with shocks of up to 45 G when switched off, and up to 15 G when operating.

Aegis

For almost a quarter of a century, the Aegis combat system has protected US Navy forces from air attack. Over that time, the system has been steadily updated and the current Baseline 6 Phase 1 includes significant Cots content. Computers, servers, routers, display systems and other peripheral equipment built to commercial standards are integrated with equipment manufactured to military specifications. The system entered service in 2000 on the Arleigh Burke class destroyers Oscar Austin (DDG 79) and Roosevelt (DDG 80), the first in a new `flight' of Aegis-equipped vessels.

Early that year, the two ships successfully detected and engaged drone targets. Fred P Moosally, vice-president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems described the firings as "an important step in verifying the integration and performance of Cots equipment".

The next stage in the evolution of Aegis would be Baseline 6 Phase 3, which incorporates the co-operative engagement capability (CEC) and allows the system to handle area tactical ballistic missile defence (TBMD) engagements.

The CEC developed under the banner of Raytheon allows ships and aircraft to share sensor and targeting information, forming a common tactical picture which includes data gathered by all participating platforms, and allowing one ship to fire a missile against a target being tracked by another (see "Sensor Fusion, the Best of Several Worlds" elsewhere in this issue).

The shipboard and airborne common equipment set used by the CEC programme makes extensive use of Cots standards, particularly the VME back-plane and VME Cots hardware. Given the widespread use of VME for embedded industrial computer equipment, this choice ensures a wide availability of products and suppliers.

The CEC system is comprised of two subsystems:

* The Co-operative Engagement Processor (CEP) is used to process the data received from other Co-operating Units (CUs), and integrate this with the various platform-mounted systems

* The Data Distribution System (DDS) which provides for the transmission and reception of data between the CUs in a battle group. Both use the VME bus standard.

Within the CEP, the VME bus integrates the various Cots processors used to meet system functionality requirements, while communications within the subsystem and between the CEP and the DDS are largely based on standard interfaces such as Ethernet, RS-422, and RS-232. The DDS also uses the VME bus and standard communications interfaces, but has a lower Cots content than the CEP due to its functionality. VME Cots hardware makes up some 60 per cent of the overall CEC system.

Although a reduction in capital spending as a result of current economic conditions has caused a slowdown in the commercial division of Behlman Electronics, Orbit International's power unit business, several orders for Cots power supplies have raised the backlog in the company's order book to a record level of approximately $ 6.5 million. In July 2002, the company received a follow-on order worth approximately $ 400,000 for power supplies and spare parts to be used in the Aegis systems of US Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyers.

"This order is a direct result of Behlman's ability to design and develop a high quality Cots power supply in only 16 weeks time", says Behlman president Mark Tublisky. "Customers are continually recognising the advantages of our Cots solutions, resulting in several awards since the beginning of 2002." Orbit International sees the prospect of further orders of this power supply as the USN upgrades its older Aegis destroyers and cruisers.

Missile Control Systems

The Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System which Lockheed Martin Management & Data Systems is developing for the US Navy as a follow-on to the older Tomahawk Weapons Control System and Advanced Tomahawk Weapons Control System will be based on Cots, and will reuse systems, software and technologies developed by the USN and other US Government agencies. More capable than the older systems, it will handle specific features introduced by the new Raytheon Tactical Tomahawk missile, such as in-flight re-targeting and damage assessment, plus more extensive onboard route planning. It will require less shipboard space than the older systems, will weigh significantly less and will need fewer operators and maintenance personnel.

Cots will also be a feature of the Advanced Harpoon Weapon Control System (AHWCS) that Boeing developed for the Harpoon II anti-ship missile. Designed to provide simplified missile engagement planning, AHWCS will use either a dedicated stand-alone display or a multi-function console.

Mercury Computer Systems has been selected by BAE Systems to provide Cots signal processing subsystems for the Sampson multifunction radar, which will be deployed as part of the Principal Anti-Air Missile Systems (Paams) for the Royal Navy's Type 45 next-generation destroyer. Like the Paams-armed destroyers planned by France and Italy, the Type 45 will also be equipped with the Alenia Marconi Systems S1850M long-range radar. A development of the Signaal (now Thales) Smart L naval surveillance radar, this uses an Alenia Marconi Cots-based signal processor.

