Rapid retargeting a solution to electronic systems obsolescence

In 1993, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), in conjunction with the Undersecretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition established a program known as Technology for Affordability. That program is executed today in many of the Navy's weapon systems procurements and is specifically resident in two ONR programs: Manufacturing Technology and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). The technology discussed in this paper was developed under the auspices of the SBIR program and is known as Rapid Retargeting. It is executed through VisiCom Laboratories, Inc., a California-based small business. Rapid Retargeting rehosts existing logic into new hardware technology. This rehosting process begins by extracting the functionality of the target hardware and capturing it in VHSIC Hardware Descriptive Language (VHDL). The resulting software models are simulated and compared with the original hardware for verification. Once verified the models are ported to a new hardware design. Subsequently, parts obsolescence is no longer an issue: software models can be rehosted whenever new technology becomes available.