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ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE
High-power
Persistent
electro-
magnetics
Electronics-killing EMP
weapons are focus of
surveillance
$15 million contract
to Raytheon. PAGE 6
Radiation-
hardened
electronics
Satellite and spacecraft Next-generation
designers must deliver
reliable systems at persistent ISR
low cost. PAGE 20
requires signal
militaryaerospace.com
processing
and data
fusion. PAGE 10
2 TRENDS
4 NEWS
6 IN BRIEF
10 SPECIAL REPORT
COvER STORY
20 TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Radiation-hardened space electronics
enter the multi-core era
The pace of embedded computing technology
development is placing pressure on satellite
and spacecraft designers, who must
deliver reliable systems at low cost.
29 RF & MICROWAVE
31 UNMANNED VEHICLES
33 ELECTRO-OPTICS WATCH
35 PRODUCT APPLICATIONS
37 NEW PRODUCTS
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ON
follow-on replacement for the leg- SOF historically operates in envi-
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infrastructure, which necessitates DEV
Special Operations Forces (SOF) that reliance on portable equipment that
will consist of modular and portable warfighters carry forward for initial
SATCOM terminal variants that will command and control.
handle secure and non-secure voice, The first phase of SDN-Lite pro-
DC-DC
video, and data communications at
several classification levels.
duction will build and test five
each of the X-band SDN-Lite and Converters
The SDN-Lite will provide multi- two each of the Ku and Ka-band
AC-DC
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transmit and receive capabilities, pursuing the SDN-Lite project as a
and provide Special Operations
users with worldwide connectivity
non-developmental effort, so sys-
tem performance for the most part
Supplies
to the SOF Information Environment reflects the capabilities of the cur-
(SIE) via separately acquired base- rently fielded legacy systems.
band equipment. The contractor ultimately cho-
The primary goal of the SDN- sen for the SDN-Lite project should Expanded Operating
Temperatures -55 to +85C
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reducing size, weight and power November 2017. The winning SDN- Altitude, Method 105, Cond. D
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ter aperture with automatic satellite
What is global
persistent
surveillance?
Next-generation persistent ISR will require more Joint Doctrine Support Division,
which in 2011 issued a Commanders
signal processing and data fusion on the sensor platform,
Handbook for Persistent Surveillance
as well as precision approaching artificial intelligence. citing the joint doctrine defini-
tion as a collection strategy that
BY J.R. Wilson emphasizes the ability of some
collection systems to linger on
Global persistent surveillance such an approach to be practical. demand in an area to detect,
conjures images of innumerable This raises the first and in the locate, characterize, identify, track,
National Security Agency (NSA) minds of many of those involved target, and possibly provide battle
analysts poring over sensor data perhaps the most important ques- damage assessment and retarget-
covering every square inch of the tion: What is global persistent ing in near- or real time. Persistent
Earth, 24/7/365. While there is a surveillance? surveillance facilitates the pre-
limited capability for gathering such There have been several defi- diction of an adversarys behavior
data, using geosynchronous sat- nitions offered, most similar to and the formulation and execution
ellites carrying powerful sensors, the Joint Warfighting Centers of preemptive activities to deter
there are not enough memory cores,
bandwidth, human analysts, or real SHOWN ABOVE: This artists rending depicts a possible future satellite ground control system in a
artificial intelligence products for global persistent surveillance environment. (Photo Credit: Raytheon)
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or forestall anticipated adversary request may come from a platoon the customer is willing to pay for it,
courses of action. An effectively sergeant who needs to know what but it would cost and would have to
executed persistent surveillance is over the next hill, in real-time or solve a specific need.
strategy greatly enhances joint a four-star geographic combatant Technologies involving solar
military operations. commander needing an up-to-date power and batteries are coming to
Todays persistent intelligence, overview of an entire country or bear on prospects for global per-
surveillance, and reconnaissance region, up to the White House sit- sistent surveillance, Gitlin says.
