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SOSA Releases Updated Standards

The open architecture is designed to improve interoperability and enable an array of sensor platforms across the defense industry.

U.S. Army Spc. John De Los Santos (l), Spc. Kylie Chislow (middle) and Spc. Trevor Wagner (r), assigned to Foxtrot Company, 1st Aviation Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, part of Joint Task Force - Southern Border, position a MQ-1 Gray Eagle onto a stand at Libby Airfield, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, May 13, 2025. Updated standards for avionics and space-related applications will increase interoperability and security. Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Chase Murray

The San Francisco-based Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium announced Tuesday the release of Edition 2.0, Snapshot 3, of its Technical Standard for SOSA Reference Architecture.

The updated technical standards will support various sensors and improve interoperability, the consortium stated in a June 3 release.

“The release of the Technical Standard for SOSA Reference Architecture, Edition 2.0, Snapshot 3 is a testament to the consortium’s efforts to deliver an open standard that is both widely adopted and useful to the marketplace,” SOSA Consortium Steering Committee Vice Chair Nick Borton said. “This document is a summary of new technical features that will support the commitment to enable interoperability and rapid product insertion and is published to clearly define the path the consortium is taking in the development of the reference architecture.”

The advancement of the standards introduces technical enhancements that will support complex data gathering and hardware advancements, as well as additional security. In addition, the standards support space sensor and avionics systems, in particular, and directed energy applications.

For space-based platforms, SOSA has created two new appendices. The SOSA Space Appendix is “an initial” combination of so-called 3U form factor plug-in card slot profiles for space sensor and avionics systems.

“This addition addresses the unique requirements of space-based platforms, including specialized power supply card specifications, modified plug-in card slot profile pitches and board lengths, and space-specific alternative module profile schemes," the release stated.

Meanwhile, the new Directed Energy Weapon System Appendix has detailed SOSA modules for components around different directed energy sources, beam transport, beam directors, deconfliction safety, thermal management and specialized sensors used in directed energy weapon systems in the U.S. Department of Defense.

This library represents “a significant expansion” in support of emerging defense technologies, according to the consortium. “The integration of OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] Directed Energy Weapon System Reference Architecture v1.1 with the SOSA Technical Standard demonstrates the consortium's commitment to supporting next-generation weapon systems,” the statement said.

In addition, the updated standards implement “significant” streamlining standardization improvements across function and interaction tables, including standardized module and function identification.

“Updates to the interaction binding section (Section 15) provide clearer guidance for system integration, while the updated taxonomy now includes notional system cardinality for SOSA modules and new infrastructure elements,” SOSA indicated.

The group also improved module definition improvements for the merger of position, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities and host platform interfaces. “The release includes substantial updates to Task Manager, Tracker, PNT and Host Platform Interface (HPI) modules, reflecting the consortium's focus on improving system coordination and tracking capabilities,” the statement indicated.

Here, SOSA harnessed lessons learned from real-world implementation to provide clearer guidance for system architects and developers.

The updates were “designed to improve interoperability and accelerate product integration across diverse sensor platforms,” stated the group, which has been around for 10 years forging open architecture.