Common Extensible Architecture for Integrated Mission Systems (CEAMS)
Navy SBIR FY2012.1


Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1
Topic No.: N121-045
Topic Title: Common Extensible Architecture for Integrated Mission Systems (CEAMS)
Proposal No.: N121-045-0079
Firm: Charles River Analytics Inc.
625 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138-4555
Contact: Scott Harrison
Phone: (617) 491-3474
Web Site: www.cra.com
Abstract: Today's Navy airborne mission platforms use computing systems that are stand-alone collections of hardware and software tied to specific programs and vendors. These stovepiped systems lack common data formats and cannot communicate with one another without substantial ad hoc interface engineering work. Cobbled together mission systems are badly fragmented, inflexible, and difficult to extend, adapt, upgrade, or reuse for other purposes. Charles River Analytics proposes to address this problem by designing and demonstrating a Common Extensible Architecture for Integrated Mission Systems (CEAMS), a service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based framework uniquely and specifically designed from the ground up to work in environments characterized by low communications bandwidth and poor connectivity. CEAMS uses a common metadata environment manager to provide common component communication, and a topic-based messaging system to regulate how applications interact with users and each other. It uses market-based optimization to prioritize messages using user-defined criteria and regulate overall system performance. The CEAMS framework supports system-wide communication between sensors, data sources, applications, and human users, enabling full interoperability between system components. It also supports modular, easily extensible business logic, enabling flexible system integration with both existing mission support tools and newer software supporting intelligent reasoning over the complete operational environment.
Benefits: Technologies developed under CEAMS will enable flexible, highly configurable sensor interaction in a common data environment. It will support easy cross-service integration with existing sensor tools and data sources, and enable further cutting edge intelligent tool development. This work will also support the commercial development of dynamic, intelligent systems in the shipping, airline, and utilities markets.

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