Tasked with developing an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) pod for a crewed, fixed-wing aircraft, an aerospace company based in the United States sought a network attached storage (NAS) device that was fast enough for new high-fidelity sensors that could store the vast amounts of data produced, could protect the classified data, and facilitate capacity expansion in the future.
With aircraft missions lasting hours, the sensors would produce massive amounts of data. The NAS device needed to have enough storage capacity for these long missions. Ten terabytes (10 TB) capacity was a minimum requirement. However, even more storage capacity was expected to be needed as sensors collected additional data. So, options for capacity expansion had to be exhibited.
The NAS had to protect the classified sensor and target data during the missions. Also, the saved sensor data was to be transported from the aircraft pod back to a ground station. It was a requirement to protect the data while in transit. In the ground station, the saved sensor data would be analyzed for important information that may be critical for future missions. Agency-approved encryption was a requirement.