When Primagraphics was selected this summer to supply Cots-based radar and TV video distribution and display subsystems, and radar tracking equipment for a Turkish Navy frigate modernisation programme, a senior spokesman for the Turkish Navy said that "Primagraphics was selected for this important project because its commercial-off-the-shelf equipment cost effectively met our needs, and Primagraphics was able to comply with our support and technology transfer requirements". The deal is worth nearly $ 750,000.

In 2000, Alenia Marconi Systems received a contract from the Egyptian Navy to upgrade and refurbish the Command and Control systems of six Ramadan-class missile-armed fast-attack craft. During the four-year period the ships will receive a new Command and Control system based on Cots. Specifically designed for smaller surface vessels, this will include fully integrated colour consoles. (Under other contracts, the six craft are being given upgraded surveillance and tracking radars, and being re-armed with Otomat missiles reworked to the Mk 2 standard).

By the mid-1990s, the US Navy faced a rising bill for operation and maintenance of the Trident II (D5) submarine-launched ballistic missile system fitted to Ohio-class nuclear submarines. These shipboard systems were expected to have a 44-year operating life, but were already experiencing technology obsolescence and the declining availability of legacy parts.

An Over-arching Integrated Product Team was formed to tackle the problem. It consisted of Lockheed Martin, the US Navy Strategic Systems Programs organisation, the Space & Warfare System Center, General Dynamics Defense Systems, Naval Sea System Command, the Defense Contract Management Agency, Boeing North American, Dynamics Research Corporation, EG&G, the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dalhgren.

The chosen approach was toward converting the system from a Mil-Spec design to an open-system architecture based on Cots. This would allow future enhancements to be carried out using new commercial technology without requiring another major system redesign.

Using Cots circuit boards aboard a submarine requires that the associated cabinets and their mountings be hardened so that the hardware can survive military levels of shock and vibration. On the US Navy's new Virginia class nuclear submarines, a shock-mounted platform will keep the electronics, deck and system operators in a Cots-compatible environment.

Between 2005 and 2007, the US Navy hopes to have updated the sonar systems on its submarine fleet to a common Cots architecture. Originally known as the Acoustic Rapid Cots Insertion (Arci) programme, this was subsequently re-designated as the AN/BQQ-10 sonar. Four phases are planned. Phase I upgrades towed-array narrowband and spacial vernier processing, while Phase II upgrades towed-array very low frequency broadband signal processing. These will be followed by Phase III (upgrades spherical array processing), and Phase IV (upgrades high-frequency sonar processing).

China

One field of Chinese military technology where Cots may be having an effect is submarine sonar. Noting that China has significant expertise in shallow-water acoustics and have experience in using Cots computer processing technology, the US policy research group Global-Security.org says "It is likely that current Chinese sonar designs are similar to commercially available Western submarine sonar systems and feature modern Cots processors and displays".

Telecomms

Narda Safety Test Solutions developed Radio Frequency Monitors such as its recently-introduced Nardalert XT for use in the telecommunications and broadcast industries, but the units are also being used by flight-deck personnel aboard aircraft carriers and could find a more widespread role if high-power RF weapons begin to enter service. The monitors beep and flash an alarm signal if ambient RF energy is approaching a level that can pose a health risk.

In its basic form, the Nardalert XT covers the RF spectrum from 100 kHz to 100 GHz, but models are available for other frequencies. For example, one version is designed to detect strong ELF fields, typically found near 50/60 Hz power transmission lines. Different models are available within each series, with frequency response curves corresponding to the different standards established by respective governing bodies or controlling authorities.

Tank Electronics

In April 2002, Radstone Technology was awarded an initial production contract for more than three million dollars by General Dynamics Land Systems to supply rugged Cots computer technology for the Abrams Battle Tank M1A2 Continuous Electronics Enhancement Program (Ceep). Part of the Abrams M1A2 System Enhancement Package (Sep). The Ceep will integrate new technologies intended to reduce future obsolescence issues and to take advantage of improved processing and display capabilities.

The company will integrate its latest-generation PowerPC processor, graphics and communications products, exploiting the latest microprocessor and display technologies and significant performance benefits that have occurred since the original M1A2 effort. The new General Purpose Processor and on-board mezzanines will allow for improved capabilities in both crew operations and vehicle diagnostics. This initial order will cover the upgrade of approximately 50 Abrams M1A2 tanks.

The US Army's Future Combat Systems programme will make maximum use of Cots, and will have an architecture capable of supporting plug-and-play electronic upgrades as technology advancements become available. The mechanical systems design will maintain a Cots-compatible environment within equipment enclosures that will themselves be exposed to the full spectrum of harsh military environments.