(ISR) overlays all five military uation room, where the President, Advances in renewable energy,
domains air, land, sea, space, and Secretary of Defense, and Joint such as solar power, also are ben-
cyber not as individual activities Chiefs of Staff need both as wide a efitting that kind of architecture.
by separate services, but as joint view of an area of concern as pos- So as solar panel efficiencies have
networked systems using real-time sible and a real-time look at who is increased and costs have come
and archival data fusion. doing what and where. down, the modes of integrating
With ever-increasing volumes Given current technology and those into aircraft have increased.
of data gathered by more and bet- other factors like acquisition proce- Its also new integration technolo-
ter sensors in an already band- dures and inter-service and cross- gies on the platform and advances
width-constrained battlespace, agency cooperation, some say this in battery technology, driven by the
next-generation persistent ISR will definition today is unrealistic. electric car and cell phone indus-
tries, which bode well for cycle
time and other factors that will
be important for high-altitude,
long-endurance platforms.
On nearly every aspect of this
level of persistent surveillance
from the nature of the target, ter-
rain, weather, and time of day to
who is seeking the information and
for what purpose the answer is
it depends when considering what
platforms and sensors are required,
the level of detail sought, and even
the definition of real time.
Looking at the mission, real
time is whatever is required to give
the decision-maker enough time
and information to make the best
require more signal processing and Setting the bar high decision, based on refined infor-
data fusion be done on the sen- So far, that doesnt really exist, mation and intelligence. We are
sor platform, but with a precision although the trends are moving definitely targeting our technol-
approaching artificial intelligence. in the right direction to enable it, ogies in automated analytics and
To expand those definitions to says Steven Gitlin, vice president fusion because we see machines
global status currently requires of corporate strategy at unmanned will be required to keep up, says
a modification of the concept to aircraft designer AeroVironment Eric Vogel, program director at
globally available persistent sur- Inc. in Monrovia, Calif. The ques- BAE Systems ISR Solutions in
veillance, on demand, whenever, tion is, who is willing to pay for it at Nashua, N.H.
wherever, and for any duration what level of persistence. We could The key challenge is keeping
required by the end user. The deliver a similar capability today, if pace and being agile in a rapidly
evolving environment, the ability to militarys dreams of perfect capabil- Corp. Defense Solutions Division in
put what I need when and where I ity, there still is plenty of embedded Ashburn, Va.
need it, even if I cant predict that computing technology available that Its basically data thats action-
in advance as well as I used to. All offers to move capabilities forward, able. There are cases where if it
the sensing modalities are import- says Marc Couture, senior product takes 10 minutes to identify a con-
ant, with cross-domain being very manager-digital signal processing voy, that might still be considered
important for persistent surveil- and high performance embedded real time. Others measure it in mil-
lance, Vogel says. computing at the Curtiss-Wright liseconds or even microseconds.
Another change, which has been
in progress for the past few years
and now is gaining momentum, is
making such systems software-de-
fined that is, changing various
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they will be used remains a mat- a specific user. As we look at the vice president for global intelligence
ter of debate especially as rapidly speed of the threat and how it has solutions (GIS) at the Raytheon Co.
evolving technologies influence evolved, we now realize there is Intelligence, Information & Services
those requirements. better intel when looking across the segment in Dulles, Va.
Visible-light and infrared sen- entire set of data for context rather Any one piece of data by itself is
sors today often work together with than looking at any one type of data interesting, but putting it in context
synthetic aperture radar, RF emit- for overall situational awareness with the overall environment brings
ter data, and other relevant infor- and context, says Jane Chappell, a whole new level of intelligence,
mation. A lot of the sensor fusion
challenges involve overlaying all
of those sensor types to get better
overall data, says Curtiss-Wrights
Couture. Persistent surveillance is
just a waterfall of data coming out
of sensors with finer resolution
and were now finally seeing sensor
fusion, which has been talked about
for decades. And processing sys-
tems that were too big and heavy 10
years ago are now possible.
The sheer volume of surveil-
lance data available today is one of
the biggest challenges facing sys-
tems designers. The resolution per
unit of surface area is much higher
today; megapixel cameras are now
gigapixel, SAR images have higher
resolution, there are big advances
in SIGINT, with far more accuracy
than just a decade ago, Couture
continues. All the advancements in
those technologies give you greater
accuracy, but also mean you have
a lot more data coming out of the
sensors, so its a good thing com-
puting capability is keeping up with
that deluge. AI at the cognitive
level is coming out of its infancy,
but still has a lot to be done in the
next decade.
