Shipboard Software Deployment Tools for Complex Heterogeneous Systems
Navy SBIR FY2013.1


Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2013.1
Topic No.: N131-038
Topic Title: Shipboard Software Deployment Tools for Complex Heterogeneous Systems
Proposal No.: N131-038-0510
Firm: Adaptive Methods, Inc
5860 Trinity Parkway
Suite 200
Centreville, Virginia 20120
Contact: Ron Steele
Phone: (703) 968-8040
Web Site: www.adaptivemethods.com
Abstract: Navy tactical software, such as the AN/SQQ89A (V)15 surface ASW environment, requires hundreds of interacting software components deployed across a heterogeneous set of compute platforms and communication devices. Navy sonar operators tasked to perform maintenance often do not have the technical expertise with multiple operating systems and hardware devices deployed on the platform. Detailed Software Version Description (SVD) documents are necessary to ensure that an operator with limited expertise can perform the complex job of reinstallation and maintenance. This proposal seeks to design a software installation and maintenance toolkit that greatly reduces the effort, knowledge, and time required for these activities. The toolkit will automate nearly every activity required for system installation and maintenance. Of particular node is removing the requirement that shipboard personal be required to edit configuration files and input data on a command line as both of these activities are error prone and can be confusing. A significant part of the tool design will be aimed at the system integrator to enable efficient packaging of the deployed systems and for deployment testing prior to package dissemination.
Benefits: The anticipated benefits of the proposed systems are 1) reduced number of errors during software installation, 2) reduced time for software installation, 3) reduced turn-a-round time from deliver of software to the integrator to installation on shipboard, 4) reduced amount of contractor support on shipboard owning to the reduced number of installation issues, 5) faster reconfiguration of replacement hardware components due to less need for manual installation.

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