Software Open Systems Architecture (OSA) was first implemented on rotorcraft platform mission systems over 15 years ago. Mission systems OSA, similar to many other larger scale digital ecosystems OSA, continue to evolve to meet changing business needs. The dynamic and evolving nature of mission systems OSA is found to be consistent with observations and analyses of other large scale digital ecosystems. While multiple published papers describe the desired benefits in applying an OSA approach, this exploratory paper extends previous work by defining an approach for assessing the relative and realized benefits of a given OSA. A new technique for conducting architecture relative openness analysis is presented and then applied to a mission systems OSA. The new analysis technique compares a production rotorcraft OSA to conceptually open and closed architectures with consideration of business drivers and software ecosystems. This paper describes realized OSA benefits that are quantified by performing Quality Attribute (QA) cost / benefit analyses on fielded / production OSA products. Practical results from the fielded OSA cost / benefit analyses are also applied to OSAs that are currently being developed to support future Army rotorcraft programs. By applying the described new architecture comparative analysis technique, insight into actual OSA benefits and ecosystem dynamics can be more clearly understood and strategy for realizing additional future potential OSA benefits can be established. It is ultimately shown that the real benefit of a given OSA depends on how well it meets continuously evolving business and broader ecosystem stakeholder needs.
展开▼