These new approaches will
require vast use of new technolo-
gies, yet legacy systems also will
play a role in future persistent
ISR efforts.
Legacy systems were designed
to collect a specific type of data for
www.militaryaerospace.com
identification of threats, the tech- commercial data sources, says really comes into playthe reduc-
nology were most interested in for Bob Canty, vice president for busi- tion of sensor cost. But if you are
integrated base defense is stand- ness development at Raytheon bringing in open-source data, how
off detection, so we can identify a Intelligence, Information & Services. do you track its pedigree through-
potential threat prior to engage- Sharing data across all those sys- out the effort so you have confi-
ment, Kitz says. Were highly tems is another enabling factor in dence in the end result?
invested in video detection capa- achieving global persistent surveil- Using computers to put all
bility and the algorithms of change lance. That is where technology that data together to free human
detection and anomalous behavior,
challenging industry on how to get
more stand-off.
Even such a localized effort
is not divorced from a larger
ISR capability.
AcroPacks
The U.S. Army uses the Persistent Ground Surveillance System (PGSS) in deployed applications for persistent surveillance.
analysts to spend more time ana- So, it is all about the analytics and Persistent surveillance requires
lyzing is another goal. automation the speed and how infrastructure for a forward oper-
Visualization of data has always we get the right data to the users ating base concrete, fiber, an
been incredibly important and for better decisions and how you aerostat, and a large ground station.
you want enough data to under- use the results of that and move The only other consideration is the
stand context and make decisions that data through the system to investment that enables the inte-
on consequences. We have spent take the next set of actions. gration of all these sensors, a con-
a lot of R&D on understanding the While providing persistent sur- tingency operations cell, analysts,
target of interest and defining it in veillance for a small area, such as a etc. And the more sensors and data
a way that the data finds the user forward operating base, might seem you have, typically the more infra-
rather than the user trying to find a lot simpler than doing the same structure you require.
the data. In the past, roughly 80 across a wide geographic region,
percent of an analysts time was the Armys Kitz says that is not nec- Rewinding the data
spent looking for data. We want to essarily the case. There also is a forensic aspect to
reverse that, so they spend 20 per- Fifteen years ago, you were persistent surveillance the ability
cent looking and 80 percent analyz- looking at a small area. Now, using to rewind the data to track move-
ing, says Raytheons Chappell. hyperspectral capabilities, we can ments and developments leading up
Thats all about understanding see a wider view and much further to an incident.
what the target and area of inter- out to identify a potential threat Forensics can be enormously
est are and making sure, through or anomalous behavior, which important when you are trying
the analytics, that the data are make our demands for processing to trace the cause of a particular
searched in a way that it is reduced and on the analysts much higher, activity. At the same time, if Im
to a manageable set, Chappell says. Kitz explains. engaged in a real-time activity, Im
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for future space missions. microprocessor technology that will replace or aug-
Sponsors of the HPSC project are the U.S. National ment previous generations of rad-hard microprocessors,
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the such as the RAD750 from the BAE Systems Electronic
U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Systems segment in Manassas, Va., and the RH-1750A,
Base, N.M. Industry experts from the Boeing Solid-State RH-32, and Advanced Spaceborne Computer Module
Electronics Development segment in Seattle are carry- (ASCM) from the Honeywell Aerospace segment in
ing out the program, based on a $25.9 million contract Clearwater, Fla.
awarded last March by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Managing the HPSC project are experts at the NASA
Center in Greenbelt, Md. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., led by
Richard Doyle and Raphael Some. The NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center is managing the HPSC contract.
