Military & Aerospace Electronics - February 2019
Military & Aerospace Electronics - February 2019
Military & Aerospace Electronics - February 2019
RELEVANT. TRUSTED.
ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES.
Portable
nuclear power
plants
Military researchers are
considering deployable
nuclear power to
supply warfighters on
the front lines. PAGE 4
Rugged
backplanes
and embedded
computing
Today’s rugged
chassis designs offer
fast throughput,
ruggedization, and
advanced cooling. PAGE 18
militaryaerospace.com
Electronic warfare
on the ground Cyber warfare experts
are rediscovering
electronic warfare
(EW) to help put boots
on the ground. PAGE 10
2 TRENDS
4 NEWS
4 IN BRIEF
10 SPECIAL REPORT
COvER STORY
25 RF & MICROWAVE
28 UNMANNED VEHICLES
29 ELECTRO-OPTICS WATCH
30 PRODUCT APPLICATIONS
@MilAero
33 NEW PRODUCTS
www.twitter.com/MilAero
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1902mae02-03.indd 31
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news
Global demand for military Pentagon reinforces mandate
wearable computers to
grow by 5.85 percent for open-systems standards like
Global demand for military computers
will grow by one-third over the next five
SOSA, FACE, and VICTORY
years, from $7.9 billion in 2018 to $10.5 WASHINGTON — Top U.S. military leaders
billion in 2023, predict analysts at market are reinforcing their commitment to
researcher ASD Media BV in Amsterdam. open-systems standards for embed-
Militaries around the globe are focusing ded computing and electronics design,
on deploying more portable and techno- as outlined in a memorandum signed
logically advanced computers in war zones. last month by the secretaries of the U.S.
Ruggedness of military devices such as lap- Navy, Army, and Air Force.
tops, handhelds, and wearables is necessary The memo, directed to the Penta-
to survive and function properly in extreme gon’s service acquisition executives and
conditions such as extreme heat and cold. program executive officers, calls out
Military demand for wearable computers, existing and emerging open-systems
meanwhile, is expected to show healthy standards that fall under the umbrel-
growth over the next five years. la of the so-called Modular Open Sys- Military avionics is a big focus for the
tems Approach (MOSA) project. Pentagon’s newly voiced commitment to
Raytheon to build additional Specifically, the memo mentions open-systems electronic design standards.
radar fire-control systems the Sensor Open Systems Architec-
for Aegis ship electronics ture (SOSA); Future Airborne Capabil- standard, focuses on single-board com-
Shipboard electronics experts at the ity Environment (FACE); Vehicular In- puters and how they can be integrat-
Raytheon Co. are building additional MK 99 tegration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability ed into sensor platforms. It involves a
fire-control systems for the Aegis weapon (VICTORY); and Open Mission Systems/ standardized approach on how embed-
system aboard U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke- Universal Command and Control Inter- ded systems interrogate sensor data to
class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruis- face (OMS/UCI). distill actionable information.
ers under terms of a $72.5 million contract. Many of these and similar electron- The Pentagon-backed FACE open avi-
Officials are asking the Raytheon Integrated ics design industry standards are un- onics standard is to enable developers
Defense Systems segment in Marlborough, der supervision of The Open Group in to create and deploy applications across
Mass., to build MK 99 Aegis fire-control sys- San Francisco. military aviation systems through a
tems equipment, and fulfill Aegis modern- “MOSA supporting standards should common operating environment. It
ization production requirements. The MK 99 be included in all requirements, pro- seeks to increase capability, security,
fire-control system communicates with the gramming, and development activities safety, and agility while also reduc-
missile-control station, notifying it of the air for future weapon system modification ing costs.
threat, and then illuminates the missile’s tar- and new-start development programs VICTORY aims at military vehicle
get. The MK 99 also controls the loading and to the maximum extent possible,” the electronics (vetronics) components,
arming of shipboard missiles aboard Burke- memo lays out. subsystems, and platforms interop-
class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruis- Signing this memo are Navy Secre- erability. It is for multi-vendor imple-
ers. The MK 99 launches and provides ter- tary Richard Spencer, Army Secretary mentation, and is considered a critical
minal guidance for the ship’s missiles, and Mark Esper, and Air Force Secretary enabler for the Assured Position, Navi-
controls the continuous-wave illuminating Heather Wilson. gation and Time (APNT) program; sev-
radar to provide a high probability of kill. SOSA, which revolves around the eral programs of record require VIC-
VITA OpenVPX embedded computing TORY standards. VICTORY focuses on
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1902mae04-09.indd 5
SRCInc_MAE_1902 1 2/4/19 3:17
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PM
news
three core areas: tactical systems capabilities; host and
network system capabilities; and vehicle system and lo-
gistics capabilities.
The OMS/UCI standard concerns a common message
set that enables interoperability across several different
manned and unmanned weapon systems. It focuses on in-
teroperable plug-and-play software applications that run
on a wide variety of systems, and enable designers to inte-
grate new capabilities quickly in much the same way that
smart phone users download applications.
It establishes a common messaging set for machine-to-ma-
chine communications in aircraft command and control. It
provides an open-systems standard for easy integration of
new services and reuse of services among different programs.
“We have reviewed the capabilities of these common
standards,” the service secretaries’ memo states. “We de-
termined the continued implementation of these standards,
and further development of MOSA standards in areas where
we lack them, is vital to our success.”
The service secretaries say the Pentagon’s service ac-
quisition executives will publish specific implementation
Connect
guidance for military acquisition programs, and encourage
standardization executives to continue developing open-sys-
tems standards where necessary to ensure electronics in-
all the latest For more information contact The Open Group online at www.opengroup.org.
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AeroColo_MAE_1902 2/4/19 3:17
1/14/19 3:39 PM
PM
news
The Pentagon may fund as many as
three different reactor designs during
Navy bulks-up anti-submarine warfare
a project’s yearlong first phase. The (ASW) capability for surface warships
project’s second phase would downse-
lect to one design. Pentagon research- BY John Keller
ers could decide on whether to pursue WASHINGTON — Undersea warfare experts
Innovation
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8 F E B R UA RY
MerSys_MAE_1902 1 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
1/17/19 2:25 PM
MISSION
agement control, and forwards data to
the ship’s weapons and decision-sup-
TODAY
port systems. The AN/SQQ-89A(V)15
works together with the ship’s active
and passive hull sonar, multi-function
towed array, sonobuoy processing, tor-
pedo alerts, fire-control system, sensor
performance predictions, embedded
operator, and team training systems.
The AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 has an open
electronics architecture to accommo-
date system upgrades, and makes the
most of data accessibility and system
modules, Lockheed Martin officials say.
Its software application programs are
isolated from hardware.
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) High Reliability
Solutions for High
enables rapid re-allocation of operator
console displays to suit the tactical sit-
uation, Lockheed Martin officials say. Reliability Programs
Recent and planned upgrades to the
VPT provides proven DC-DC converters
AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 include improved au- and EMI filters for leading global space,
tomated torpedo detection, sonar per- military, industrial, and avionics programs.
formance prediction, advanced active
sonar processing, re-designed active
displays to reduce operator loading,
and integrated training and logistics. www.vptpower.com
The AN/SQQ-89 is integrated with
the Aegis combat system, vertical
launch anti-submarine rocket (AS-
ROC) system. A variant of the AN/SQQ-
89A(V)15 is integrated with late-version
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.militaryaerospace.com
2---Y-------------V----------G-
Electronic
warfare on
the ground
U.S. Army cyber warfare experts are
rediscovering electronic warfare (EW)
for ground operations, as centralized
command authorities combine cyber and
EW operations into a new discipline known U.S. Army Pacific Soldiers view video feed from a Phantom
4 Quad Copter during the Pacific Manned Unmanned–
as spectrum warfare. BY J.R. Wilson Initiative at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii.
The Pentagon defines Electronic Warfare (EW) as scattered throughout service organizations with its Cyber Com-
military action involving the use of electromagnet- mand — a 21st Century creation within all military branches
ic energy and directed energy to control the electro- and, most recently, recognized as a fifth domain of war (along
magnetic spectrum or to attack the enemy. EW con- with air, ground, sea and space) with the creation of the U.S. Cy-
sists of three divisions: electronic attack, electronic ber Command (USCYBERCOM) as the nation’s tenth Unified Com-
protection, and electronic support; EW is employed batant Command.
to create decisive, stand-alone effects or to support While those elevated cyber to a level never applied to EW, they
military operations by generating various levels of did not answer the question of where EW and cyber warfare be-
control, detection, denial, deception, disruption, deg- gin, end and overlap.
radation, exploitation, protection, and destruction. As of October 2018, Army leaders sought to resolve that by mi-
While its early history is debated, the first known grating their EW workforce to the cyber branch. They are going
use of an EW capability — the interception of wire- through a series of mobile training teams on how to do planning
less communications — occurred in 1904, during in the cyber domain as part of the Army’s new effort to insert
the Russo-Japanese War. cyber and electromagnetic activities cells organically within bri-
EW sometimes is considered to be interchange- gade combat teams to provide EW/cyber warfare domain plan-
able with cyber warfare, which involves the actions ning to commanders.
by a nation-state or trans-national organization to “The way that we’re transforming our electronic warfare pro-
attack and attempt to damage another nation’s com- fessionals is they will become cyber operators,” says Maj. Gen.
puters or information networks using such methods John Morrison, commander of the Cyber Center of Excellence.
as computer viruses or denial-of-service attacks. “They will be the face inside our brigade combat teams and our
The U.S. Army is the first American armed force to maneuver formations for cyber operational planning. They’re
combine the two, merging EW units and specialists complimentary. You cannot look at EW professionals and cyber
10
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
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1902mae10-17.indd 111
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PM
S PECIAL REPORT
operators in isolation.” Morrison made defensive EW and cyber warfare capa- at certain frequencies in the spectrum.
his comments in May 2018 at the AF- bilities and the move toward more soft- “In the last couple of years, there has
CEA Defensive Cyber Operations sym- ware-defined systems, which began been prototyping of VMAX and VROD
posium in Baltimore. with the software-defined radio (SDR), handheld systems, so there is a desire
This new approach and related tech- where a single piece of hardware can to create offensive and defensive effects
nologies and warfighter training mark be repurposed in the field in real-time within the peer and near-peer arena,”
a significant change in the operations with software changes. explains Avetis Ioannisyan, director
of ground maneuver forces that also One of the most important EW ini- of the BAE Systems Adaptive Sensors
is likely to see effects on U.S. Marine tiatives today is the C4ISR/EW Modu- Group in Hudson, N.H. “The idea of hav-
Corps and Special Operations con- lar Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS), ing warfighters forward-deployed and
cepts of operations (CONOPs) and tac- which seeks to converge EW in such having EW capabilities is very valid,”
tics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). a way as to leverage a lot more soft- Ioannisyan says. “Another, more vehic-
ware-defined radio, says David Jedy- ular, is Sabre Fury. These are designed
Crucial time nak, chief technology officer at the Cur- to inform TTP about the value and ca-
It comes at a crucial time for the U.S., tiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions pabilities of SIGINT for the warfighter.”
as Pentagon planning and emphasis Division in Ashburn, Va. Those tools were being delivered in
moves away from fighting asymmetric “That means you’re not limited to a late 2017 to the Army 1st Infantry Di-
wars in Southwest Asia against less ad- specific vehicle for transmit and receive
vanced enemy states, insurgents, and type applications, which gives you a lot
terrorist organizations. Now military more flexibility in terms of what hard-
forces are refocusing their attention on ware and software can be intermingled
potential conflicts with near-peer and on a platform,” Jedynak says.
peer adversaries in the Pacific and Eu- “That includes using one type of sen-
rope. It also is the first time in some six sor to cross-cue or provide a larger pic-
decades that the United States has not ture,” Jedynak continues. “For exam-
been the unquestioned military tech- ple, using a jammer’s power amplifier
nology leader. for broadcast communications or, in
Throughout the history of warfare, reverse, using a communications sys- The Lockheed Martin Symphony system is a
“boots on the ground” has been the tem as a jammer or comm gear, tuned radio-controlled improvised explosive
device (RCIED) defeat system. Symphony
catch phrase for the successful defeat appropriately, as a poor man’s SIGINT
provides global ground EW solutions to U.S.
and conquest of an enemy (the atomic [signals intelligence] — maybe more of forces and partner nations with the ability
bomb-forced surrender of World War a COMMINT [communications intelli- to defeat current and emerging IED threats
II Japan notwithstanding). In the 21st gence] — to add more nodes in terms and is interoperable with other jamming
Century, the value of individual warf- of spectrum warfare.” devices.e at Marine Corps Training Area
ighter has increased as they have be- Bellows, Hawaii.
come nodes in the battlespace network Tactical electronic warfare
— walking sensors and EW/cyber war- An example of this is the VMAX and vision’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat
fare platforms to combat close proxim- VROD Dismounted Electronic Support/ Team at Fort Riley, Kan. At that time
ity enemy electronics like robots, ra- Attack system planned for insertion Army Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski, principal
dar installations, communications, and into tactical forces in Europe. VROD, military deputy to the Assistant Sec-
precision-guided munitions. Combined which stands for Versatile Radio Ob- retary of the Army for Acquisition, Lo-
with advanced vehicle-mounted EW ca- servation and Direction, detects elec- gistics and Technology (ASAALT), ex-
pabilities, they will be crucial to domi- tronic frequencies and creates a virtu- plained their value to the Senate Armed
nating the electromagnetic spectrum. al map of the electronic environment. Services Committee.
