SAN DIEGO – October 31, 2022 – The Joint Tactical Networking Center (JTNC) recently updated its Software Communications Architecture (SCA) version 2.2.2 conformance test suite to share publicly with government and industry Software Defined Radio (SDR) developers in an effort to reduce software development cycles, costs, and increase speed to market for military communications products.
SCA is an open architecture framework that defines a standard way to instantiate, configure, and manage waveform applications running on a radio hardware platform. Public release of SCA v2.2.2 test suite allows developers adopting the SCA standard to integrate software component-level conformance testing early on in development cycles versus waiting to pay JTNC for a "final exam" at the end where engineering changes are much more costly.
“JTNC continues to promote government and industry collaboration for the Joint Warfighter,” said Kurt Reese, JTNC Director. “Publicly releasing the SCA v2.2.2 test suite reduces cost, maintains development timelines, and improves the overall performance and interoperability of SDR products by maintaining compliance to the proven SCA standard. Many companies have adopted SCA over the years to include the international community.”
The SCA v2.2.2 test suite gives the Department of Defense (DoD) and SDR developers the capability to perform their own tailored product conformance tests to meet SCA requirements, previously only conducted by JTNC Test and Evaluation Laboratory (JTEL) with JTNC as the only SCA Verification Authority (VA).
“Our cross-functional team has worked diligently to publicly release the SCA v2.2.2 test tool at no cost to both government and industry stakeholders,” said Fritz McNair, Director for Software Solutions & Innovation Directorate (SSID) at the JTNC. “We continue to maximize opportunities to add value to DoD SDR stakeholders and to lead the way for broad scale SCA adoption and compliance.”
The JTNC first developed the SCA v2.2.2 test suite, test procedures and JTNC Test Application Test Program (JTAP) v3.14.0.5, in 2019. The SCA open standard architecture remains highly relevant to the diverse slate of DoD SDR systems and maximizes the independence of software from hardware by mandating application and device portability, maximizing code reuse, and allowing for seamless technology insertion over time.
"With broad SCA adoption, industry has developed waveform applications, operating environments (OEs), and radios on the SCA platform, which has been a large-scale proof of concept that open systems architectures like the SCA allow for rapid insertion of software and firmware upgrades due to the modular nature of SCA," said Bill Brickner, Director for Technical Analysis and Engineering Services Directorate at the JTNC.
The JTNC is also currently working on its newest version of SCA (v4.1) and plans to make this upgraded test suite publicly available in the near future. This way, the proven benefits of SCA: simplified insertion of new technology in deployed radios, enhanced interoperability, scalability and flexibility, improved cybersecurity, and reduced cost and development risk will only get better with the future release of SCA v4.1.
For more information on SCA v2.2.2 test suite and the JTNC, visit www.jtnc.mil/.
ABOUT THE JTNC
As part of the DoD and under the executive management of the Army's Program Executive Office, Command, Control, Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), the JTNC ensures secure, interoperable, and resilient tactical capabilities aligned to modular open architectures in support of Service, Multi-Service, and Coalition forces. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the JTNC executes its mission by developing standards in collaboration with Government and industry partners, conducting technical analyses in accordance with DoD policies, and maintaining the DoD Information Repository (IR) and JCM. For more information, visit: www.jtnc.mil or follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/DODJTNC.
| Date Taken: | 10.31.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 10.31.2022 17:24 |
| Story ID: | 432365 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 213 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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