The program is developing technologies for a
next-generation, general-purpose, multi-core space
processor to meet on-board computing needs of future
manned spacecraft and space robots. The four-year
project is expected to deliver a next-generation, rad-
hard space processor based on the ARM processor
Curtiss-Wright is delivering the companys MnACQ-2000 Miniature
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Although previous generations of Commercially The HPSC project also will use
rad-hard space processors like the developed technology Radiation Hard by Design (RHBD)
RAD750 have performed well for Were basing this device on com- standard cell libraries, as well as the
years, there are needs now that are mercially developed, well-supported ARM A53 processor with its internal
well in excess of what that proces- IP, and making sure there is a wide NEON single instruction, multiple
sor can do, explains Wesley Powell, user base and software support data (SIMD) design. You really need
assistant chief for technology in the something that is well-supported by the ability to do radiation harden-
NASA Goddard electrical engineer- industry, Powell says. Air Force and ing by design, applied to standard
ing division. NASA experts have defined the ARM- cells, etc., that allow you to use a
Todays radiation-hardened space based hardware and companion modern semiconductor process,
processors typically are single-pro- Linaro system software as the HPSC Powell says.
cessor systems based on existing processor baseline architecture. NASA experts are looking at
commercial or military computers. Boeing embedded computing three broad application areas for the
They operate at maximum required experts will develop a new space next-generation HPSC microproces-
throughput, fault tolerance, and processor design that will pro- sor: vision systems, model-based
power levels. Air Force and NASA vide orders of magnitude improve- reasoning for on-board autonomy,
space experts, however, say they ment in performance and perfor- and high-rate instrument process-
anticipate future missions that will mance-to-power ratio as well as ing, Powell says. Vision systems
require an increase in throughput the ability dynamically to set the would involve space applications
and wider variations in throughput, power-throughput-fault tolerance like obstacle avoidance. We need to
fault tolerance, and power levels. operating point. process imagery to determine where
you should and should not land, and
in real time, Powell says.
Designed for Performance Model-based reasoning for
on-board autonomy could enable
spacecraft designers and space
mission managers to migrate
much of the mission-planning and
resource-management tasking to
the spacecraft, rather than rely on
ground controllers for those jobs.
NASA experts also are thinking
ahead to future deep-space missions
in which ground controllers may not
always be in touch with the space-
Stay ahead with craft, so must rely on the spacecraft
IC proven solutions to make some of its own decisions.
High-rate instrument processing
We design and manufacture a broad range of Digital involves demanding digital signal
and Signal Processing boards CPU, GPU, FPGA & IO, processing for sensors and instru-
offering new capabilities, energy efficiency and increased perfor
performance. ments like synthetic aperture radar
and hyperspectral electro-optical
sensors. We want to migrate some
on-board data processing on-board
the spacecraft so we can downlink
data of interest, rather than just the
+33 (0)2 98 57 30 30 www.interfaceconcept.com
raw data, Powell says.
In addition, NASA experts errors; and implement n-modular and exploration platforms. System
are looking to Boeing to develop redundancy, checkpoint/rollback, or applications range from small satel-
enabling technologies for a space other high-level fault tolerance. lites to large flagship-class missions.
processor that not only is radia- Additional applications for the Additional space computing
tion hardened, but also can man- HPSC processor will include military tasks of the HPSC processor will
age its own electricity demands to surveillance and weapons systems, include command and data han-
preserve power resources espe- human-rated spacecraft, habitats dling, guidance navigation and
cially on deep-space missions and vehicles, and robotic science control, and communications like
far from Earth.
High Speed Board to Board
Compliant Connector
software-defined radio; human to exercise the silicon, Powell memory. The SRIO interfaces also
assist, data representation, and says. These chiplets will not be can function as advanced microcon-
cloud computing; high-rate real- space-qualified; the focus of this troller bus architecture (AMBA)-bus
time sensor data processing; and project is on the silicon. bridges to tile or cascade several
autonomy and science processing. System software infrastructure processors to increase bandwidth or
Boeing will provide prototype will support real-time operating improve fault tolerance.
radiation-hardened, multi-core com- systems and Unix/Linux parallel The SRIO interface also can
puting processor Chiplets, system processing to support hierarchical extend the HPSC processor to other
software, and evaluation boards for fault tolerance ranging from single SRIO-enabled processing devices
Chiplet test and characterization. Chiplet deep-space robotic missions
The Chiplets each contain eight gen- to multi-Chiplet -redundant human
eral-purpose processing cores in a spaceflight missions. We also
dual quad-core configuration, and expect system software, including
interfaces to memory and periph- operating system, compilers, debug-
eral devices. gers, a Linux operating system,
The period of performance is and a real-time operating system,
45 months, so by late 2020 were Powell says.
