The impact of COTS on a ground support system procurement

This paper investigates some of the benefits and draw-backs associated with the application of COTS hardware and software. Previous papers have identified that COTS requires a disciplined engineering approach to achieve good results. COTS issues are discussed against the background of an ongoing project to supply a field deployable Ground Support System (GSS). Many of the issues have not yet been completely resolved, however the author believes that the insights gained so far on this project will be of value to others. The system is being developed to provide mobile support to a military helicopter. The system will be deployed in a number of vehicles and provide both Mission Planning and Maintenance Data facilities on separate workstations. The workstations are based on COTS PC components that are packaged to meet the rugged environment. A COTS operating system (Windows NT 4) and COTS software utilities are employed to host bespoke software applications. The software applications, whilst being specifically developed for the programme, are based on previously developed applications used for other aircraft types.