This expansion of EW capabili- VMAX, which stands for VROD Modu- “[Commanders now] have the sit-
ties across all ground forces also re- lar Adaptive Transmit, enables soldiers uational understanding of signals
flects the convergence of offensive and to conduct focused electronic attacks of interest in their area,” he told the
12
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
committee. “They then have the op- across all contested spaces to create integrate cyberspace, EW, and elec-
portunity to do two things: either strike windows of advantage across multiple tromagnetic spectrum operations as
that particular capability with respect domains that enable Joint Force free- part of joint combined arms opera-
to indirect fires or to jam it [with] a lim- dom of action to seize, retain and ex- tions to meet future operational envi-
ited jamming capability.” ploit the initiative. ronment challenges,” Dyes continued.
Spectrum is central to EW and cy- “The Army will operate in and “These operations provide command-
ber warfare. Because of this, dealing through cyberspace and the electro- ers the ability to conduct simultane-
with them as independent efforts in se- magnetic spectrum and will fully ous, linked maneuver in and through
curing military information networks
may create cyberspace or electromag-
netic spectrum vulnerabilities, Army
leaders believe.
The U.S. Army Cyber and Electronic Dawn Powers
Warfare Operations Field Manual, re-
leased in April 2017, outlines the ser-
vice’s thinking: “Employing cyberspace
VPX
and EW capabilities under a single plan-
ning, integration, and synchronization
Dawn’s PSC-6238 VITA
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al commander’s ability to understand Supply for conduction
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synchronize multiple operations using to operate in a military
the same domain and environment.” environment over a wide
That has gained emphasis with range of temperatures
growing evidence — from operational at high power levels. Up to
doctrine and actual implementation — 800 Watts available power.
that China and Russia view information
operations and electromagnetic spec-
Onboard embedded RuSH™
technology. Switchable Battleshort
trum dominance as critical to any fu-
and NED functions.
ture conflict, especially, but not limit-
ed to, peer and near-peer.
Cyber and EW
Maj. Gen. Robert M. Dyes Jr., acting di- Dawn is the leader in VITA 62
rector of the Army Capabilities Inte- compliant power supplies for the
gration Center at Fort Eustis, Va., wrote mission critical market. Wide range of
a preface to The U.S. Army Concept
standard features, highly configurable
through custom firmware.
for Cyberspace and Electronic War-
fare Operations 2025-2040, released
in January 2018. “Defeating future en-
Rugged, Reliable and You need it right.
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Ready. You want Dawn.
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operations across multiple domains,”
Dyes wrote. “In multi-domain battle,
dawnvme.com
future Army forces will fight and win
multiple domains and to engage adver- access to others,” the document con- environment,” BAE Systems’s Ioanni-
saries and populations where they live tinues. “Use of these capabilities has syan notes. “Typically, an EW attack be-
and operate. They also provide com- the potential to negate current Army gins with a change in jamming modes;
manders a full range of physical and combat power and technological over- some form of AI is required to do that
virtual, as well as kinetic and non-ki- match. Less capable adversaries will quickly. Future battles will be fought
netic, capabilities tailored into combi- also use a variety of improvised weap- across multiple domains and we must
nations that enhance the combat pow- ons and technologies, such as global win the first battle, which will be spec-
er of maneuver elements conducting positioning system jammers and ra- trum. We need SDR’s that can conform
joint combined operations.” dio-frequency weapons, that utilize the on the fly while under attack.”
This convergence essentially de- electromagnetic spectrum to exploit “The Army plans to continue to ac-
fines the electromagnetic spectrum, Army reliance on technology.” quire EW to support ground-based at-
rather than cyber warfare tack,” Ioannisyan contin-
alone, as the real fifth do- ues. “The leverage will come
main of war, as the spectrum when you have interoper-
becomes more crowded with ability between all the air-
military and civilian trans- borne and ground robotic
missions. In an urban con- systems. The Army already
flict, that greatly expands has demonstrated having a
potential targets and vulner- forward deployed unmanned
abilities — especially if the platform being controlled
rules of engagement call for from an Apache provides a
as little interference with or lot of value to the warfight-
damage to civilian systems er; a similar progression is
as possible. likely on the ground.”
“The future operational The rapid pace of technol-
environment will be more Army cyber operations specialists from the Expeditionary Cyber ogy advances — from mate-
Support Detachment, 782nd Military Intelligence Battalion (Cyber),
unpredictable, complex, and riel properties and switching
from Fort Gordon, Ga., provided offensive cyber operations as part
potentially dangerous than of the Cyber-Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) Support to Corps architectures to ever-shrink-
today,” the EW/cyber warfare and Below (CSCB) program. ing components and pow-
concept document warns. er requirements — have
“The physical structure of cyberspace The role of autonomous systems increased the speed and capacity of
will be extremely vulnerable to attack The document also addresses the evolu- operations and the number of ways to
by an array of destructive weapons, in- tion of autonomous systems in the bat- attack the electromagnetic spectrum.
cluding high-power microwave muni- tlespace, from unmanned aerial vehicles “If you want to induce an electronic
tions and laser systems, which are in- (UAVs) to robots, with each generation effect on the enemy, jam them without
creasingly effective against digitized, relying on more and more advanced arti- being detected by using smart, low-pow-
miniaturized and integrated circuits. ficial intelligence (AI) capabilities. While er effects. You must use synchronous,
Because these challenges and chang- such systems will enhance the offen- smart techniques to be protected from
es can occur swiftly, the Army must sive and defensive capabilities of ground counter-EW,” Ioannisyan says.
