Automated integration of real-time and non-real-time defense systems Emre Dalkıran a , Tolga € Onel b , Okan Topçu c , Kadir Alpaslan Demir d, * a Barbaros Naval Science and Engineering Institute, Turkish Naval Academy, National Defense University, Tuzla, Istanbul, 34942, Turkey b Department of Computer Engineering, Turkish Naval Academy, National Defense University, Tuzla, Istanbul, 34942, Turkey c Department of Computer Engineering, Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, Kalkanli, Guzelyurt, Mersin 10, 99738, Turkey d Institute of Social Sciences, Gebze Technical University, Gebze, Kocaeli, 41400, Turkey article info Article history: Received 5 September 2019 Received in revised form 30 December 2019 Accepted 8 January 2020 Available online xxx Keywords: Systems integration System of systems Systems engineering Software engineering C4I systems Defense systems Data distribution service DDS integration Java message service JMS abstract Various application domains require the integration of distributed real-time or near-real-time systems with non-real-time systems. Smart cities, smart homes, ambient intelligent systems, or network-centric defense systems are among these application domains. Data Distribution Service (DDS) is a communi- cation mechanism based on Data-Centric Publish-Subscribe (DCPS) model. It is used for distributed systems with real-time operational constraints. Java Message Service (JMS) is a messaging standard for enterprise systems using Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) for non-real-time operations. JMS allows Java programs to exchange messages in a loosely coupled fashion. JMS also supports sending and receiving messages using a messaging queue and a publish-subscribe interface. In this article, we pro- pose an architecture enabling the automated integration of distributed real-time and non-real-time systems. We test our proposed architecture using a distributed Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) system. The system has DDS-based real-time Combat Management System components deployed to naval warships, and SOA-based non-real-time Command and Control components used at headquarters. The proposed solution enables the exchange of data between these two systems efficiently. We compare the proposed solution with a similar study. Our solution is superior in terms of automation support, ease of implementation, scalability, and performance. © 2020 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China Ordnance Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/). 1. Introduction There are many application domains that can benefit from so- lutions enabling the integration of real-time or near-real-time and non-real-time systems. Smart cities, smart homes, ambient intel- ligent systems, and defense systems are among these application domains. Especially, in the defense domain, lately, the development cost of defense software systems is increasing exponentially. Therefore, cost-effective solutions enabling system of systems de- velopments are highly valuable. The integration of existing real- time and non-real-time systems to achieve new or increased ca- pabilities is a cost-effective solution in the defense domain. In this article, we propose a communication mechanism for the integra- tion of real-time Data Distribution Service (DDS) systems, i.e., Combat Management Systems (CMSs) on naval warships and the non-real-time Command and Control (C2) systems at headquarters. On the battlefield, situational awareness is one of the critical factors for mission success. Situational awareness refers to the perception of elements on the battlefield in the current situation, comprehension of the current situation, and projection of the future status of the battlefield [31 ,32]. Good situational awareness helps to achieve effective decision making. In the past two decades, a new concept namely Network Centric Warfare (NCW), which is also called Network-Enabled Capability, has emerged to replace platform-centric warfare [19]. In platform-centric warfare, each warfighting unit maintains an individual situational awareness that is bound by a geographical area due to limited sensor range. In the NCW paradigm, a shared battlespace awareness is created by networking geographically dispersed forces [1 ,2]. For example, we achieve a shared battlespace awareness by networking CMSs on * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: emre59dalkiran@gmail.com (E. Dalkıran), onel.tolga@gmail. com (T. € Onel), okantopcu@gmail.com (O. Topçu), kadiralpaslandemir@gmail.com (K.A. Demir). Peer review under responsibility of China Ordnance Society Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Defence Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dt https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2020.01.005 2214-9147/© 2020 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China Ordnance Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Defence Technology xxx (xxxx) xxx Please cite this article as: Dalkıran E et al., Automated integration of real-time and non-real-time defense systems, Defence Technology, https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2020.01.005