expecting Boeing to provide a pro- The HPSC processor will include
cessor chip or chiplets, packaged Serial RapidIO (SRIO) for high-band-
chiplets and bare die, and evalua- width communications, and several Embedded computing companies that
tions boards populated with chiplets interfaces to high-speed, off-chip specialize in rugged COTS technology are
adapting design techniques to provide rad-
hard computing for space. Shown above is the
general-purpose graphics processing Often this approach involves radiation-tolerant system thats
units (GPGPUs), field-programmable taking a hard look at whether the good enough.
gate arrays (FPGAs), as well as vol- intended application is life- or mis- Low-Earth orbit (LEO), for exam-
atile and non-volatile memory. The sion-critical, the expected sever- ple, does not experience the same
problem right now is funding. ity of the radiation environment in radiation levels that higher orbits
For the HPSC program we looked which the overall system will oper- or deep-space have. A growing
at a number of processing architec- ate, and the duration of the planned number of LEO satellite appli-
tures, and the biggest bang for the mission, and then designing a cations today, moreover, have
buck was a general-purpose, multi-
core processor, Powell says. For
the future, nevertheless, we have
interest in some sort of paring of a
general-purpose multicore proces-
AIA
CONVERTER
relatively limited life cycles. Some The company started their rad- puting, we also can use that to our
Earth-observation projects, in hard upscreening business about 20 advantage by running the same code
fact, are expected to last for less years ago with a focus on solid-state in multiple cores, says Paul Hart,
than five years. memory, and now is expanding into chief technology officer and techni-
Theres a push to put a lot more microcontrollers and mixed-signal cal fellow of avionics and electron-
hardware on LEO orbits lasting analog products. ics at the Curtiss-Wright office in
from three to five years With changing mar- Christchurch, England.
for space observation, ket pressures from the We run main code in one core,
says George Romaniuk, small satellite industry, and duplicate code in another core
director of space product and the drive to smaller that run in lockstep, Hart explains.
management at Aitech device sizes, a lot of the Running identical code in three sep-
Defense Systems Inc. space market is looking at arate processor cores enables the
in Chatsworth, Calif. flying at COTS products, system to detect a malfunction in
The orbit is low, so says Cobhams Mundie. one core, shut down the offending
the requirements are We knew the need was core, and continue operating based
not that stringent. On there, and our focus is on no detected malfunctions in
the other hand, we see changing to ensure we the other two.
groups that will be for are offering our right If a single event does occur, it
lunar or asteroid explo- products to the industry. will cause one of the cores to lose
ration beyond Earth It is a challenge for us to lock, Hart says. If that happens
orbit. They want to stay identify COTS products the higher-level supervisory system
for a very, very long time that will work in a variety that operates above it will reset the
(18 years, minimum) so of applications. device. It will take in the order of
the market is starting seconds to reboot a typical embed-
Cobham is using
to segment. Multi-core redundancy ded application; while the upset core
upscreening
Applications in low- technologies and years Some technological devel- is rebooting, the other two carry
er-Earth orbits that may of knowledge to create opments in the COTS on. Youre fully recoverable after
be of relatively short a radiation-hardened computing industry are a bit flip.
durations and that CAN bus network providing serendipitous
could tolerate the occa- interface. advantages for space Radiation creep
sional data upset are systems designers. Not Hardening electronic systems to
a particularly promising market for only are deeply submicron geome- the effects of radiation isnt just a
COTS electronics suppliers, par- tries naturally resistant to total-ion- space problem any longer. Aircraft
ticularly for cost-sensitive applica- izing-dose radiation, but modern flying at altitude, at about 30,000
tions like small satellites. Our lives multicore processor architectures feet and above, also are starting
are basically lives of compromise, also offer opportunities for sys- to experience radiation-induced
Romaniuk says. We may not have tem redundancy. effects. There are 500 times more
$7 million to create something nice, Embedded computing designers neutrons at 30,000 feet than there
but we have to piece together things at the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense are on the ground, points out
that will provide performance and Solutions Division in Ashburn, Aitechs Romaniuk.
