Original Date: 04/28/1995
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Lockheed Martin successfully applies requirements management through closely-related initiatives. Obsolescence Management combines manufacturer information and technology assessments with various tools to predict when components and products will become obsolete. Commercial Technology Insertion addresses replacing military- specified parts with commercial products, obsolete units as well as new designs. A third requirements management initiative, Enhanced Built-In-Test, is aimed at eliminating Intermediate Level Maintenance.

Obsolescence Management provides risk information on electronic component technologies to help designers determine whether the components they select will meet the life cycle development and cost-of-ownership requirements of the design. Obsolescence Management uses the Document Information and Control System for displaying on-line data. This on-line obsolescence information helps the engineer select current technology for product designs and also provides source data used by procurement and product assurance personnel. The system also furnishes descriptive data for standardization, parts control, and part status.

In the second initiative, Lockheed Martin is focusing Commercial Technology Insertion's initial effort on microcircuits. A commercial component is any non-military part – ceramic or plastic – including telecommunication, computer, medical, automotive, industrial grade, or other devices. The Commercial Technology Insertion program provides a comprehensive plan for the selection, application, and procurement of reliable, low- cost commercial components. Current emphasis is on replacing ceramic components with plastic. Moisture-induced and temperature cycling failures are two major long-term reliability considerations for plastic components. These considerations are being analyzed against various product requirements. Potential cost saving opportunities and return on investments for plastic over ceramic components can exceed a 75 to 1 ratio.

In a related effort, Enhanced Built-In-Test teams have designed and developed extremely high density ASICs to meet system requirements. Digital ASICs with greater than 250,000 logic gates have been designed. In some ASICs, internal clock speeds of 1 GHz have been utilized. These electronic densities and speeds have driven creative approaches to component, module, and system built-in-test. This Enhanced Built-in-Test functionality centers around the IEEE-1149.1 Joint Test Action Group bus. At the component level, Electronics and Missiles (E&M) has a patent pending on the self-test technique Fabilus^TM for digital ASICs. This technique allows the ASIC to perform self test and output a go/no-go code to the 1149.1 bus. The heart of the module and system-level Enhanced Built-in- Test is an inexpensive, patent-pending ASIC known as the Digital Test and Maintenance ASIC. This ASIC control the bus and facilitates system-level-at-speed testing. Two other ASICs (the Analog Test and Maintenance ASIC and the temp-sense ASIC) add the ability to handle analog signals and temperature considerations to the 1149.1 bus. Full implementation of the Enhanced Built-in-Test concept eliminates factor test equipment for electronics and limits field test equipment to an OTS 1149.1 interface card. The test software is highly reusable, and the software is used from engineering development through field support. A high percentage of the test software is also reusable from system to system.

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