A Milestone Toward Achieving FACE Conformance, And First To Reach It

Rockwell Collins’ Missionized Flight Management Software (MFMS-1000) has passed Verification Authority tests and inspections and has been issued a Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Verification Statement—the first in the industry. FACE verification is the process of determining the conformance of a software implementation to specification requirements of the FACE Technical Standard, a standard of The Open Group.

“Rockwell Collins is dedicated to supporting the U.S. Department of Defense’s emphasis on Modular Open Systems Architecture standards for more affordable solutions,” said Troy Brunk, vice president and general manager, Airborne Solutions for Rockwell Collins. “The FACE version of our MFMS-1000 is designed to enable the Navy to affordably meet Required Navigation Performance Area Navigation (RNP RNAV) requirements on aircraft currently without this capability such as the AV-8B, V-22 and MH-60R/S, as well as those used by the other services.”

The MFMS-1000 is a reusable software product developed as hardware and architecture agnostic, meaning it can be ported across different avionics systems from both Rockwell Collins and other vendors. MFMS-1000 provides full civil airspace interoperability while ensuring timely and efficient mission planning. Receiving a FACE verification statement is an important step in the process of certifying the MFMS-1000 as conformant to the FACE Technical Standard.

The FACE Technical Standard was developed by the FACE Consortium—a government and industry partnership to define an open avionics environment for airborne platforms. The primary objective of the FACE Consortium includes creating reusable and interoperable software capabilities, while fostering innovation and competition to support the U.S. DoD’s Better Buying Power (BBP) Modular Open Systems Architecture initiative. The FACE approach enhances technology insertion, as well as accelerates and simplifies the delivery of advanced capability into systems.

Rockwell Collins is a sponsor and founding member of the FACE Consortium, and holds multiple leadership positions at the steering committee and subcommittee levels.

(Image provided with Rockwell Collins news release)

FMI: www.rockwellcollins.com