reliability. Va., are using multi-core proces- If commercial avionics systems
Cobham has specialized for sors not to block radiation-induced designers arent considering radiation
decades in selecting commercially single-event effects, but to recover hardening today, they soon will be.
developed electronic parts that are gracefully without system disrup- The shrinking of commercially devel-
appropriate for some space applica- tion when upsets occur. oped microprocessor architectures
tions. The company uses upscreen- Where we are now using multi- and other electronic devices will con-
ing and a variety of other testing. core processors to speed up com- tinue making the problem worse.
watch
c
OPTICS
Elbit to provide
electro-optics helmet-
mounted displays for
Northrop Grumman to provide aircraft Navy helicopters
laser-based missile defense Elbit Systems of America in Fort
Worth, Texas, will provide the
BY John Keller
U.S. Navy with helmet-mounted
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. Missile- displays for pilots of MH-60R
defense experts at Northrop anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
Grumman Corp. will provide elec- helicopters and MH-60S mul-
tro-optical equipment for laser-based timission helicopters under
missile-defense systems aboard large terms of a $49.9 million con-
military aircraft under terms of a tract. Officials of the U.S. Naval
$99.5 million U.S. Navy order. Surface Warfare Center Crane
Officials of the Naval Air Division in Crane, Ind., are asking
Systems Command at Patuxent Elbit to provide 126 helmet dis-
The LAIRCM system uses lasers to confuse
River Naval Air Station, Md., are play tracker systems (HDTS) for
electro-optical seekers on incoming anti-
asking the Northrop Grumman air missiles. MH-60R and MH-60S helicopter
Mission Systems segment in Rolling pilots. The HDTS provides MH-60
Meadows, Ill., to provide the Large situational awareness and tar-
Aircraft Infrared Counter Measures LAIRCM focuses high-intensity geting enhancements via pilot/
(LAIRCM) for a variety of U.S. Navy laser energy at the infrared seeker copilot line-of-sight capability;
and Air Force aircraft. Northrop head of incoming missiles to blind continuously computed impact
Grumman will provide weapon the missile and force it off its target. point for the 20-millimeter auto-
replaceable assemblies and support The system is designed to protect matic gun helicopter armament
equipment; 302 advanced threat large aircraft from shoulder-fired, subsystem; LAU-61C/A 2.75-inch
warning sensors; 41 control indicator vehicle-launched, and other infra- unguided rockets; and LAU-61G/A
units; 41 to 2103 signal processors; 82 red-guided missiles when the planes precision guided digital rocket
guardian laser transmitter assem- are operating close to the ground, launcher. The MH-60R is an ASW
blies (GLTA); 82 GLTA shipping con- such as on takeoff and landing, as and anti-surface warfare helicop-
tainers; 16 multi-role, electro-optical, well as during low-level operations ter that can operate from aircraft
end-to-end test sets; and 14 smart and aerial refueling. Later-model carriers and from other surface
connector assemblies. Military leaders are trying to warships equipped with helipads.
LAIRCM automatically detects a develop aircraft-protection infra- The MH-60S, meanwhile, is for
missile launch, determines if it is red countermeasures able to detect search-and-rescue, MEDEVAC,
a threat, and activates a high-in- and classify incoming missiles, then utility, and vertical replenish-
tensity, laser-based countermea- emit a custom jamming energy to ment. The magnetic HDTS helps
sure system to track and defeat the defeat them. reduce the MH-60 helicopter
missile. LAIRCM is for Air Force C-5, Work will be performed in pilots workload and improve
C-17, C-37, and C-40 cargo and utility Rolling Meadows, Ill.; Goleta, Calif.; crew coordination. The HDTS
jets; Air Force C-130H and MC-130W Longmont, Colo.; Colombia, Md.; and represents a relatively simple
four-engine utility turboprop aircraft; other locations within and outside upgrade to the predecessor HUD
the CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft, the KC-46 the U.S., and should be finished in on the MH-60 rotorcraft.
aerial refueling jet, as well as the April 2019.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Elbit
U.S. Navy P-8A maritime patrol jet. Systems of America online at www.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit
LAIRCM also can fit on some large elbitsystems-us.com.
