NAMC's Deputy Executive Director, Andrew Dallas, collaborated with DEVCOM GVSC's Deputy Executive Director, Kevin Mills to provide insights on achieving modular systems interoperability in the most recent issue of The Disruptor. Read more below.
To enable the acquisition of warfighting capabilities with greater flexibility and competition, the Department of Defense (DoD) is requiring that program offices adopt a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA). Implementing MOSA involves devising an acquisition, design, and technical strategy for affordable and adaptable systems comprising loosely coupled, yet highly cohesive modules that can be competed separately and acquired from independent vendors. In order to achieve this, MOSA strategies typically stipulate that the system components be compliant with modular, open architectures that encompass widely supported, consensus-based, cross-platform interface standards.
The ROS-M Software Ecosystem
Today, there is a plethora of open architecture standards across the Army and the other services. However, one Army R&D organization, the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC), has taken a unique, and somewhat different approach.
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Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) Takes Unique Approach Towards Achieving Modular Systems Interoperability
Rather than focus on modular open architecture per se, the GVSC Ground Vehicle Robotics division has instead focused on efforts to establish an autonomy software ecosystem for military ground vehicles that has at its heart, core Government-owned software based on the open, Robotic Operating System (ROS) interface standards. Named ROS-Military (ROS-M), it was created, and is being further developed and sustained, by the Government and a trusted community of Industry partners, who collectively contribute to, maintain, and utilize the elements that comprise the ecosystem.
GVSC was initially motivated to focus on developing a core baseline of shareable, modular Government-owned, autonomy software because previous Government development efforts resulted in software that oftentimes proved to be largely redundant and incompatible. Instead, the ROS-M ecosystem enables the sharing of common, compatible, and reusable software modules across a community of Government and Industry developers and system integrators. In the process, it provides several unique benefits, in addition to those offered by modular open architectures.
- Decreases development costs, by providing a core set of baseline software components that developers and integrators can readily adopt as a common foundation to jump-start their individual projects
- Improves software reliability and security, by enabling a community of developers to test, find, and fix defects in, and make improvements to, the same collection of defense-related, software packages and components
- Increases innovation, by enabling organizations to focus their resources on developing new capabilities that build on top of the existing software in the ecosystem
In addition to Government-owned, ROS-based, software modules, such as those used for the Robotics Technology Kernel (RTK) system, ROS-M also incorporates proprietary and open source ROS software components compatible with the Government-owned modules. The ecosystem includes other, non ROS-based, but related software elements, such as the Warfighter Machine Interface (WMI) routines for tele-op control of robotic and manned vehicles and their payloads. ROS-M further features an array of supporting artifacts (system models and specifications, software development and testing tools, and processes, documentation, training materials, etc.) needed to readily tailor and build integrated, autonomous software solutions for military vehicles and robotics platforms.
A website www.rosmilitary.org provides access to background and general information, FAQs, news, and updates on ROS-M suitable for public distribution. The website also provides controlled access to the ROS-M Registry, an online, searchable catalog of the hierarchically linked software components, plus supporting artifacts, that comprise a module, system (such as RTK), or project.
Path Ahead
The National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization comprising U.S. innovators dedicated to the development of manned and unmanned autonomy-enabled military technologies for the U.S. warfighter. It functions according to its Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement, as GVSC’s go-to industry partner for developing, integrating, testing, and demonstrating prototype ground robotics systems. ROS-M remains a work in progress and GVSC has recently signaled an interest in discussing whether and how NAMC might become more deeply engaged as GVSC’s partner in efforts to advance a number of ROS-M related issues, including:
- Forming a robotics technology advisory board to serve as a liaison with Industry and to support GVSC’s efforts to further develop and propagate use of RTK and other ROS-M software systems
- Accelerating innovation by developing a strategy that would incentivize Industry to realize a return on any private investments made to develop advanced capabilities that are compatible with and build on the core functionality of RTK and other ROS-M software systems.
Ongoing efforts to transition RTK and other ROSM software from ROS 1 to ROS 2, including developing a 2nd generation architecture that would merge elements from the existing architectures unique to each of the ROS-M software systems.
- Advancing efforts to establish a certification program in ground robotics software engineering to establish and grow the pool of qualified subject matter experts in RTK and other ROS-M software systems.
Aptly, NAMC and its Industry members look forward to further collaborating with GVSC and the ground vehicle program offices to achieve the modular systems interoperability goal of proliferating a reliable and growing body of compatible autonomy software, readily available for a wide range of prototyping efforts and suitable for eventual transition to ensuing programs of record.
Reprinted from The Disruptor Quarterly Newsletter, Summer 2022 issue.