Another instance where repackaging allows Cots equipment to cope with an AFV environment is the Dolch active-matrix thin film transistor (TFT) flat-panel monitors used in the US Army's Fox nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance vehicle. The 1024 x 768 resolution colour displays are housed in sealed all-metal enclosures that contain fans that cool hot spots such as the liquid-crystal display backlight. The casing is sealed against dust and liquids, while the touch-screen positioned in front of the LCD panel acts as a protective window. An inner chassis that is shock-isolated from the outside casing protects the electronic components, allowing the complete display unit to cope with the shock and vibration levels demanded by MILSTD-810E.

Miscellaneous

In May 2002, DRS Technologies announced that it had received new orders worth approximately $ 5.6 million to produce rugged computers, servers and flat panel displays for a variety of US Army and Marine Corps ground force applications. Equipment to be supplied included Explorer MP rugged portable multi-platform workstations, 18-inch flat panel displays, high-capacity servers and other workstations. The awards took the total orders for the Explorer Cots workstation to more than 2000.

Realising a need to train its infantry squad leaders in the task of quickly sifting through large amounts of data to make rapid tactical decisions under stress, the US Marine Corps procured the Collins Combat Decision Range (CDR), a low-cost computer simulation system that uses Cots computers and projectors. Deployed onboard ship, the CDR provides simulated scenarios approximately 30 minutes in length and which require the trainee to make a series of tactical decisions covering everything from what gear he selects for a mission to whether or not he can fire at a sniper without violating the rules of engagement for a particular mission.

From Cars to Missiles

Cots is also finding its way into missiles. The uncooled imaging-infrared focal plane array used in the Direct Attack Munitions Affordable Seeker (Damask) terminal homing system-flight tested on the Boeing Jdam is a Raytheon-developed Cots item originally intended for use on Cadillac automobiles. The seeker also incorporates low-cost optics (also developed for the consumer automobile market) and is enclosed in an injection-moulded composite housing. The system is completed by a low-cost commercial specification signal processor mounted in the existing Jdam tail kit.

In its basic form, the Jdam is guided by a GPS/INS system, but with the Damask upgrade, the seeker images the target during the final stages of weapon flight, locates the aim point and updates the Jdam guidance system in order to minimise the miss distance. During the first demonstration launch, the guided bomb impacted within three metres of the aim point, but refinements to the signal processing algorithms reduced the miss distance to 0.95m during the second test.

When Aurora Flight Sciences flew the first Loiter Attack Munition (Lam) prototype for Raytheon Missile Systems on June 17, 2002, the missile relied on a Cots three by four by five-inch GuideStar GS-111 flight control system. All mission management, vehicle management and control software ran on a Motorola CPU within the GS-111, which also incorporated GPS, inertial and air data sensors.

The GS-111 flight performed autonomously to control and guide the LAM vehicle over the eleven-minute flight, which started with a launch from under the wing of Aurora's O-2 aircraft at low speed and an altitude of 4000 ft. The missile made a pullout to level flight, then flew a series of dynamic test manoeuvres before being recovered by parachute. Flight data was recorded in the GS-111's onboard solid-state storage system and successfully extracted after the flight.

Russia

The Cots revolution is gathering speed in Eastern Europe and Russia. In September 1998, the author discussed the then-new upgraded 9B-1103M active-radar missile seeker with Joseph Akopyan, the Director and Designer General of the Moscow-based Agat Research Institute which had created the unit. The new seeker was to use the best-available technology, explained Akopyan, who cited as examples the use of fibre-optic gyros created by Russia's State Research Institute of Instrument Engineering (RIIE) along with electronic processors from Motorola and Texas Instruments.

The latter included a device from the Texas Instruments TMS320C4X family of 32-bit digital signal processors (DSPs). Although the TMS320C4X series includes military-specification versions, Agat had used the used the TMS320C44 304-pin plastic quad flat-pack commercial version.

The digital circuitry of earlier seekers could carry out 500,000 operations per second, and included 32 KB of memory, features that restricted the designers of the guidance software. The TI processor has a high-speed central processing unit (CPU) rated at 275 mops (million operations per second) and 50 Mflops (million floating-point operations per second); the new seeker was credited by Akopyan with having a speed of up to 50 million operations per second and a memory capacity of 64 KB upgradeable to 128 KB if required.

In designing its Grom II version of the Soviet-developed 9K310 Igla-I (SA-16) man-portable infrared guided surface-to-air missile, Mesko Metal Works in south-eastern Poland used Cots hardware to replace older components and subsystems that had been designed to meet Warsaw Pact requirements. The new variant was ordered into production in September 2000.

