Universal Protocol Adapter (UPA)

 

Domenix is a leader in disparate sensor data integration, sensor data fusion, and advanced data analytics.  Domenix's flagship product is UPA, which provides seamless Plug and Play (PnP) sensor data access and control across fixed and networked domains. UPA is a software suite that can plug into sensors and then provide access to those sensors via a variety of standard communications mediums and protocols.

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Sensor data access, control, and configuration are supported by several standards, but many vendors do not adhere to these standards and in many cases have their own interfaces.  UPA was built specifically to address these interoperability issues across a variety of sensor types and domains by making the same and disparate sensor data available in a common format.  This also creates a foundation for sensor data fusion and advanced analytics that support the creation of actionable intelligence and decision support (to human users and other sensors and systems). 

 

Sensor profiles are developed for each sensor type, which allows that sensor to “plugin” to UPA and conforms to a common standard. As vendors update their interfaces, updates can be made to the configuration-controlled sensor profile and distributed to all instances where sensor interface upgrades are required. The UPA solution provides a way to reduce the complexity and non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs to vendors and end customers, in order to quickly adapt and implement interface standards. Domenix provides this solution as software and/or embeddable hardware, thereby reducing life cycle costs and ensuring proper implementation of the interfaces and standards.

 

Problem space: Sensor vendors must support certain standards and maintain compliance with the evolving standards and specifications. This means that each vendor must obtain the specialized knowledge and experience required to meet and maintain compliance with each update to the specification. Currently, sensor vendors develop solutions utilizing a mix of hardware and software without implementing consistent standards, which creates:
 

• additional development cost and life cycle issues

• additional need for test and validation resources

• additional risk to cyber security

• NRE costs with each new sensor or specification update

• delayed delivery to the end-user

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Solution Space: UPA is a generic Protocol Handler (PH), used as a drop-in reference platform.  Utilizing an existing PH capability, it has been extended to support sensor interface standards (e.g. The Army’s Integrated Sensor Architecture (ISA), Cursor on Target (CoT), and the CBRN community's CBRN Common Sensor Interface (CCSI) standards. This eliminates the need for vendor-specific design and reduces existing complexities by having a “generic design” for the PH to implement vendor-specific sensor information.  In addition to reducing NRE costs to vendors, the PH ensures predictable implementations and fluid updates that maintain the integrity of the specification by versioning. Utilizing UPA allows for easy integration with DOD Users that utilize ISA Controllers and/or TAK Server and provides convenient field software updates with simple modular replacement of UPA components.

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UPA is composed of five Configuration Items (CI)s as detailed and depicted below:​

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• Sensor Interface Adapter (SIA) – This component provides communications with the sensor, which is typically either a serial interface (e.g., RS-232, USB) with specific characteristics (speed, data bits, parity, start of message sequence, end of message sequence, etc.) or an Ethernet interface (TCP/IP, UDP/IP).​

• Sensor Protocol Adapter (SPA) – This component translates received messages into the PH internal format as well as internal messages into the sensor's format. ​

• Generic Protocol Handler (GPH) – This component, usually just referred to as the Protocol Handler (PH), is the intermediary message control layer that bridges the gap between sensor and host.  The PH specifically handles message processing, command and control, time-based messaging, and configuration. ​

• Host Protocol Adapter( HPA) – This component translates internal format IPC Queue entries to and from the sensor’s format. ​

• Host Interface Adapter (HIA) – This component provides communications with the host system.  This typically is an Ethernet interface. ​