COMPETITION MEETS COLLABORATION
seen when efforts like the Intra Soldier Wireless and Integrated Soldier Sensor System begin to come online.
Achieving robust interoperability meant a great deal more than simply writing a requirement for interoperability. It involved full participation of PM SMS, as well as resources and support for the test- ing and development necessary to achieve the goal. PM SMS provided funding for testing and development of interoperabil- ity as part of the FWS-I program.
“Interoperability must be incorporated early in the system integration effort,” said Dean Kissinger, technology lead for the FWS-I team. “Trying to retrofit systems to achieve interoperability would have introduced significant risk and cost to the program.” Consequently, PM SMS began planning early in the process.
Te government team drafted an initial interface control document (ICD), which established a baseline for coordination between the government and vendor teams. “Our initial ICD was generic in
some parts, allowing vendor-specific technical solutions to be added when the time was right,” Kissinger said. “Tis approach
enabled early collaboration
with the vendors to complete the docu- ment. We then facilitated the integration effort to ensure that the vendors’ hard- ware was able to communicate with each other and be compliant with the ICD.”
CHALLENGING OLD HABITS Partnering with competitors in writ- ing the ICD wasn’t a typical process for the vendors. And while both vendors individually welcomed the idea of being involved, it took some time and effort for all parties to feel comfortable with the approach. Meetings held in spring and summer 2015 took the ICD from con- cept to reality. Vendors were invited to the competitor’s facilities for engineering working group sessions that slowly ham- mered out a plan.
“Te government team had to earn the trust of both suppliers and facilitate the discussions so that we all felt comfort- able sharing the level of detail required
to be successful,” said Joe Tiano, pro- gram director for BAE. As this was the first time either vendor had been asked to work with a direct competitor, Tiano said, “Our expectations were low going into the effort because of the concerns with protecting intellectual property [IP] and being careful not to provide a com- petitive advantage.”
Tony Bacarella, senior director and dismounted portfolio leader for DRS, shared the same concerns. “It took a lot of effort on the part of the government to deliberately manage the process and provide DRS a level of comfort that they were able to facilitate the discussions while being sensitive to DRS’s IP con- cerns,” Bacarella said.
Te meetings culminated in an opera- tional excursion to WSMR in May. For the very first time, representatives from both vendors and the government team witnessed the results of their labor in a cross-vendor operational environment. PM SMS put the systems in the hands of Soldiers and had them run missions in
HANDS-ON TECH
ENVG III and FWS-I provide dismounted Soldiers with an integrated thermal targeting system to illuminate the night. PM SMS’s work to wirelessly link the Soldier’s maneuver sensor in the ENVG and the targeting sensor in the FWS gives the light fighter a battlefield capability previously available only to mechanized and armored forces. (Image courtesy of PEO Soldier)
80
Army AL&T Magazine
October-December 2016
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