Northrop Grumman online at www.
military helicopters. northropgrumman.com.
watch
c
OPTICS
The Vega-C development con- with legacy target simulators, enemy via a PC or ruggedized lap-
tract runs from January 2017 until including the AN/DSM-787 (IR), AN/ top computer, mini directional
first launch in June 2019, with a DSM-129 (TV/CCD), and SMU-127 antenna, and TP CDL.
value estimated at $5 million. The (laser) as well as with the new MTS- The system can operate with
value of the subsequent produc- 916 modular target simulator, which Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL)-
tion phase could be worth as much replaces legacy simulators (EO/TV/ based platforms, including ships,
as $10 million over the lifetime of CCD/IR/Laser). unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
the program. FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Marvin manned fixed-wing combat aircraft,
ESAs requirement for Vega-C Test Solutions online at www. and helicopters. The Team-Portable
flights include a minimum of three marvintest.com. CDL also provides UAV level 3 com-
launches per year, with expected mand and control. The system:
demand for at least four per year, TACTICAL DATA LINKS provides a tactical common data
Curtiss-Wright officials say. Navy chooses video data link link that complies with the Joint
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit from Cubic for viewing front- Interoperability Test Command
Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions line UAV surveillance (JITC) specification; offers full-du-
online at www.curtisswrightds.com/ U.S. Navy communications experts plex communications; complies
space. needed a rugged portable data link with the TCDL interoperability pro-
system to enable warfighters at the file; enables reception of ISR data
FLIGHT LINE TEST leading edge of the battlefield to
Indonesian Air Force selects Marvin view real-time video from surveil-
Test for Maverick missile testing lance aircraft securely. They found
Indonesian air force officials have their solution from Cubic Corp.
selected the MTS-206A Maverick in San Diego.
Field Test Set and MTS-916-3 Officials of the Space and
Modular Target Simulator from Naval Warfare Systems Command
Marvin Test Solutions Inc. in (SPAWAR) in San Diego announced
Irvine, Calif., to support the test- a $20.9 million contract to Cubic
ing of AGM-65 Maverick missile and for Portable Common Data Link to include streaming video; boasts
launcher systems. (PCDL) systems. The contract calls modular ruggedized packaging; per-
for Cubic to build and deliver 25 forms AV command and control tar-
TacMobile Person PCDL systems geting and text messaging; acquires
and spare parts for tactical oper- and tracks ISR aircraft automati-
ation centers and mobile tactical cally; is battery operated with min-
operation centers. imal power requirements; and is
The Cubic Team-Portable available as a receive-only remote
Common Data Link provides intel- viewing terminal.
ligence, surveillance, and recon- The contract has an 18-month
The MTS-206A and MTS-916, naissance for battle groups at the base period for buying the PCDL
part of Marvin Test Solutions suite tactical edge. It has small, light- systems and four one-year options
of test tools for legacy and new weight components that can be for production and engineering ser-
precision-guided smart weapon hand carried and assembled by vices. Cubic will do the work in San
systems, provide advanced test- the warfighter at any location. Diego, and should be finished in
ing capabilities to maintainers at The Cubic Team-Portable CDL can September 2018. If SPAWAR exer-
the intermediate and depot levels. stream video from airborne sen- cises all options the job will con-
The MTS-206A is designed to test sors to enable the warfighter to tinue through September 2022.
all current versions of the Maverick obtain sufficient real-time infor- FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Cubic
missile system, and is compatible mation to locate and identify the Corp. online at www.cubic.com.
36 JUNE 2017 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS www.militaryaerospace.com
new products
contact John Keller at jkeller@pennwell.com.