Exercise Saif Sareea

Much of the office-standard network which formed part of the transportable communications infrastructure used during the `Saif Sareea [Swift Sword] II' exercise conducted in Oman during October 2001--a bilateral exercise involving Britain and Omani forces--was provided by Cogent Defence and Security Networks. This deployment was effectively an on-location trial of the core elements of Cogent's Project Cormorant, the air-transportable Theatre Wide Area Network designed for the British Joint Rapid Reaction Forces. The system is fully containerised and can be operated in either vehicle-mounted or dismounted mode, providing secure wide area network communications between units in the field and to Britain as soon as the Joint Rapid Reaction Forces arrives in a trouble spot.

The Joint Rapid Reaction Forces communications network consisted of ten sites throughout Oman and was linked via satellite to the British fixed infrastructure. The installation provided seamless integration of the Cots components (supplied by Cogent) and existing military components and applications. Based on elements of Cormorant, it gave direct experience of what the definitive system product will provide.

The implementation provided a full range of Cormorant services, including a complete IP network. Unlike Cormorant, the network was static and did not provide the mobility that will be available with the fully developed Cormorant system.

More Radio

Another recent Cogent project which exploited Cots was the Polygon Private Mobile Radio system for the British Army KFOR detachment in Pristina. This competitive contract was won in early August 1999, and the resulting system was operational within one month of contract award to meet a British Ministry of Defence Urgent Operational Requirement for Kosovo. Full operational capability was achieved on schedule in early October. The Polygon system consists of four containerised base stations, 600 handsets, 270 vehicle radios and 100 HQ radios, and is being extended to provide full coverage of the British Army area of operations.

When the US Marine Corps needed an intra-squad radio (ISR) to be used by small unit leaders to direct tactical operations and improve situational awareness, particularly in urban littorals, the chosen solution was a Cots hands-free radio made by Icom America. The IC-4008A selected for the IRS role was a small 58 x 114 x 28 mm water-resistant radio with an output of 0.5W and a range typically of about two miles (depending on factors such as environment and terrain). It is powered by three AAA batteries, which provide more than 30 hours of talk time.

The commercial IC-4008A radio operates at 462.5625 to 467.7125 MHz, but the ISR was modified to operate within the military UHF frequency band. An initial batch was tested during Marine Corps Warfighting Labs Advanced Warfighting Experiment Urban Warrior in March 1999, and the Marine Corps subsequently procured 13,000 radios.

A headset would allow hands-free operation, so in November 2000 the

USMC chose an off-the-shelf solution and adopted the Thales Acoustics Personal Radio headset. Already in service with the Dutch and Australian armed forces, the 60-gram headset has an adjustable headband that fits behind the user's head and a noise-cancelling boom microphone intended to enhance speech intelligibility in the presence of wind, heavy machinery and weapon firing.

A small amount of customisation can often make a commercial product suitable for military requirements. For example, although wireless local area network (Wlan) systems are widely used in the business environment, they operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency band which is highly unfavourable for military application. The frequency is well known, and thus easy to monitor, and is shared with many other civil applications and services. There are also limits of the level of transmitted power that can be used.

TNO-FEL in the Netherlands has developed a transverter that changes the operating frequency of Cots Wlan hardware to the 4.4 to 5.0 GHz band. Known to the military as Radio Relay Band IV, this allows transmit powers of 30 dBm (1 Watt), giving a range of one km at a data rate of 11 Mbit/sec. The transverter does not require hardware or firmware changes to the Cots Wlan equipment, so will be compatible with current and future 2.4 GHz Wlan equipment.

Shorter User Learning Curve

Cots-based systems can use commercial software whose interfaces will be familiar to the user, reducing the need for training. For example, Nextor has developed for the Canadian military a Cots-based secure Military Message Handling System (MMHS) whose user-oriented components are based upon the widely used Microsoft Outlook 2000 email program and Windows 2000 operating system. Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 is used for the message store and subordinate message transfer agent.

Users can easily create military messages with large or multiple attachments then send these to other recipients of the MMHS and beyond to other connected systems. The system includes comprehensive security to ensure that threats are minimised and aids the user in producing valid security labels in messages. High assurance guards are used to allow different domains to run at different security classifications.