adopt advanced cyberspace operations forces, they also comprise new dangers if “One enabler is signal fratricide, be-
capabilities at a more rapid rate than compromised by enemy EW/cyber war- ing able to maintain friendly C2 net-
current capability development time fare attacks, making fail-safe technolo- works while disrupting the enemy. If
lines, even while in a constrained fis- gies and software crucial to their con- you can do force structure, operate in a
cal environment. trol and data integrity. high signal-dense environment, adapt
“State and non-state actors will in- “We’ve been investing a tremendous to enemy actions, have threat agility
vest in capabilities to protect their ac- amount of money in machine learning and electronic protection and mitigate
cess to cyberspace and disrupt or deny and AI to automatically adapt to the signal fratricide, you will effectively
14
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
win the first battle for the electromag- “A quick reaction capability version off-network, operating on last-known-
netic space.” of EWPMT, Raven Claw is already de- data as well as real-time feeds for in-
Dramatic reductions in size, weight ployed in Europe for managing EW sys- telligent, actionable EW. [It] does more
and power (SWaP), combined with tems. It provides electronic warfare than just planning; it remotely controls
greater sensor range and sensitivity, officers with a first — the ability to op- EW systems [and can] provide RF signal
have enabled EW/cyber warfare capa- erate in the field without dependen- analysis and geolocation capabilities.”
bilities down to the individual warfight- cy on a host server or external data,” While some ground-based EW has
Srivastava says. “Now EWOs can be been fielded, most advanced prototypes
undergoing real-world evaluations, as jamming, which is giving everybody “There are several communications
what the future of individual warfight- added flexibility in how they deal with paths that exist already and others
er and small unit EW will look like re- those,” Ottaviano continues. “It is all re- coming online that enable this data to
mains an open question, with the an- ally handled though the convergence be used across the battlespace,” Lock-
swer in constant flux.” of EW and cyber across multiple access heed Martin’s Ottaviano says. “As you
“It’s probably too early to tell how points. And, as we deliver these ca- open the aperture on EW, we’re seeing
future ground EW capabilities will be pabilities, systems we’re now deploy- more and more data, so there is a lot of
incorporated into the battlespace. A lot ing, because of the way technology is effort going into data fusion, machine
of ground capabilities are in the exper- changing, are being used in ways we learning, AI and such. As you expand
imentation stage. If you look at what never imagined.” your sensors, the number of capabil-
the Army is doing with their cross-net- ities, you have to have a way for the
work teams, they are learning how to Multi-use hardware system to narrow all that down, with-
do an air-ground, multi-service, inte- As hardware is becoming ubiquitous, out taking away significant data. And
grated framework,” says BAE Systems’s smaller, and more capable, the Army each user has a different view on what
Ioannisyan. is requiring an open architecture set that should be. We’re seeing a priori-
“I think every component has its of capabilities with EW/cyber warfare ty for it to be tailorable to the level of
own pros and cons,” he says. “The real built-in, enabling the warfighter to use data required by each user across the
question is how does the battlespace the same hardware for different mis- battlespace.”
network leverage the best of those ca- sion-based functions. As the warfight- Rapid innovation in the commercial
pabilities to help the ground maneu- er evolves from the concept of “every world also leads to rapid innovation in
ver units put kinetic fire on their tar- shooter is a sensor” to every shooter EW and other military applications,
gets. Can the system itself decide if a is an EW/cyber warfare node, the need with ground EW and associated appli-
specific target is better jammed from to bring all that new data back to the cations expected to see a lot of inno-
the air or hit by Hellfire from the air commander — from the smallest unit vation on which they can move quick-
or by kinetic effects from the ground?” to higher headquarters — as useful in- ly. Commercial technologies, typically
In the past, EW typically has been formation to make real-time tactical based on industry standards, also make
segmented. The effort by the Army — decisions also increases. it easier to update existing systems and
which is being closely watched by the
other services — to converge EW and COMPANY LIST
cyber warfare is changing that.
“We can’t continue to have stove- Abaco Systems Curtiss-Wright Corp. Mercury Defense Systems
piped systems and we’re seeing re- Huntsville, Ala. Defense Solutions Division Cypress, Calif.
www.abaco.com Ashburn, Va. www.mrcy.com/markets/
quirements for systems to do all those www.curtisswrightds.com electronic-warfare
BAE Systems Adaptive
and more demanding in terms of open
Sensors Group General Dynamics Corp. Northrop Grumman Corp.
architecture,” says Joe Ottaviano, di- Hudson, N.H. Mission Systems segment Mission Systems segment
rector of EW at the Lockheed Mar- www.baesystems.com Fairfax, Va. Baltimore
https://gdmissionsystems.com www.northropgrumman.com
tin Corp. Rotary and Mission Systems Boeing Defense, Space &
Security segment Harris Corp. Electronic Raytheon Space and
segment in Syracuse, N.Y. “Certain- St. Louis Systems segment Airborne Systems
ly there has been a lot of advance- www.boeing.com/company/ Clifton, N.J. El Segundo, Calif.
ment in hand-held, carryable EW sys- about-bds www.harris.com/es www.raytheon.com/
capabilities/ew
tems, offensive and defensive. Those Comtech PST Corp. Leidos
Melville, N.Y. Reston, Va. U.S. Army Cyber Center of
have come a long way over the years www.comtechpst.com www.leidos.com Excellence
as technology has improved. And as Fort Gordon, Ga.
Crane Keltec Lockheed Martin Corp.
https://cybercoe.army.mil/home.
things become smaller and more com- Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Rotary and Mission Systems
html
pact, they’ve gotten lighter.” www.craneae.com segment
Syracuse, N.Y.
“We’re seeing the ability to put more www.lockheedmartin.com
capability into smaller footprints, such
16
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
www.militaryaerospace.com
Ne ed(s): Tomorrow?
