The 2026 Integrated Sensor Architecture (ISA) Community Summit, held at Aberdeen Proving Ground’s (APG) Mallette Training Facility, brought together stakeholders from all over the U.S. government, industry, and partner nations to synchronize on the status of ISA, discuss best practices, hear technical experts, and plan for the future.
Hosted in collaboration between Project Manager Intelligence Systems & Analytics (PM IS&A) and Capability Portfolio Executive – Intelligence and Spectrum Warfare’s (CPE ISW) Integration Directorate, the summit featured discussions and briefing topics on the beginner’s guides to ISA, designing ISA integration, and best practices.
Col. Jonathan Lipscomb, PM IS&A, opened the summit with a welcome and gratitude for stakeholders from around the world coming to APG to collaborate.
“This is a great chance to touch base with the larger community as well as our foreign partners to discuss updates and future plans for this product,” he said. “There’s a massive benefit to communicating with each other.”
The summit consisted of a morning plenary session, which included briefings from the Integration Directorate and the ISA engineering team, and case studies to show real-world use cases of ISA. Several topics were discussed in the afternoon including question-and-answer sessions, demonstrations, and both ‘basic’ and ‘advanced’ ISA software topics. Participants were able to choose which sessions they were most interested in based on whether they were a new user or a returning stakeholder.
ISA is an open software and data model standard that allows sensors and consumers on tactical networks to communicate and interoperate. Intelligence is collected from numerous varied products, systems, sensors and parts of the military. ISA serves to facilitate effective and efficient exchange of data between producers (sensors) and consumers in a standard way that eliminates the need for every sensor and consumer to negotiate how they can exchange data.
ISA has a fundamental role in allowing sensors and systems to interconnect, which allows for better situational awareness on the battlefield. Aside from the interoperability that is already built in, Soldiers are using the architecture in their own unique ways to utilize it to the best of their needs.
“Soldiers are advocating for [ISA] in relation to their specific needs,” said Christine Moulton, director of the CPE ISW Integration Directorate. “We want to enable Soldiers to think of novel ways to connect their capabilities independently from us. They have the tools we provide to build out their own needs to achieve mission success.”
Every year, this event grows and the community learns new ways to utilize ISA and ensure it continues being effective in data sharing and collaboration across the Army and with joint and coalition forces.