The LynxOS® RTOS is the only POSIX®-conformant RTOS that is Linux ABI-compatible. An open-standards operating system such as the LynxOS RTOS must be used as the operating system in all new U.S. Navy systems, according to the Naval Open Architecture (OA)—to ensure future system interoperability and to support software reuse.

The LynxOS RTOS was certified as Category 3-compliant for the former Navy Open Architecture Computing Environment (OACE), whose key tenets have since been incorporated into the DoD IT Standards Registry (DISR)—the online repository of IT standards formerly captured in the Joint Technical Architecture (JTA).

What is U.S. Naval Open Architecture ?

The official definition of Naval Open Architecture is, "the confluence of business and technical practices yielding modular, interoperable systems that adhere to open standards with published interfaces. OA delivers increased warfighting capabilities in a shorter time at reduced cost."

Key Open Architecture principles include:

• Modular design and design disclosure
• Reusable application software
• Interoperable joint warfighting applications and secure information exchange
• Life-cycle affordability
• Encouraging competition and collaboration through development of alternative solutions and sources

U.S. Naval Open Architecture documents

• "Changing the way we do Business," from Future Combat Systems Program Manager (PDF (401 kB))
• Naval Open Architecture (OA) community

LynuxWorks operating systems prove themselves every day in numerous Naval Open Architecture programs:

• DDG-1000 (formely known as DD(X)—next-generation warship
• SSDS—Shipboard Self-Defense System
• COTS for AEGIS-equipped cruiser conversion
• SPY radar program
• Weapons Control System (WCS)
• NSWC SGS/AC Shipboard Gridlock System with Automatic Correlation
• TMS UK Navy sonar systems (display and communications)
• Patriot Missile trainer and simulator—long-range, high-altitude, all-weather defense system
• MK 30—anti-submarine warfare training target system
• Raytheon MK 57 vertical launching system—DDG-1000
• Joint Tactical Combat Training System (JTCTS)—POD control system
• BSG-1 Program Nuclear Tomahawk Missile Program—U.S. Navy surface- and submarine-launched precision strike standoff weapon
• Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) submarine trainer

Both the Naval OA initiative and the Weapons Systems Common Operating Environment (WSCOE), rely on the hard, real-time deterministic capabilities of the LynxOS real-time operating system to satisfy their rigorous system requirements.