Engineers at Thales Communications in Clarksburg, Md., needed software middleware to certify their Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) software-defined radio (SDR) for Software Communications Architecture (SCA) compliance.

They found a solution with ORBexpress communications middleware from Objective Interface Systems Inc. of Herndon, Va.

Thales Communications developed this radio for the Cluster 2 JTRS Enhanced Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio (MBITR) program, also known as JEM. It has been certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) to protect voice and data up through the top-secret level via Type 1 encryption.

The ORBexpress software is the core applications and communications infrastructure for the JEM radio, and enables it to meet the SCA standard.

“Our JEM radio, using ORBexpress as part of its Operating Environment, proves that the SCA can be implemented in a size, weight and power-constrained environment,” says Doug Bishop, Thales’s vice president of engineering. “Objective Interface was very responsive to our needs for strict standards compliance and fast engineering turnaround.”

ORBexpress is an Object Request Broker (ORB), based on the Real-time Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standard that enables real-time and embedded devices in heterogeneous environments to communicate seamlessly. For more information, see www.ois.com.