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Department of Homeland Security · 2023 · Homeland Security

Enterprise Architecture & Sensor Integration

A heterogeneous border-sensor portfolio modernized into a coherent integration architecture with lifecycle cybersecurity overlay — used as the engineering baseline for sustained operations and downstream procurement.

Architecture Sensor Fusion
▌ Illustrative Sanitized — figures representative of similar engagements.
Sensor classes
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Sites in scope
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Interface specs
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Cyber controls
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01
Challenge

Years of sequential procurements had produced a sensor portfolio with seven distinct classes — radar, EO/IR, ground-based, tethered, fixed, mobile, and unattended — each with its own data format, its own command path, and its own cyber posture. There was no unified architecture, no agreed CONOPS, and no lifecycle cyber overlay. Operations were working but undocumented; every new procurement re-litigated the same integration questions from scratch.

02
Approach

We started by inventorying what was actually deployed, not what the program records said was deployed — those had diverged. From the inventory we built an integration architecture that preserved the operational distinctions between sensor classes rather than flattening them to a single object class at ingest. CONOPS and interface specifications followed, with a lifecycle cybersecurity overlay aligned to NIST 800-53 controls and operational realities — not just a checklist.

  1. 01

    Inventory

    What's actually deployed — not what the records say. Resolved discrepancies between program records and operational reality before architecture work began.

  2. 02

    Architect

    Integration architecture preserving the operational distinctions analysts care about. Ontology-driven; classes stay distinct at ingest.

  3. 03

    Specify

    Interface specifications per sensor class plus the cross-class command-and-control fabric. Versioned, signed, queryable.

  4. 04

    Secure

    Lifecycle cybersecurity overlay mapped to NIST 800-53. Each control tied to operational use, not a checklist.

  5. 05

    Hand off

    Architecture and CONOPS are the artifacts new contractors get on day one. Procurement-ready baseline.

03
Outcome

Delivered the engineering baseline used for sustained multi-sensor operations and as the reference document for two downstream procurements. The architecture and CONOPS are now the artifacts new contractors are handed on day one — the integration questions don't get re-litigated.

Impact
  • Engineering baseline used for sustained multi-sensor operations
  • Architecture reused across two follow-on procurements
  • Lifecycle cyber overlay accepted by the CISO Office
  • CONOPS now the reference document for downstream T&E

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