Thread: PDA-184
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Old 07-12-2012, 15:40   #11
69harley
Guerrilla
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Fayetteville, NC
Posts: 280
Interesting brief on the history and future of PDA-184. Joe Adami would certainly be proud.

PDA-184 Update

The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Special Operations Research, Development and Acquisition Center (SORDAC), Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications and Computers (PEO C4) requires systems engineering support for continued development and maintenance of Personal Data Assistant (PDA-184) software. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) was tasked with the responsibility for managing the engineering, software development and maintenance support for PDA-184.

DISA initially, developed PDA-184 software in the late 1990's as an experimental tool (A Beta Version of the current PDA-184 application) to enhance the MIL-STD-188-184 protocol. Around 2006, USSOCOM requested that DISA assess PDA-184 application for further development and modifications to determine its operational functionality in the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) environment. DISA's assessment study identified that the PDA-184 could be adapted as a user friendly operational application at significant cost savings when compared to commercially available proprietary applications.

PDA-184's development reached a major milestone in 2007, with the release of PDA-184 Version 4.9.3. Through additional enhancements, we recently released Version 4.11.1 and in doing so, we have reached a terminal point in the development of the current software architecture of the PDA-184 application.

Further development will include consolidation of multiple versions of PDA-184 into a single version to regain configuration control and code refactoring (re-architecture) to reduce code complexity; improved readability and maintainability, and improve code extensibility. Code re-architecture will enable a multiplicity of coding enhancements unachievable today.

Because of a recent decision by DISA management to bifurcate the PDA-184 and the IW (PDA-184 Interface), the evolution of the PDA-184 will continue on an independent path. We will also endeavor to promote structure to the current evolutionary software development effort and underpin its importance to the WARFIGHTER by officially listing the PDA-184 as a DISA "Project of Record." As such, System Engineering disciplines will be established and continued in follow-on efforts to capture and document previous accomplishments, foster performance based processes and advance future code development.
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