Re liabili ty Pasternack
Te st R eports
L o t Trac e abilit y
866.727.8376
Pasternack.com
an company
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TECHNOLOGY F CUS
products that involve 100-Gigabit Eth- Today the majority of high-perfor- you will see products coming out at
ernet interconnects — among them mance embedded computing (HPEC) 100 gigabits, and that technology could
the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solu- applications are using interconnects become mainstream in the next five
tions Division in Ashburn, Va. “Push- that run at 10 to 40 gigabits per sec- years,” Straznicky.
ing VPX to higher and higher transmis- ond, “but in the next two or three years Not every embedded computing ap-
sion speeds to get more capability is a plication will need 100-gigabit through-
clear backplane trend,” says Ivan Straz- put, Straznicky cautions. “Mission and
nicky, chief technology officer at Cur- flight computers, for example, real-
tiss-Wright. “We announced a 100-giga- ly don’t need it yet,” he says. Only the
bit VPX product in January 2018.” most demanding applications, like sig-
Enhanced data throughput especial- nal processing for radar, EW, and sig-
ly is crucial for leading-edge aerospace nals intelligence will be the pioneering
and defense applications like radar and applications for 100-Gigabit Ethernet.”
electronic warfare signal processing,
Straznicky says. “We have a clear de- Signal integrity
mand from customers for those appli- Increasing signal throughput in today’s
cations and those speeds. With more high-performance embedded comput-
processing comes memory bandwidth ing systems comes at a price, howev-
and communications among the pro- The VITA 48.4 Chassis from Elma Electronic er. Perhaps chief among these design
cessors, and switching between the offers liquid flow through cooling and has tradeoffs is compromised signal integ-
systems.” four 6U OpenVPX (VITA 65) slots. rity; as speeds increase, the problem
becomes worse.
“Signals get faster all the time,” says
Chris Ciufo, chief technology officer at
STRONGER, FASTER,
General Micro Systems (GMS) in Rancho
COOLER OPENVPX! Cucamonga, Calif. “It’s very difficult to
design these systems, because we have
to talk about signal integrity.” Anything
Dual 191 CFM running in the gigahertz range over cop-
hot-swap fans
per interconnects transmits electronic
noise, for which systems designers must
compensate, Ciufo explains.
Ultra-rugged
OpenVPX rails “Every time there is a discontinuity
in the system — from a connector, ca-
ble, circuit card via — it is like an an-
tenna stub,” Ciufo says. “It affects and
can degrade the signal. You have to
worry about crosstalk and jitter; add
up all those discontinuities, and it is
Heat exchangers and very difficult to design these systems
internal design for optimized that run a really fast speeds.”
OpenVPX cooling
Interconnect companies like TE Con-
nectivity in Harrisburg, Va., are keep-
ing pace with technology by providing
leading-edge connectors to minimize
www.pixustechnologies.com noise, crosstalk, and jitter in high-per-
formance embedded computing. “The
TE connector can run at 40 GHz, and a lot of these circuit cards that are get- want to put in as many as 12 OpenVPX
they are talking about running it up to ting hotter and hotter inside an ATR [air cards, and get 800 Watts into an ATR.
100 GHz,” Ciufo says. transport rack standard chassis],” says People are trying to put more and more
The problem, however, isn’t just the Justin Moll, vice president of U.S. market power on cards in less space, and that
responsibility of the interconnect sup- development at rugged embedded chas- also means hotter cards.”
pliers; it’s up to every systems design- sis provider Pixus Technologies in Water- It can be difficult to do this while re-
er to minimize signal integrity issues loo, Ontario. “In the past you might see ducing system size, weight, and power
throughout their systems. “It’s really in- six slots as the average size. Now people consumption (SWaP). “It’s a challenge
cumbent on the designers of all the bits
and pieces of these systems to safeguard
signal integrity issues,” Ciufo says. “With
each jump in speed it gets more difficult.
They also have to worry about the pow-
er supply signals; it isn’t easy. With each
new generation of technology, the dial
is turned up just a little bit more, so we
have to keep upping our game.”
Thermal management
and ruggedization
It’s a rule of thumb in embedded com-
puting that higher performance and
faster speeds mean increased waste
heat. Fortunately, systems designers
today have a wide and growing set
of open-systems standards to choose
from to help keep their systems cool
and operating at peak efficiency.
“On the chassis we are seeing two
effects: one, a lot of people want to put
for us chassis guys to prevent all the cards sealed from outside contami- choice anytime soon. Standard archi-
enclosures from getting bigger and big- nants, while capitalizing on the strong tectures are allowing hybrid approach-
ger because of the cooling they need,” cooling properties of liquid to cool em- es that can mix and match copper RF
Moll says. bedded electronics that is generating signals and optical signals over fiber on
Pixus is designing rugged OpenVPX even 800 or 900 Watts per slot. the same OpenVPX backplane.
embedded computing chassis with heat Curtiss-Wright also is offering hy- Optical fiber interconnects offer ob-
exchangers on the outside to cool by brid thermal management solutions vious advantages over copper — faster
pulling outside air across the outside that blend air flow through and liquid speeds, lower system noise, better sig-
edges. “The outer shell pulls air from flow through technologies to cool em- nal integrity, and enhanced security.
the outside for extra cooling, while in- bedded computing systems with wide- Still, the transition can be difficult be-
side it is sealed and protected from the ly ranging waste heat. “We have a hy- cause of the expense, new technologies
environment,” Moll says. brid approach that allows the designer necessary, and the difficulty of keep-
This kind of cooling approach that in- to use conduction-cooled modules to ing fiber interconnects clean enough
volves blown air can be a necessity, and optimize,” Straznicky says. for maximum signal throughput. “Fi-
not a luxury, in today’s powerful embed- ber weighs less than copper, you can’t
ded computing designs. “People are more eavesdrop on it, and it can go long dis-
willing to use some of the air-cooled sys- tances,” points out Mercury’s Bratton.
tems, and in rugged rack-mount appli- “It also requires precision alignment,
cations there are a lot more of those,” and cleanliness is an issue.”
Moll says. “The overall trend is keeping FiberQA in Old Lyme, Conn., offers
the air-cooled approach because they AVIT-DT technology that uses a system
are getting beyond the limits of what of robotics and automated software to
traditional conduction cooling can do.” inspect and clean dozens of optical fi-
Curtiss-Wright’s Straznicky says ber ferrules in a matter of minutes, rath-
systems designers are making broad- er than hours or days. While the AVIT-
er use of industry standards like VITA DT is big enough to take polishing plates,
The Pentek plenum has an exposed wall
48.8 air-flow-through and VITA 48.4 liq- that helps control the cooling airflow in several military-standard circular con-
uid-flow-through to help tackle heat in Pentek high-performance data recorders. nectors, or dozens of MPO ferrules, it is
high-performance systems. compact enough to fit on a workstation.