The system uses Nexor Defender for Outlook and Nexor S/Mime Security. These plug into Microsoft Outlook 2000 using the standard Microsoft APIs. This provides the user a seamless integration with other desktop applications such as word processing and calendar administration.

To prepare a message, the user is presented with a template that extends the standard e-mail message to include all of the fields required to generate a valid military message. Some of these fields will be mandatory; some will always have the same value, while others will have to be chosen from a specific set of values.

A third-party body editor can be integrated into Nexor Defender for Outlook, allowing the creation of messages formatted to standards such as AdatP-3 and USMTF. These are then attached as a body part to the military message.

If users do not have the correct authorisation to release a message, their messages will be automatically (and transparently) sent to a release authority able to release the messages or return them to the drafter with comments.

Nexor Defender for Outlook can be configured to perform virus checking on all inbound and outbound messages (including the text body and all attachments) using a number of third-party virus scanners.

The Millennium Challenge exercise sponsored by US Joint Forces Command and held in the autumn of 2001 provided the first major trial of the US Army's Cots-based Digital Dismounted Leader System (DLS). Earlier in year, Command System (CSI) announced that it had been awarded a contract by the United States to provide approximately 45 DLS systems to equip a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. These systems would be used and evaluated at the National Training Center in August.

Developed in response to a US Army Readiness Review Council (RRC) recommendation that an integrated battle command capability for dismounted and light forces be fielded within the next twelve months, the systems provides `blue force' tracking information to the Army's legacy Army Battle Command System, and can be used for planning, collaboration, synchronization and mission execution from squad to brigade level. It also integrates with the Light Digital Operations Center, obtaining the `red picture' provided by the All-Source Analysis System (ASAS), and providing the `blue picture' to the Manoeuvre Control System-Light.

The Dismounted Leader System is based on CSI's widely fielded Command Data Networking System (CDNS). It consists of a commercial ruggedised handheld computing platform, CSI's Dismounted Warrior Support System software, and microINC communications interface with integrated GPS. Each DLS provides situation awareness information, facilitates planning and collaboration and provides a common operating picture relevant to each element of the organisation. In addition, it provides an integrated C2 capability to facilitate battle command at every echelon in the brigade and through all phases of combat operations, using any available tactical or commercial communications system.

"In just eight weeks, with the tremendous co-operation of the soldiers and leadership of the brigade, the 82nd Airborne Division and the Infantry Center, we've been able to rapidly tailor CDNS to meet the requirements of the light division and dismounted soldier," says Col Steve Kinder, senior programme manager for Command System. "They've jumped it and used it in the field ... The initial reaction to the system has been very positive. Everyone is increasingly satisfied with the operation and performance of the system, and very excited about its capabilities and potential."

The All-Source Analysis System, to which the DLS can interface, is another example of a system that uses Cots. Ruggedised network equipment and displays for ASAS were included in the recent $ 14.8 million modifications to its multi-year Common Hardware/ Software II contract which General Dynamics C4 Systems has received from the US Army Communications Electronics Command.

In Britain, the Royal Navy's Command Support System (CSS) was one of the first major procurements in the United Kingdom to rely heavily on Cots. Intended to support military activities from initial planning, through non real-time command and control of the actual operation, to post-operation analysis, the EDS Defence CSS will eventually be installed on more than 80 major warships, minor war vessels and submarines, and at a number of shore facilities.

The system is being developed in three phases--Interim Operational Capability 1, then 2, and lastly, Full Operational Capability. The first of these uses mainly Cots products and provides only limited capability. As the system is developed it will use more substantial bespoke software, along with additional Cots products.

The programme has shown some of the problems that can result from large-scale use of Cots. One of the aims of the project has been to provide users with an integrated, consistent system, rather than a series of separate applications which require unnecessary interactions if the user is to achieve task objectives. Human computer interfaces (HCI) are based largely on OSF Motif, the graphical user interface style developed by the Open Software Foundation, and a CSS Style Guide has been used to evaluate the various Cots products for their conformity to the desired HCI style.

However, making changes to a Cots product to bring it into conformity with an overall system style effectively creates a bespoke product which will lose many of the advantages of incorporating Cots. To avoid this pitfall, the CSS project has tried to achieve a compromise between achieving a consistent, intuitive system and the increased costs and risks that result from modifying existing products.

Ideal or Warts?

In a 1998 technical paper, a team from EDS Defence and what was then the British Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (now Qinetiq) questioned whether such style guides "... should be based on an `ideal' desired style, or whether in systems such as CSS, where a single Cots product forms the basis of the entire system, the rest of the system should conform to that major product, `warts and all' ... A balance has to be struck between developing a system interface which is consistent with the main Cots component (but is otherwise undesirable), and one which allows some minor inconsistencies in individual products but is more usable overall by conforming generally to the desired style."

