NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.–The Navy demonstrated Common Control System (CCS) software on three different types of hardware, according to a service spokeswoman.
Those three types of hardware are: Dell R200 Server with Dell OptiPlex 755 desktop computer, which was demonstrated at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division; Dell Precision R5400 Rack Workstation servers at NAWC Aircraft Division and Dell Precision T5400 Tower Workstation with SuperMicro servers at Washington Planning Center, Washington Navy Yard, according to a service spokeswoman.
The NAWC-WD demonstrations took place Oct. 26, 2011; NAWC-AD demos Dec. 1-2, 2011 and the Washington Planning Center demos March 14, according to a service spokeswoman.
CCS is a software-only solution intended to address common requirements for current and future unmanned aerial systems (UAS), according to a Navy statement. CCS is currently being developed for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance System (UCLASS) and Medium Range Maritime Unmanned Aerial System (MRM UAS) and will be available for use with other unmanned vehicles, including air, surface and subsurface, in the future, according to a service statement.
Rear Adm. William Shannon, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, told an audience April 17 at the Sea Air Space Exposition, hosted by the Navy League, the service has started the development and the framework for CCS.
“We were also able to dissociate the presentation layer from the rest of the program, which is important if you want to make changes to the presentation layer,” he said.
Shannon said the need to have one control system able to operate multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is critical to the future of unmanned for the Navy and Marine Corps.
“We need to be consistent and we need to stay with it so we’re not constantly re-training our operators because they see a unique and different user interface,” Shannon said about CCS, which he said is not a program of record. “It needs to be a common and similar interface that will help them move from one system to another.”
In addition to being able to run multiple UAVs from one control system, CCS is important so the services don’t waste money buying the same products, Shannon said. He suggested paying a license fee or, perhaps, getting a CCS already developed by another government agency.
“It is critical for the government to own the framework so we don’t…have to buy, what essentially is a very similar framework, over and over again,” Shannon said.