SCATR | Case Study: A Modular Open Systems Approach

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has made the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) a requirement for future weapon system modifications and new development programs. On January 7, 2019, the Secretaries of the Army, Air Force, and Navy issued a memo mandating the use of MOSA. The memo states that MOSA supporting standards should be included in all requirements, programming, and development activities to the maximum extent possible. The MOSA mandate is codified into U.S. law (Title 10 U.S.C. 2446a.(b), Sec 805), requiring all major defense acquisition programs (MDAP) to be designed and developed using a MOSA open architecture.

In addition, the MOSA directive has accelerated the adoption of various open standards across the three military branches, such as:

The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA)
U.S. Army CCDC C5ISR Center's C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standard (CMOSS)

This legal requirement and DoD-wide commitment to MOSA aims to promote interoperability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness in the development and modification of defense systems by leveraging open architectures and standards. SCATR utilizes a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) for designing affordable and adaptable systems including:

Using modular designs with modular system interfaces
Verifying interfaces comply with widely supported, consensus-based standards
Delivering software-defined interface documentation
Using a system architecture allowing incremental component changes
Complying with technical data rights laws

SCATR MOSA integrates technical requirements, contracting, and legal considerations to enable faster capability and technology evolution through modularity, open standards, and appropriate business practices. Benefits to organizations include cost savings, schedule reduction, technical upgrades, interoperability, and sustainment phase advantages. SCATR's MOSA standards support interoperability, portability, and scalability of our software and follows the Defense Standardization Program (DSP) guidance for developing and adopting these standards.

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