GET Engineering addresses the need for purpose-built solutions at the edge

Hopefully, by now we have all seen and reviewed the Tri-Service Memo that describes the adoption of MOSA as the open standard to be employed across the services. (https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2019/systems/Wed_22354_Patni.pdf) This very clever attempt to consolidate the nearly 3 decades of Defense Secretary William Perry's COTs initiative into a more refined and coordinated solution is bold.?The vision is to connect through several designated open standards the breadth and width of the DoD for a very coordinated solution based on the latest technologies.?

Connected Battlefield

JADC2 or Joint All Domain and Control initiative is designed to create a communications fabric that mimics the Switch Fabric architectures of the modern high-speed computer.??This will connect distributed sensors, shooters, and data from all domains to a series of edge-based systems that will act as data concentrators.?Being able to coordinate and communicate multi-data sources to achieve a highly responsive and efficient engagement will automate the field of operations to retain the lethality that is required.?The Compact Embedded System (CES) solutions from GET Engineering are designed to address and meet these demands.?In the same way that a switch fabric addresses redundancy by offering alternative data paths, JADC2 offers a mosaic that opens alternatives for the warfighter to consider maximizing their deployed assets.?The goal with JADC2 is to have real-time, reliable intelligence from sensors at the edge that give actionable data in complex theaters of operations across all services.?This might be diverting assets more effectively; it might be to defend from unforeseen actions in real-time or it might be to recognize where security may have been breached.?This combination of sensors at the edge communicating will draw upon machine learning and inference-based solutions that are fed with data from numerous very capable edge systems.?

The strategy to streamline technological advancements to better harness promising new technologies in and around Artificial Intelligence, Directed Energy, Space, Quantum Computing, and Science, and all the while protecting ourselves from cyber-attacks is at the heart of Dr. Roger Kuroda vision for GET Engineering. ?As the CEO of GET, Roger envisions every asset in the field as a data source that captures small “pixels” of information that aid in our understanding of the entire threat, to be combined into actionable intelligence.?

This idea of an Internet of – Military - things has the challenges of building connectivity across different generations of weapons systems, across different branches, and to do so with speed and the response needed. Along with connecting already deployed systems – many decades-old – there is the need to connect future generations of systems. The need for field-proven solutions that can act as data concentrators coupling an array of protocols or sensor inputs is something that our friends at GET Engineering felt uniquely qualified to build.?

“It was something about the round connectors used on the GET solutions that made us recognized that they were purpose-built, but it was the flexibility to employ any number of military communication links that cemented our understanding”.??

The use of "black boxes" to connect and offer gateways across the battlefield will become as ubiquitous as wall plugs in your home if the MOSA standards are embraced correctly.?But this doesn't mean that addressing the rigors of the battlefield is not to be taken seriously.?In joking about the Mil-STD 38999 connectors used on the GET solution, it was an attempt to differentiate the many conduction-cooled PCs offered from those that are purpose-built to meet MIL-STD 810G (with an operating temperature between -40 to 125 degrees C) by GET.??Approaching the problem with a long history of providing military communication solutions, GET’s expertise employs a design philosophy of building a solution to the problem rather than adopting a product to the problem.?

Fault Tolerance

There are a dizzying array of conduction-cooled PCs on the market, it is important to point out that reliability under extreme conditions is imperative.?These options quickly narrow when you factor in the needs of a military application.?The GET's CES solutions, for example, approach the space from a background of understanding what comprises a military system at the edge.?SWAP driven and building their systems to meet Mil-STD 810G, GET has set themselves apart from industrial computer solutions in the market.?

Flexibility

Another key factor is the flexibility of the system.?The military employs weapon platforms that are in many cases decades old.?These older systems employed numerous variants of communications protocols, many specific to their respective branch or application of the service such as NTDS or 1553.?In addition to these legacy protocols, the CES can also incorporate 100’s of I/Os (A/D, D/A, DI, DO, and GPIOs), numerous video channels, or commercial parallel and serial links. ???This allows the CES to convert protocols and sensors information over Ethernet that are forward-looking.?

In the Tri-Service Memo, the VICTORY standard employed for military vehicles describes how discrete systems of the past need to come together and take advantage of a common resource such as a display.?This further promotes that the need for a data concentrator, data acquisition, sensor interface, and protocol convertor configurable to the applicational needs.

Performance

The need for headroom on the performance is a dynamic question and needs to parallel the performance increases seen in the data centers and the commercial sector.?System architectures must mirror the road map for successive generations of PCIe and performance processors, FPGAs, and GPUs.?In those circumstances where they are based on open standards such as PC/104, COM Express, or COM HPC, vendors with sufficient technical depth to pack the greatest compute density possible into their solutions will be able to support the applications as they evolve – thus setting them apart from the others. ?

As you ponder the Tri-Service Memo, the evolving Federal Acquisition Regulation defining COTS, and how power is achieved when systems work in concert, you can foresee the numerous systems at the edge.?These systems will have to employ the latest environmental standards, the most advanced processor power, an abundance of memory, and act as everything from inference engines to off-load engines.?They will have to be based on industry standards that can be serviced in the field with the same "plug and play" ease we see in the consumer sector.?Driving to meet this ever-evolving environment, GET Engineering has designed a family of solutions based on their nearly 4 decades of serving the US Military, that are built in the United States to exceed quality, flexibility, and performance expectations.?