VITA 48.8 permits air inlets at both Copper vs. optical fiber It can help inspect individual ferrules or
card edges, as well as on the top circuit interconnects different sized military and aerospace
card edge opposite the VPX connectors. Most embedded computing industry ex- shell connectors at the same time.
It also can promote use of polymer or perts are waiting for as long as they can Optical-to-electronic-conversion,
composite materials to reduce chassis before making the transition from cop- and electronic-to-optical-conversion,
size and weight. per to optical fiber interconnects — al- also is an issue for today’s embedded
VITA 48.8 seeks to improve the ef- though few deny that an eventual move computing designs. “Optical-to-elec-
ficiency of the thermal path to cool to optical fiber is a virtual certainty. tronic and electronic-to-optical con-
high-performance processors, FPGAs, Many industry old timers are verters are crucial enabling technolo-
general-purpose graphics processing amazed that copper interconnects to- gies,” says Curtiss-Wright’s Straznicky.
units (GPGPUs), and other hot compo- day are capable of speeds as fast as 100 “In rugged transceivers, I don’t know if
nents. Specifications for ANSI/VITA 48.8 gigabits per second, whereas only a few there are any on the market now, but
use gasketing to prevent particulate years ago few thought that copper could once there is a clear need, then com-
contamination from the moving air. carry signals much faster than 1 giga- panies will go ahead and innovate.”
When designers need even more bit per second. Companies to watch on future Opti-
cooling capacity, they can turn to Fortunately, however, industry stan- cal-to-electronic-conversion, and elec-
VITA 48.3 liquid flow by and 48.4 liq- dards are evolving such that designers tronic-to-optical-conversion chips in-
uid flow through technology to keep probably won’t be forced into making a clude Finisar Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif.;
Reflex Photonics in Kirkland, Quebec; have to, but there will be an awful lot
and Ultra Communications Inc. in Vis- of copper for RF and power. There al-
ta, Calif. ways will be a mix.”
Optical fiber offers more advantag-
es than just signal throughput; it also Emerging industry standards
helps data storage systems keep up with One of today’s most talked-about
today’s fast microprocessors. Non-Vola- The Apex rugged computer server for emerging industry standards influenc-
tile Memory Express (NVMe) solid-state military and aerospace applications from ing embedded computing backplanes
drives can communicate with the CPUs General Micro Systems is designed to evolve and chassis is the Sensor Open Sys-
and upgrade as system needs change over
at PCI Express Gen3 speeds, which al- tems Architecture (SOSA) standard,
several years.
leviates the need for drive controllers administered by The Open Group in
that slow data throughput and add un- Despite its advantages, many com- San Francisco.
necessary controller latency. panies still are reluctant to move to op- It revolves around OpenVPX, and
NVMe over fiber is a trend,” says tical fiber. “No one will do optical un- focuses on single-board computers
GMS’s Ciufo. “To scale-up to more stor- til they have to,” says Abaco’s Pepper. and how to integrate them into sen-
age, we are looking for ways to connect “But when you get beyond 100-gigabit sor platforms. Embedded computing
more boxes with fiber with new proto- interconnects, we’ll have to get serious experts also say SOSA functionally is
cols. Fiber is very light weight, immune about these optical standards coming boiling-down cumbersome OpenVPX
to EMI [electromagnetic interference], is on.” Echoes Michael Munroe, backplane standards into a useful subset for aero-
inherently not tapable, and gives you tre- product specialist at Elma Electron- space and defense applications. SOSA’s
mendous speeds with low SWaP.” ic, “People will go to fiber when the potential to streamline OpenVPX could
1902mae18-24.indd 123
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TECHNOLOGY F CUS
bolster interoperability of third-par- Kontron America Inc. in San Di- Distributed architectures
ty modules in military and aerospace ego has introduced the VX305C-40G A growing number of military embed-
systems, and help save costs and en- 3U OpenVPX single-board computer ded computing applications are dis-
hance competition. that uses an open-systems architec- pensing entirely with the traditional
SOSA falls under an umbrella of ture that aligns with SOSA. The em- circuit-card-and-backplane architec-
emerging standards called Modular bedded computer for battlefield serv- ture in favor of distributing networked
Open Systems Approach (MOSA). In er-class computing and digital signal stand-alone computer boxes through-
addition to SOSA includes Future Air- processing (DSP uses a defined Open- out their systems.
borne Capability Environment (FACE); VPX single-board computer profile that “There is a migration in the cus-
Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW In- marries a 40 Gigabit Ethernet port and tomer base toward small-form-fac-
teroperability (VICTORY); and Open user I/O to the 12-core version of the tor computer systems,” says Doug
Mission Systems/Universal Command Intel Xeon D processor. Patterson, vice president of glob-
and Control Interface (OMS/UCI). Close behind Kontron in introducing al marketing at Aitech Defense Sys-
Military involvement in MOSA and SOSA products is Pentek Inc. in Upper tems Inc. in Chatsworth, Calif. “They
SOSA standards is helping keep Open- Saddle River, N.J., with the model 71813 want distributed intelligence and a
VPX attractive to the military. Although SOSA-aligned LVDS XMC module with way to communicate that back to
SOSA is not yet a final standard, it even- optical I/O. It is based on the Xilinx Kin- the main mission computer, which is
tually may help forge consensus among tex Ultrascale field-programmable gate backplane-and-chassis-based.
suppliers and users. array (FPGA) and features 28 pairs of Distributed systems move signal
“SOSA is a big deal,” says Mercury’s LVDS digital I/O to align with the emerg- processing and data conversion as
Bratton. “It’s really got traction, and we ing SOSA standard. The model 71813 also closely to sensors and antennas as pos-
are seeing a lot of technology re-use, implements an optional front panel op- sible, and perform as much processing
upgradeability, removing vendor-lock, tical interface supporting four 12-giga- and data-reduction as possible. Then
and scalability.” bit-per-second lanes to the FPGA. it flows back to a centralized comput-
er system. “It’s taking a lot of intelli-
COMPANY LIST gence and pushing that out to the sen-
sor,” Patterson says. “Instead of flowing
Abaco Systems Inc. Extreme Engineering Pixus Technologies the data through a harness, it goes out
Huntsville, Ala. Solutions (X-ES) Waterloo, Ontario to the edge to the sensors.”
www.abaco.com Verona, Wis. www.pixustechnologies.com
Driving the move to distributed ar-
www.xes-inc.com
Aitech Defense Systems Inc. Reflex Photonics chitectures are SWaP and price, Pat-
Chatsworth, Calif. FiberQA Kirkland, Quebec
www.rugged.com Old Lyme, Conn. https://reflexphotonics.com terson says. “It’s moving smaller com-
https://www.fiberqa.com pute clusters out closer to the sensors,
Atrenne Integrated Systel Inc.
