The LynxOS® RTOS is the only POSIX®-conformant RTOS that is Linux ABI-compatible and it has been certified as Navy Open Architecture Computing Environment (OACE) Category 3 compliant.

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 Navy Open Architecture (OA)—to ensure future system interoperability and to support software reuse.

What is U.S. Navy Open Architecture ?

The Navy OA is a systems-design approach supported by verifiable governmental testing platforms, such as the OACE, that seeks to implement open specifications for interfaces, services and supporting formats. It enables software components to work across a range of systems and interoperate with other software components on local and remote systems.

The Navy OA promotes interaction between designers, suppliers and end users that facilitates portability. Through OA, common standards and products are employed in the areas of frameworks, middleware, resource management and operating systems, utilizing established and evolving industry standards.

OACE is a compatible set of largely standards-based COTS computing infrastructure components (hardware and software) that provides the computational framework upon which tactical and support applications are built under the guidelines of OA. The scope of OACE includes technical architecture, standards and products.

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. Navy Open Architecture documents

• "Changing the way we do Business," from Future Combat Systems Program Manager (PDF (401 kB))
• Open Architecture Computing Environment (OACE) standards and design guidance documents
• Navy Open Architecture (OA) community

LynuxWorks operating systems prove themselves every day in numerous Navy 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 Navy 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.