Drawing the line between a multi-platform architecture and a detailed implementation design: Where does the Government Reference Architecture (GRA) end and Platform Specifc Design begin?

The 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) challenged Government and Industry to improve synchronization between satellite terminal programs and to reduce the time required to field new terminals. In response, the U. S. Army began a consortium with industry to develop a course of actions and implement a realizable cost effective approach that directly addresses this challenge. The result of this consortium effort was the development of a Government Reference Architecture (GRA) for the above 2 GHz SATCOM terminal domain. This architecture was designed as a cross service solution addressing a diverse set of possible platforms from submarine to ground mobile assets. As such the architecture was required to provide the necessary foundation for terminal development which both constrains the solution set promoting reuse, COTS utilization, and true modularity while providing the designer/integrator with the flexibility to incorporate new technologies and address unique requirements associated with a particular platform or service. Obviously defining the line that separates architecture from implementation design detail is difficult. This paper will outline how the consortium defined this line, and discuss some of the implementation issues various industry groups are facing in developing GRA based implementations today.