The Design of an Open System with Distributed Real-Time Requirements

This paper describes some of the US Navy's New Attack Submarine C3I system - an open system with distributed real-time requirements. It also presents our research design and prototyping efforts that address these requirements. It concludes by discussing several areas where further research is needed to allow open systems to better support real-time applications. 1 Introduction With the advent of U.S. government mandates for open systems in their computer system procurements, even large distributed real-time applications will need to meet the requirements of using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology with interfaces that adhere to widely accepted standards. As part of our work with the US Navy's UnderSea Warfare Center, the US Navy's Research and Development Labs (NRad), and Loral Federal Systems, we have assisted in specifying the requirements and a possible design of aspects of the US Navy's New Attack Submarine (NSSN) Command Control Communication and Intelligence (C3I) system..