At British military air bases, as at all major airfields, ground-to-air and air-to-ground radio communications are recorded, so that a transcription can be prepared in the event of an accident or an incident that requires formal investigation. Since 1987, this task has been carried out using analogue reel-to-reel tape recorders, but by the late 1990s these had reached the end of their economic life. Recording heads were wearing out and spare parts were becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, with machines being kept in service by `cannibalisation'. As maintenance costs rose, `spend to save' seemed the obvious solution.

"Mounting support costs indicated it was time for a change to more modem equipment, possibly a PC-based digital system, which with the advent of Windows 95 and NT was now a viable and competitive alternative to reel to reel", says Brian Fearon, Higher Telecommunications Technical Officer, at RAF Brampton.

AudioSoft, a small, and relatively unknown British company, won a contract to supply a Cots-based audio recording system. While the start-up purchase costs of AudioSoft's solution were not the cheapest, the Ministry of Defence concluded that the company's use of Cots solutions would give longterm cost benefits in terms of ongoing maintenance and support, making the choice the most cost-effective over the system's anticipated lifetime.

"AudioSoft had developed a software package that can be run on any proprietary hardware", says Fearon. "It requires no long term allegiance to the manufacturer, or the purchase of expensive bespoke hardware, giving us more control and protection against hardware obsolescence."

AudioPC 2000 is a personal computer-based software solution using Microsoft Windows. It is controlled via a mouse using on-screen virtual controls that mimic the record and replay functions found on traditional tape-based systems.

The system size at each location depends on how many recording channels are involved. Each personal computer can have a maximum of 31 recording and 5 playback channels, and an individual system can have any number from 8 to 90 channels.

Personal computers are networked in pairs with one primary and one standby/backup system. Radio transmissions are recorded onto a hard disk and then automatically transferred to a digital audio tape (Dat) at hourly intervals. The Dat tape is changed every 24 hours and held in an archive for 31 days. During tape changeover the system's hard disk acts as a buffer for several hours of recording.

Mapping

Map displays throughout the US Joint Service Command and Control Systems will use Esri's ArcGIS, giving users a comprehensive range of map display, visualisation and analysis tools providing real-time situational awareness, track management, terrain analysis and other facilities, all based on a common spatial-information infrastructure and all using the same open application framework.

In today's world, many organisations face `information overload', but the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency (Nima) expects that by the middle of the decade its National Information Library (Nil) will have an archive of 25 million images requiring 6600 terabytes of storage. Set up in July 2000, Nima is a Department of Defense and National Intelligence Community agency providing imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information in support of US national security objectives. The handling of this data relies almost exclusively on Cots hardware and software.

The Nil is part of the Nima library family that includes the Command Information Libraries (CIL) and Image Product Libraries (IPL). These serve military commands and lower echelons respectively, and use smaller sets of the same hardware used for the Nil.

These Nima libraries are a key element of the US Imagery and Geospatial Information Service (USIGS), a network of systems used by the US Department of Defense and the intelligence community to share and exploit imagery, imagery intelligence and geospatial information. "The NIL is the centrepiece of USIGS and has a tremendous capacity to support its customers," says programme manager Joe Stooks. "It can ingest 5 terabytes of data per day and handle 80,000 queries each day--responding in 15 to 20 seconds."

Until recently the NIL and CILs had used a system designated Idex II. By late 2001 this had been replaced by an open-architecture Cots-based system. "The systems were created and integrated to accommodate emerging technologies", says Stooks. "Nima is always looking for the `latest and greatest' technology from commercial sources."

Resource Planning

Aerospace and defence companies have typically used expensive mainframe or in-house developed software for aircraft resource planning and control, but since late 1999 Boeing Military Aircraft & Missile Systems has used an Integrated MAnufacturing Control System (Imacs) to run its manufacturing of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-15 Eagle, A/V-8 Harrier and T-45 Goshawk aircraft, C-17 Globemaster structural components, Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and Harpoon, SlamER, Calm and Brimstone missiles.

The Imacs is based on Cots Compass Enterprise Resource Planning software from Western Data Systems, the Oracle RDBMS, and a network with more than 40 Hewlett-Packard HP 9000 Enterprise Servers. It has helped increase production efficiencies--on the T-45 Goshawk (the first programme moved to Imacs), the company reported a 35 per cent reduction in critical path cycle time, 33 per cent reduction in parts shortages and a 106 per cent improvement in return on net assets.