Solutions Inc. Finisar Corp. Sugar Land, Texas and passing that data along to the main
Littleton, Mass. Sunnyvale, Calif. www.systelusa.com
mission processors.”
www.atrenne.com www.finisar.com
TE Connectivity Will distributed architectures re-
Crystal Group Inc. General Micro Systems Harrisburg, Va.
Hiawatha, Iowa (GMS) Inc. www.te.com/usa-en/home.html place traditional bus-and-board box-
www.crystalrugged.com Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. es? Probably not in the foreseeable fu-
Ultra Communications Inc.
www.gms4sbc.com
Curtiss-Wright Defense Vista, Calif. ture, Patterson says. “All that data has
Solutions Kontron America Inc. www.ultracomm-inc.com
to go somewhere,” he says. “Payloads
Ashburn, Va. San Diego
VadaTech Inc. typically form a ring of boxes around
www.curtisswrightds.com www.kontron.com
Henderson, Nev.
Elma Electronic Inc. Mercury Systems Inc. www.vadatech.com the vehicle, which are booster control-
Fremont, Calif. Andover, Mass. lers, GPS, and navigation systems. All
ZMicro
www.elma.com www.mrcy.com
San Diego that data has to reside in a box of some
Pentek Inc. https://zmicro.com
form. It may change in the future, but
Upper Saddle River, N.J.
www.pentek.com for now you will have a main mission
computer.”
Air Force Base, Mass., are asking the Last fall the Northrop Grumman Designing naval surface
Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Corp. Mission Systems segment in Mid- warships for modern ASW
Systems segment in San Diego to pro- dle River, Md., won an $80.2 million or- with networked sensors
vide option year one for Battlefield Air- der for military Global Positioning Sys- The Australian government is weighing up
borne Communications Node (BACN) tem (GPS) capability for BACN nodes its options when it comes to the anti-subma-
payload operations and sustainment. aboard the E-11A jet, as well as to en- rine warfare (ASW) capability requirements
The BACN is an electronic payload hance the system’s positioning, navi- for the forthcoming decision on Project SEA
aboard the E-11A and Air Force RQ-4 gation, and timing (PNT). 5000—the multi-billion-dollar future frigate
Global Hawk large unmanned aerial ve- The BACN payload aboard the E-11A project. The proliferation of submarines in the
hicle (UAV). The E-11A is based on the and Global Hawk helps enable diverse Indo-Pacific certainly warrants close atten-
Bombardier Global Express business jet. battlefield weapon systems to commu- tion being paid to this decision. For starters,
The Northrop Grumman Technology nicate with each other during in-the- we need a clear understanding [PAGE 27]
Services segment in Herndon, Va., also ater operations where mountainous
UL1203 Certified
EPOXY for
Explosion-Proof &
Dust-Ignition-Proof
Electrical Equipment
The Army is looking for rugged displays without processors to
EP41S-6 Two Part Epoxy replace obsolescent displays in the Stryker armored combat vehicle.
26
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
display’s performance should be equal display without an internal processor [FROM PAGE 25] that ASW is about much
to or better than the current VDET in a production quantity of 300 units more than just what can be expected from
specification. per year; and to understand risk areas only one of many surface warships, no mat-
The rugged displays must have ac- that could inhibit product development. ter how sophisticated the fit-out. But who
tive touchscreen areas of at least 10 The Army only wants display understands this esoteric field? The one-on-
inches. The complete display and bezel hardware that meets the Stryker one hunter–killer scenario we sometimes
must not be larger than 12.25 by 11 by Mission Display (SMD) performance think of from World War II or early in the
4.25 inches, and weigh no more than specification, which is available for Cold War is no longer what can be expected.
24 pounds. Its bezel buttons must use download as a Microsoft Word doc- Now, submarines are even harder to detect
the USB human interface device (HID) ument at https://www.f bo.gov/utils/ and, as a result, the World War II concept of
keyboard protocol, and use either the view?id=cb6f4457b2ddb812eafe28d- a single ship hunting a submarine is of limited
USB HID touchscreen; USB HID touch- ae2bee0ea. utility. With only on-board sensors available
pad; or USB HID mouse protocol. Companies interested were asked to to conduct detection work, the submarine
If companies would like to suggest email responses to the Army’s Jenelle would always have an advantage. Building
a smart display, its processor must be Vickberg at Jenelle.L.Vickberg.civ@mail. on evolved capabilities, ASW today involves
physically removable from the unit at mil no later than 18 Feb. 2019. Email coordinating a suite of networked sensors
its point of manufacture to help the questions or concerns to Vickberg at that involve sonar and electromagnetic sen-
Army avoid removing the processor [email protected]. sors aloft, on the surface, and underwater
later on. to detect, track, deter, and potentially attack
Army officials want to know the More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/ hostile submarines.
availability and cost of providing a notices/ab233684b4f2e814712e1a15cf738afb.
verSI
High-Speed, Rugged,
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OPTICS
tional rugged air- and water-cooled open-ar- battle-ready protected by the GTS Advanced Air Force chooses cockpit
chitecture shipboard computers under terms COTS Enclosure (ACE). management unit from Avalex for
of an $8.5 million order. The CPS consists of a rugged enclosure F-16 jet fighter avionics upgrade
Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Com- and three subsystems: the processing sub- U.S. Air Force jet fighter avionics experts needed
mand in Washington are asking GTS to build system, the storage and extraction subsys- a cockpit management unit as part of the F-16
15 Common Processing System (CPS) techni- tem, and the I/O subsystem. communications suite modernization program.
The storage and extraction subsystem They found their solution from Avalex Technol-
provides data storage for CPS operating ogies in Gulf Breeze, Fla.
system (OS) image storage, program stor- Representatives of Avalex Technologies have
age, data extraction, and database manage- announced that the Air Force has awarded the
ment. The I/O subsystem, meanwhile, inter- company a contract to provide the new-gener-
faces the processing and storage hardware ation ACM9454V cockpit management unit as
to various external elements. part of the F-16 cockpit avionics upgrade.
