The challenges of size, weight, power consumption, and the cost of federated sensor systems for defense applications can be mitigated by exploring solutions derived from collaborative activities across government, industry, and academia. But sensor integration is illusive. For example, new vehicles are almost always developed by a single prime contractor; sensors are often identified as Contractor Furnished Material or Government Furnished Equipment and acquired by the “Prime.” This approach leads to federate architectures; sensor upgrades or new additions often show the “Christmas tree” effect, where sensors are more or less “hung” on the platform. This talk will explore novel approaches to integrating sensors needed to provide enhanced or new capabilities. Integrated sensors can support multiple missions performed by a single platform alone or with other manned or unmanned platforms, using common standards emerging from the DoD and Industry.
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