Making A Case for Modified COTS

Friday, April 01 2011

In 1992 the Department of Defense (DOD) was exploring ways to reduce the procurement costs and delivery times of equipment purchases having to meet military standards. The development, documentation and certification costs of the equipment was astronomical, as at that time all of the equipment purchased had to comply with one or more rigorous military standards. In response, the DOD implemented the commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) initiative.

In the early years of COTS the amount of actual commercial-off-the-shelf equipment purchased by the DOD was limited because there was a cultural reluctance to purchase equipment that did not meet the associated military standards. There was an unwillingness to modify or relax the specifications within the standards. However, over time COTS opened the door to allow the DOD and their contractors to explore the possibilities of modifying existing off-the-shelf products to meet less demanding applications.

MCOTS

Today, the COTS initiative has been so successful that engineers incorporate COTS equipment into military systems wherever possible. There is now a willingness to amend or even eliminate unnecessary portions of military specifications to accept COTS equipment. However, in most cases not all of the military standard elements are eliminated, requiring the equipment manufacturer to make necessary product modifications to comply. After the required modifications, classifying the equipment as true COTS is misleading and the acronym modified-commercial-off-the-shelf (MCOTS) should really be used.

In the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and power conversion industries, like most other electronic equipment, the modifications typically required are in the areas of ruggedization and environmental concerns. The environmental issues could include widening the equipment’s operational temperature range, as well as reducing conducted and emitted radio frequency interference (RFI) and electro-magnetic interference (EMI) emissions. A third environmental area relates to where the equipment is to be used. Will it be used in a protected indoor, or unprotected, outdoor environment? Will it be used in the desert or near the ocean? Is it an aircraft, ground, or shipboard installation? Unlike the days prior to COTS, the level of modification required and specified military standard compliance is often determined by the end-use of the equipment. The extent of product modification required may range from a simple circuit change or a complete redesign and repackaging of existing electronics. What follows is an illustration of the various facets that might have to be addressed in developing an MCOTS product.