AME - Capabilities

Ideally suited for real-time, distributed applications, the AME provides communications system operators with:

End-to-End Data Accountability / Quality of Service (QoS)
Universal Equipment / Protocol Interoperability
Real-Time, Distributed Command and Control
Common Operating Environment

The AME provides universal platform/component/protocol interoperability. Once a communications component is integrated into the AME, it becomes "plug-and-play" with other AME-based systems. Operators do not have to include integration risk as a factor in their decision-making process and are free to select components that best meet system requirements.

Virtually any software-controllable hardware or software-based system component can be rapidly integrated to become a Service Module for the AME, including communications protocols. MissionSpace currently has Service Modules that support reliable and raw sockets, CCSDS protocols including AOS, CFDP, SFDU, NASCOM, as well as custom protocols which intelligently manage meta data.

The operational concept behind the AME is to create new "plug-and-play" Service Modules whenever new interfaces are needed. These service modules can be developed by MissionSpace or our customers, whose participation we actively encourage.

A major problem encountered by all communication systems is the issue of data accountability. Locating and isolating the source of a data loss problem can be a tedious and time-consuming task. MissionSpace's AME resolves this problem by providing specific, actionable information to operators when a data anomaly occurs.

When asked “What happened to my data?”, an operator can instantly provide the What, Where, When, Why, and How the data loss occurred. The AME quickly identifies and isolates problems, send alerts to key operations and personnel, and automatically requests retransmission of the missing frames/packets. To accomplish this, the AME takes advantage of the Meta data produced by the system's Service Modules to provide operators with automated anomaly identification and data retransmission capabilities.

isrthermore, the AME compiles a time-correlated telemetry stream for all mission-related data. Archive, retrieval, and analysis of telemetry is greatly simplified and also includes equipment status. This provides operators with a high level of "situational awareness", thus enabling them to react more quickly when a problem arises. This is a key capability of the AME because it provides operators with great transparency as to the status and performance of all processes on the AME network.

Unlike most COTS systems, which tend to be monolithic and vendor-specific, the AME was designed to allow for the homogeneous integration and interoperation of equipment and applications from many vendors. AME Client/Server code can be easily incorporated into any major operating system (Linux, Solaris, Windows, Mac) without any performance penalties

The AME is highly flexible and can support very high data rates on very low-end platforms, thus reducing the need for purchasing expensive, high-end computing platforms. In addition, the AME provides a common operating environment and has been demonstrated to execute on a wide array of hardware; including PDA devices, PC 104 boards, and Sun servers.

A key element of the AME involves its capability to remotely configure and control local as well as distributed equipment. The AME allows operators at a local or remote AME client to request information regarding an AME server's capabilities, select desired processes, and configure the system.

To provide real-time failover capabilities, operators can dynamically apply either centralized or decentralized command and control methodologies. This enables operators to balance processing and/or network loads "on-the-fly".