PRODUCT LINE HALL OF FAME

U.S. Army Live Training Transformation Product Line

The United States Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) is in the business of training soldiers and growing leaders by providing responsive, interoperable simulation, training, and testing solutions and acquisition. Its training and testing systems portfolio — the Live Training Transformation (LT2) product line — includes live, virtual, and constructive training packaged in embedded and interoperable products that are fielded and used throughout the world.

LT2 has long been a true software product line, using first generation approaches. In 2010, the program made the transition to Second Generation Product Line Engineering (2GPLE). General Dynamics, the prime contractor, collaborated with BigLever Software and other experts in the fields of product line engineering and live training, to define and implement the approach for the programfs 2GPLE adoption under PEO STRIfs Consolidated Product-Line Management (CPM) contract.

LT2 shared assets include the open architectures, common software components, standards, processes, policies, governance, documentation, and more, all leading to a common approach and frameworks for developing live training systems. Maximizing asset sharing significantly reduced fielding time and minimized programmatic costs, while enhancing the training capabilities afforded to the soldier. More specifically, key benefits enabled by the 2GPLE approach include: higher levels of efficiency in the Armyfs integration of products; compatibility of objective system and products with evolving capabilities; wider interoperability before executing subsystem and device production; and reduced total lifecycle costs to include acquisition, development, testing, fielding, sustainment, and maintenance.

Recognized as the Armyfs live training standard, the LT2 product line architecture, standards, assets, and common operating environment have been used by more than 16 major Army and Department of Defense live training programs with more than 130 systems fielded. The first generation approaches generated more than $300 million in cost avoidance across the development of Combat Training Centers Instrumentation Systems, Home Station Instrumentation Systems, Instrumented Ranges, and Targetry. The 2GPLE approach is projected to save another $200 million over the next two to five years.

References

Krueger, C. and Clements, P. gSystems and Software Product Line Engineering,h Encyclopedia of Software Engineering, Philip A. LaPlante ed., Taylor and Francis, 2013.

Clements, P., Gregg, S., Krueger, C., Lanman, J., Rivera, J., Scharadin, R., Shepherd, J., and Winkler, A., gSecond Generation Product Line Engineering Takes Hold in the DoD,h Crosstalk, The Journal of Defense Software Engineering, USAF Software Technology Support Center, 2013, in publication.

Jeremy Lanman, Rowland Darbin, Jorge Rivera, Paul Clements, Charles Krueger, gThe challenges of applying service orientation to the U.S. Army’s live training software product line,h Proceedings,SPLC ’13 Proceedings of the 17th International Software Product Line Conference, Pages 244-253, ACM New York, NY, USA, 2013