Non-Development Item (NDI) Guideline Paper

摘要

This paper points out new challenges to system safety presented by NDI and its COTS subset equipments andsoftware into naval weapon systems. The increased integration of combat systems beyond the old stove pipe point topoint architecture safety creates new NDI challenges in Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) Hardware (HW) andSoftware (SW). This requires increased safety analysis of NDI equipments and code as hazard causal factors. Newprocurement policies are forcing government and prime contractor safety teams to deal with small businesses, withminimal experience in weapons and safety, for NDI hardware and software vendors in their safety analysis. Thepaper discusses five NDI safety analysis and mitigation challenges and proposes safety approaches. The paperidentifies the best source for needed data to conduct NDI safety analysis. And guidelines or suggestions to attainrequired safety assurance of NDI. Most guidelines are based upon the author’s experience with surface warship AntiSubmarine Warfare (ASW) control systems. The guidelines should benefit other programs faced with the challengeof integrating NDI and COTS into safety-related systems. Some statements may not apply to other systems, but mostshould.