Secure high-density digital Half-size PCI Express I/O for RF amplifiers for radar,
DDR4 SDRAM memory positioning and communications test, and communications
introduced by Mercury introduced by NAI introduced by Pasternack
Mercury Systems Inc. in Andover, Pasternack Enterprises Inc. in Irvine,
Mass, is introducing a high-den- Calif., is introducing five low phase
sity secure memory product line noise RF and microwave amplifiers
that integrates double-data-rate for sensitive test and measurement,
fourth-generation synchronous radar, and communications receiver
dynamic random-access memory systems. The RF amplifiers incorpo-
(DDR4 SDRAM) with -SWaP-efficient rate gallium arsenide (GaAs) het-
packaging technology. Replacing as erojunction bipolar transistor (HBT)
many as 18 industrial or commer- monolithic microwave integrated
circuit (MMIC) technology to deliver
Secure FPGA with cryptographic Computer and data storage Software tools for
microprocessor introduced for encrypted data streaming safety-critical applications
by Microsemi introduced by LCR introduced by LDRA
Microsemi Corp. in Aliso Viejo, LCR Embedded Systems Inc. in LDRA in Wirral, England, is inte-
Calif., is introducing TeraFire cryp- Norristown, Pa., is introducing the grating the companys LDRA soft-
tographic microprocessor capa- Featherweight COM Express embed- ware tools suite with the IBM
bility for the Microsemi PolarFire ded computing and data storage Rational DOORS Next Generation
field programmable gate array solution for demanding applications requirements-management tool for
that require lightweight, rugged, security- and safety-critical aero-
compact compute and storage, such space and defense applications.
as harvesting and streaming sensor DOORS Next Generation provides
and video data in the field. Weighing requirements definition and man-
in at 7.5 pounds and featuring COM agement capabilities, a work item
Express technology, the convec- system for task management and
tion-cooled, customizable, feather- planning, and a reporting system.
weight COM Express single-board
computer system features a 6th gen-
(FPGA) for embedded computing eration Intel Xeon Core i7 (Skylake)
applications that require cyber-
security. The TeraFire hard core
provides Microsemi customers
access to advanced security capa-
bilities with high performance The LDRA tool suite integration
and low power consumption. brings software analysis and ver-
Athenas secure TeraFire cryp- ification into this open collabora-
tographic microprocessor tech- tion platform. The integrated LDRA
nology offers some of the most mobile server and embedded proces- tool suite and IBM Rational DOORS
commonly used cryptographic sor with as much as 32 gigabytes of Next Generation can reduce the
algorithms. Among the algo- DDR4 memory, and dual DisplayPort design time and development costs
rithms available are those allowed outputs. An optional graphics pro- of safety- and security-critical sys-
for military and government use cessing unit (GPU) provides additional tems for the Internet of Things (IoT),
by the U.S. National Institute of DisplayPort and HDMI options and including aerospace and defense
Standards and Technologys (NISTs) HD video processing support. The applications. This solution enables
Suite B, up to the top-secret level, system also includes as much as 32 embedded software and Internet
as well as those recommended terabytes of removable and expand- of Things systems developers to
in the U.S. Commercial National able data storage. The system offers achieve life-cycle traceability in an
Security Algorithm (CNSA) Suite. a choice of operating systems such open services for life-cycle collab-
The TeraFire cryptographic micro- as Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, and others oration (OSLC) environment. For
processor also supports algorithms depending on licensing. Wireless/ those environments requiring soft-
commonly used in commercial Wi-Fi communications can be sup- ware qualification or certification,
Internet communications proto- ported, as well as customizable I/O to this integration provides the trans-
cols such as TLS, IPSec, Makes, support a variety of inputs, connec- parency and audit trail required for
and Keyset. tions, or displays. quality and regulatory review.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Micro- FOR MORE INFORMATION visit LCR FOR MORE INFORMATION visit LDRA
semi online at www.microsemi.com. at www.lcrembeddedsystems.com. online at www.ldra.com.
RPC 24
Meets FAR standard 14 CFR 25.853(a)
Passes vertical burn test
Video
Processing
For Mil/Aero
Applications
Videowalls
Codecs
Multiviewers
SPECTRUM
RGB S
www.rgb.com
Magazine
603 891-9447 alanb@pennwellcom
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John Keller
App
603 891-9117 jkeller@pennwellcom
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509 413-1522 courtney@pennwellcom
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702 434-3903 jrwilson@pennwellcom
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& Electronics magazine on your iPad, PRODUCTION MANAGER Sheila Ward
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