Video Conferencing

Given the number of airport security checks which an air traveller in the United States is subjected to, it is hardly surprising that many companies there are looking at videoconferencing as a substitute for traditional face-to-face meetings, a technique which also promises to save time and cost by eliminating travel. But if it is to be used in a military programme, a videoconferencing system needs to be secure enough to protect classified information.

Lockheed Martin has opted to use secure videoconferencing as a management tool for the F-35 programme. "When we meet with our JSF team members and suppliers, we are exchanging extremely sensitive, proprietary and often classified information," says Frank Cappuccio, vice-president and JSF program manager at Lockheed Martin. "Before, that kind of discussion would have been held face-to-face, behind locked doors."

In May 2000, a `cyber-meeting' with the JSF Program Office was conducted as part of the JSF Mid-Program Review. This involved nine different companies from five geographic locations and used Cots technology to implement Secure Virtual Private Network (SVPN) encryption. Newbridge Networks' TimeStep hardware and software enabled the JSF team's IR staff to establish compatible, secure connections across the Internet, regardless of the variety of electronic security systems in use by the individual companies participating in the videoconference.

"Using Cots-based products like Microsoft NetMeeting saves a great deal of money because the government doesn't have to pay for the development and support of a customized product", says Jim Manley, architect of the SVPN system.

E-Learning

One of the largest shore commands in the US Navy, the Chief of Naval Education and Training (Cnet) is made up of approximately 22,000 military and civilian staff members at more than 190 subordinate commands and detachments in the United States and at remote sites overseas. On an average day it provides training for more than 45,000 officers, enlisted and civilian government employee students enrolled in more than 3600 different courses.

In May 2001, Cnet launched the US Navy e-Learning programme, which is intended to give every sailor, their dependents and USN civilians around the world seamless access to learning wherever they are and whenever they need it.

Following pilot trials, Cnet decided to extend its use of the Thinq TrainingServer Learning Management System (LMS) to ships, submarines, Navy schoolhouses and classified networks around the world. This Cots system will be implemented in more than 160 locations on shore, as well as on every ship and submarine. All systems will synchronise back to a central Thinq TrainingServer LMS and be able to handle multiple security classifications. Using the system, the US Navy is able to review who has taken what training and when; analyse and assess individual or service-wide readiness at any time and provide individuals with full-time access to lifetime training transcripts.

The Thinq is also working with the US Navy on a pilot project called Navy Webport. This gives sailors a personalised information Web site that guides them to specialised training, USN news, career advice and other useful information--resources that they would previously have had to find themselves or encounter piecemeal.

Intended to provide over four million active duty military personnel, selected reserve, Department of Defense civilian employees and eligible contractor personnel with a standard identification badge based on smart card technology, the Department of Defense's Common Access Card programme uses a Cots smart card reader developed by SCM Microsystems. The company has already shipped around 135,000 readers to the US Army--a mixture of serial port, USB and PCMCIA devices. The card-based security system allows the Army to implement security measures ranging from restricting access over computer networks to identifying the personnel entering mess halls.

Basics ...

Cots can also solve more basic problems--when the US Navy destroyer Cote was repaired and modernised following a terrorist attack on the vessel in Aden, Yemen, the modifications included a new Cots galley.

The Cots story is one of commercial products being used to meet military requirements. Instances were military products are adapted to meet commercial purposes are not common, but even less common are instances where the resulting commercial product is adopted by the military as a Cots item.

... And Full Circle

One product which made this military-commercial-Cots transition is the Mabey Logistic Support Bridge, which owes its origins to the 60-year-old Bailey Bridge. Adopted as a standard military bridge by the British Army in early 1941, Sir Donald Bailey's prefabricated bridging system was manufactured in Britain and the United States.

In 1967, Mabey & Johnson introduced the Super Bailey, a design with stronger components and better fatigue characteristics intended to handle loads such as heavy construction vehicles. This was followed by the Mabey Universal in 1974, the Compact 100 in 1983, the Compact 200 in 1986 and the Compact 200 Super in 1992.

Realising that there was a military market for what had become a commercial product, the company used the Compact 200 Super as the basis for the Logistic Support Bridge. In January 1996, the Nato Maintenance and Supply Agency asked several manufacturers to tender for bridges suitable for use in Bosnia. Early operations in that country by the Nato Implementation Force had depleted stocks of existing military bridging systems.

