Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Conformance

Are the systems you develop for avionics applications 100 percent conformant with the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE^TM) Technical Standard? The FACE Standard will make it possible for the Department of Defense (DoD) to leverage avionics technology that’s interoperable, secure, and portable while also addressing several challenges that current technology procurement processes create. Understanding the FACE standard is key to ensuring you continue selling in the military avionics market.

Judy Cerenzia, director of collaboration services with The Open Group FACE Consortium, explains in her interview with Electronic Design, “Current airborne systems are typically developed for a unique set of requirements by a single vendor, causing long lead times for urgent needs, platform-unique designs, limited portability of software components, increased costs, and creating barriers to competition within and across platforms.”

The FACE standard, administered by the FACE Consortium with members from both government and industry, will enable the DoD to acquire more affordable, portable systems and integrate them more quickly and efficiently. Cerenzia points out that the standard will also solve the problems of dealing with the cost and risk related to multi-platform requirements.

Why Business Leaders Should Care About FACE

Since the FACE Consortium began work on the standard in 2010 and FACE Conformance went live in 2017, the aerospace and defense industries have been migrating toward the production of open source, open architecture technology that aligns with the standard.

Manufacturers and vendors can seek FACE Conformance Certification, showing that their products have passed an independent verification process, and proving they meet 100 percent of FACE standards, down to the last component. FACE-certified products are registered in the FACE Library, where you can search for products that conform to the standard and where software developers can submit information about their products for review.

With the benefits of open source and open architecture building momentum behind FACE conformance, continuing to do business in military avionics will likely depend on whether your systems align with FACE standards — and whether your products are listed in the FACE Library. Certifying your technology and having it listed in the library will let your customers know that your products are designed for portability and reuse. The ROI for the verification and certification costs you pay will include maintaining the business relationships you’ve built in this industry.

How to Achieve FACE Conformance

To be FACE conformant, all of the software in the avionics systems you develop must align with the FACE Standard. That includes architectural segments and key interfaces. Hardware you use in your systems is not evaluated for certification, since the FACE approach is designed to be hardware-agnostic. But FACE conformance does apply to the software you source from your suppliers and partners.

Research whether the components you source for your partners and suppliers aligns with the FACE Standard as well as Object Management Group (OMG) standards, which FACE builds upon. Demonstrating that components meet these standards will ensure the solutions you provide can receive FACE Conformance Certification, as well as confirm your partners’ commitment to open source, open architecture, and standardization across military aviation technology.

Partner and supplier leaders in open standards for avionics participate in The Open Group FACE Consortium. ADLINK, for example, with a long history of providing open architecture defense and aerospace solutions, in joined the consortium in 2016. In March 2019 its FACE 2.1 Transport Services Segment (TSS) for its Vortex DDS Data Distribution Service product line received FACE Conformance Certification. Vortex DDS solutions make it possible for intelligent data sharing between any cloud, any database, any sensor, any machine, and any person in real time. Because Vortex DDS is platform independent, it provides an interoperable solution, and it also supports embedded environments where edge computing can add speed and efficiency with automation by extracting and using data at the source.

Edge IoT solutions using DDS technology embody many of the goals of the FACE Standard, including standardized components, well-defined interfaces, interoperability, security, and reduced costs.

Be Part of the Solution

Proprietary solutions have held back military avionics with limited options for integrations and expensive, complicated paths to adding new capabilities. FACE conformance will pave the way for faster and easier innovation.

FACE conformance has already become a factor in whether the systems you develop for aerospace and defense will be marketable. Make sure you can maintain — or improve — your position in this market by certifying that you provide FACE-conformant systems.

Learn more about ADLINK’s FACE Conformance here: https://www.adlinktech.com/en/News_19032702183799927.aspx

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