Software Engineering Institute

The Air Force acquisition community tasked the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) to create a reference document that would provide the Air Force with a better understanding of software technologies. This knowledge will allow the Air Force to systematically plan the research and development (R&D) and technology insertion required to meet current and future Air Force needs, from the upgrade and evolution of current systems to the development of new systems. 

The initial release of the Software Technology Reference Guide is a prototype to provide initial capability, show the feasibility, and examine the usability of such a document. This prototype generally emphasizes software technology of importance to the C4I (command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence) domain. This emphasis on C4I neither narrowed nor broadened the scope of the document; it did, however, provide guidance in seeking out requirements and technologies. It served as a reminder that this work is concerned with complex, large-scale, distributed, real-time, software-intensive, embedded systems in which reliability, availability, safety, security, performance, maintainability, and cost are major concerns.