Almost immediately the company received its first order, followed by orders for a further 18 bridges. On the average, delivery from British stocks was two weeks from the order, and bridges were installed in anything from 11 hours (the 48-merte Crni Most bridge assembled by the Royal Engineers) to 16 days (for the 162-metre Slavonski Brod bridge assembled by the Hungarian Engineers over the River Sava).

One problem which Cots users face with electronics products is the sheer pace of product development. New software and hardware can be introduced at intervals ranging from a few years to less than a year.

The Obsolescence Issue

The latest technology may offer the highest performance, but may not be rugged enough for military applications. Mature Cots items that have been tested and used by the commercial market will typically be more suitable for military designs, but could be more prone to obsolescence issues by the time the system is fielded.

Designers also face the problem that while the new product or software version is intended to solve problems experienced with earlier versions, it may introduce new problems of its own. The introduction of a new product often means that the older pattern is no longer available. Worse, it may be supported by the vendor for only a further few years, or perhaps only a few months.

Military systems are typically required to have a service life of 20 years or more. The usage of Cots equipment imposes additional risks in terms of reliability and supportability. The user must be prepared to face Cots obsolescence problems during development, production and service life.

While a traditional defence programme spends much of its development funds in a massive initial R&D effort, followed perhaps in mid-life by development of an upgrade, Cots-based programmes that use digital electronics are more likely to involve a lower-cost initial development stage, followed by successive technology-injection efforts. Military procurement of these upgrades may come closer to the practice with PCs, where companies and even private individuals replace computers every few years.

In the world of commercial software, a product can become obsolete in three or four years. Some even sooner; in 12 years, Microsoft Windows has evolved through seven versions--3.0, 3.1,95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP.

Given the slow timescale of all but the fastest-paced military development programmes, it is possible that the components or software chosen early in development may no longer be available or no longer supported even before the system reaches production.

Several approaches are being taken to solve the component obsolescence problem. One is for the customer to make a single lifetime buy of all the hardware which will be needed for the predicted production run, and for stockpiled spares. This is a workable solution, but may not fit in with procurement funding. It effectively locks the customer to a given level of performance, and denies them the cost saving which might come from declining prices. Today's top-of-the-line component will inevitably come with a price tag that reflected its newness, and could be available at a fraction of that price in a few years' time.

Another approach is for the supplier of the Cots-based system to enter into an agreement with component and subsystem vendors asking for prior notice of the forthcoming obsolescence of any key item. This gives the end user a final chance to buy supplies of the specific component or even of the specific subassembly that uses that component. However, this relies on the individual vendors fulfilling their commitment to give warning that a component is about to be withdrawn from production.

Given the speed with which components can become obsolete, subassemblies and circuit cards have to be designed so that processors and other devices can be replaced with more modern parts once the originals are no longer available. This replacement will almost certainly be required during the operational lifetime of the hardware. Given the slow pace of many military production programmes, it could even be necessary part way through a long production run.

As old computer hardware is replaced with newer technology, the embedded software used in the older hardware needs to be rewritten. Realising that large cost-savings would be possible if the replacement computer could execute the old code along with any new code to be added, TRW has developed a generic Cots-based software technology called Reconfigurable Processor for Legacy Avionics Code Execution (Replace).

Replace could result in cost and timescale savings of up to 75 per cent over the traditional approach of re-writing legacy code, says TRW. Since the structure of the embedded legacy code is not changed, the replacement computer is to be retested at the `black-box' level using existing qualification tests.

Security Risk?

Such is the speed at which computer technology is developed, that a visit to any computer store will reveal shelves stocked with models which have faster processors, more memory and bigger disk drives than those of twelve months earlier. Products can come and go in a year or less.

The same applies to Cots equipment. On the E-2C upgrade, the mission computer is expected to change on roughly a four-year cycle, while for workstations the cycle is completed annually. To minimise the amount of testing needed to verify workstation/ aircraft compatibility, each batch of workstations ordered is large enough to meet the programme's requirement for two years.

A final problem with Cots is that the technology is by definition commercial, and available off-the-shelf. Testifying before the National Security Committee of the US House Of Representatives in November 1997, Dr Stephen D Bryen, former director of the Department of Defense's Defense Technology Security Administration warned that "if we are selling Cots on an unrestrained basis globally, then any strategic advantage we may gain from Cots will be instantly offset. Cots will become a security risk instead of a security benefit."