Curtiss-Wright joins FACE Consortium to lend hand in open-systems avionics standardization
ASHBURN, Va., 12 Oct. 2012. Embedded computing specialist Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions in Ashburn, Va., are joining the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium in an effort to help cut the costs and reduce maintenance requirements of military standard avionics systems by increasing competition among defense contractors, reusing avionics components, and promoting rapid technology insertion for avionics upgrades.
The FACE Consortium, part of the Open Group, seeks to create an open FACE reference architecture that standardizes approaches to bring open standards solutions to avionics systems to reduce costs and speed avionics development. Curtiss-Wright offers candidate FACE hardware including open-systems rugged embedded modules and systems that will comply with future FACE specifications.
FACE is made up of U.S. avionics suppliers, and seeks to capitalize on continuing software innovations quickly and more affordably in the face of current and future U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) budget cuts. Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions is an active Associate member of the FACE Consortium.
The FACE Consortium formed, in part, to meet a DOD need to develop common aircraft architecture and subsystems with an emphasis on commonality for use across the next generation of military vertical-lift aircraft.
In addition to Curtiss-Wright, the FACE Consortium consists of Lockheed Martin; U.S. Naval Air Systems Command; Rockwell Collins; ATK; BAE Systems; Bell Helicopter; Boeing; Elbit Systems of America; GE Aviation Systems; General Dynamics; Green Hills Software; Harris Corp.; Honeywell Aerospace; MITRE; Northrop Grumman; Raytheon; Sikorsky Aircraft; Textron Systems; U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (AMRDEC); Wind River; AdaCore; Barco Federal Systems; Brockwell Technologies Inc.; CALCULEX; Chesapeake Technology International Corp.; CMC Electronics; Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions; Defense Photonics Group; Esterel Technologies; FMS Secure Solutions; GoAhead Software; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; L-3 Communications; LDRA Technology; LynuxWorks; Objective Interface Systems; Physical Optics Corp.; Presagis; Real-Time Innovations; Richland Technologies; Stauder Technologies; Support Systems Associates; Symetrics Industries; Thomas Production Company; Tresys Technology, LLC; Tucson Embedded Systems; ViaSat; and Zodiac Data Systems.
Curtiss-Wright provides circuit boards and systems that host Candidate FACE software to develop, integrate, and test future FACE-compliant avionics.
For more information contact Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions online at www.cwcdefense.com, the FACE Consortium at www.opengroup.org/getinvolved/consortia/face, or the Open Group at www.opengroup.org
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
