COTS-Based SoC Technology Benefits Defense and Aerospace Electronics Applications

摘要

Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) based integrated circuit technology has become a primary development staple within the Aerospace Industry, among all branches and across all platforms in the U.S. Military today. The move-I ment to COTS in the Department of Defense (DoD) was ini- tiated by Secretary of Defense William H. Perry and his administration nearly a decade ago. Since then and through its exploitation of COTS technology, the DoD has achieved a tremendous increase in price performance, has realized reduced development costs, and has benefited greatly from broad availability and improved time-to-market. However, these gains have not been achieved without certain exposure to major challenges that are currently unfolding. Daunting challenges are often presented when programs developed with COTS technology reach maturity and require modernization, performance enhancements and/or capacity upgrades. Those tasked with the logistics and maintenance associated with COTS-based platforms must find a way to mitigate the impact of obsolescence on embedded electronics. This is the foremost problem for mission critical systems and the biggest downside of COTS in long life cycle defense and aerospace electronics systems.