Oracle provides for the Common Pro- The Avalex ACM9454V is part of the Air
cessing System open-standard middleware, Force Mobile User Objective System (MUOS)
designated SAFfire, for the CPS to support program, which will deliver a tenfold increase in
cal instruction-12 hybrid (TI-12H) water-cooled high-availability management of mission-crit- the real-time, global digital SATCOM throughput
computers for the Navy Surface Electronic ical combat system. SAF stands for Stan- capabilities for all blocks of F-16 jet fighter avi-
Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) and dards Availability Forum, an industry con- onics, Avalex officials say.
two CPS TI-12H air-cooled computers for ship sortium of companies that develop open MUOS is a is a UHF narrowband military
self-defense systems. The CPS is a rugged ship- standards-based products. The new-gener- satellite communications (SATCOM) system that
board computer processing system based on ation Open-SAFfire middleware uses open- provides increased communications capabilities
an open-architecture design. source technology based on SAF standards. to newer, smaller terminals while still supporting
The CPS provides a common comput- The overall CPS is designed with a interoperability with legacy terminals. MUOS is
ing infrastructure for ship combat systems, shock-isolating enclosure that protects designed to support users who require greater
including processing and memory, data stor- unhardened COTS components from the mobility, higher bit rates, and improved opera-
age and extraction, and I/O interfaces for intense shock and vibration that can occur tional availability.
shipboard combat systems. The GTS team on Navy surface ships. “Once implemented, the number of avail-
building the open-architecture CPS consists On this order GTS will do the work in Vir- able SATCOM channels will increase by 10-fold,
of Northrop Grumman, DRS Technologies, ginia Beach, Va., and should be finished by giving our pilots much greater connectivity in
IBM, and Oracle Corp. this October. For more information contact tomorrow’s battlespace,” says Tony Hatten, vice
GTS engineers build the CPS using com- Global Technical Systems online at http:// president of business development at Avalex.
mercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and gts.us.com, or Naval Sea Systems Com- Hatten explained that along with being a key
software such as BladeCenter technology mand at www.navsea.navy.mil. part of the F-16 MUOS upgrade, the ACM9454V
offers other key advantages including acting as
30
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
consulting and training services modeled after a NETWORKED RADIO “The aircraft’s small operational footprint
weapons school with weapons school instruc- Mobile ad-hoc networking radio and extremely large payload capacity enables
tors, graduates, adversaries, and test pilots. from Persistent Systems chosen it to carry the most advanced sensor systems
The company’s F-5s are upgraded with for Resolute Eagle UAV available and can be operated just about any-
head-up display (HUD) and hands-on-throt- Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) experts at PAE where,” says Herb Rubens, Persistent Systems
tle-and-stick (HOTAS) systems, open-architec- ISR in Sterling, Va., needed mobile ad-hoc net- chief executive officer.
ture mission computers, and tailored opera- working (MANET) capability for the
tional flight programs that enable integration company’s Resolute Eagle UAV. They
of advanced radar and radar warning receivers, found their solution from Persistent
infrared search-and-track, electronic attack sys- Systems LLC in New York City.
tems, datalinks, and high off-boresight simu- Persistent Systems will provide
lated weapons. the company’s MPU5 Wave Relay
The Curtiss-Wright DTS3 file server supports networking radio for Resolute Eagle
FIPS 140-2 hardware encrypted solid-state data communications and navigation.
storage that communicates via Ethernet to a The MPU5 rugged digital radio
modified version of Curtiss-Wright’s DuraCOR has an onboard Android operating
80-42 modular mission computer. system, and the Wave Relay MANET,
The DTS3 NAS file server is for aircraft, as integrated GPS, native video encoding and decod- The UAV offers landing and recovery without
well as for mobile vehicles and field ground ing, and push-to-talk audio. It helps form secure a runway and offers a vertical takeoff and landing
stations. The rugged unit integrates into net- networks, unites critical data sources in real time, (VTOL) option for takeoff and landing for rough
work-centric systems to provide a network file and handles data, video, voice. terrain and maritime operations. The aircraft is 9.5
server. The system hosts three removable mem- The system can run live voice-over-inter- feet long, with an 18.2-foot wing span.
ory cartridges — each of which supports as net-protocols, video, and other high-demand It can operate unrefueled for 18 hours,
much as two terabytes of stored data. Users applications, and uses existing infrastructure cruises at 50 knots at altitudes to 17,000 feet.
can remove the unit from one DTS3 and install to augment the capacity of a wireless network. It has an empty weight of 120 pounds, and can
it into another DTS3. The radio’s algorithm enables users to incorpo- carry 100 pounds of fuel, communications, and
The Parvus DuraCOR 8042 rugged modu- rate meshed devices into the network in which sensor payloads. It takes off by catapult and
lar mission computer subsystem is based on a the devices themselves form the communication lands on its belly.
quad-core, eight-thread, fifth-generation Intel infrastructure. “This smart platform frees up valuable space
Core i7 Broadwell microprocessor. The small- The MPU5 then enables that critical informa- and weight and in doing so, increases the endur-
form-factor mission computer is qualified to MIL- tion to quickly be disseminated to mobile teams ance and payload carrying capability of the Res-
STD environmental and EMI testing. on the ground and positively impact their mission. olute Eagle,” says Joe Sartiano, PAE ISR chief
Its PCI Express Mini Card slots and a PCI Keeping our soldiers safe while simultaneously operating officer, says of the Persistent Systems
Express/104 bus architecture supports rapid making them more effective is the overall goal.” MPU5 radio.
add-on I/O module integration for size, weight, “The ability to deliver real-time intelli- “The MPU5’s unique ability to rapidly change
and power (SWaP)-sensitive applications. It gence data from an aircraft to teams of dis- C, L, and S bands by swapping the interchange-
combines graphics and multi-core processing in mounted users is a force multiplier,” Rubens able frequency modules paired with the Resolute
a fanless IP67 design. says. “The aircraft’s small operational footprint Eagle’s large multi-intelligence payload capacity
On this contract Curtiss-Wright will do and extremely large payload capacity enables makes this a game-changing capability,” says
the work in Dayton, Ohio, and Salt Lake City, it to carry the most advanced sensor systems Jake Jacobs, PAE ISR chief technology officer.
and should be finished by this summer. Cur- available and can be operated just about “The MPU5 and its Wave Relay MANET technol-
tiss-Wright will ship products to the TacAir facil- anywhere.” ogy allow the Resolute Eagle to achieve higher
ity in St. Augustine, Fla. The Resolute Eagle UAV uses line-of-sight, data-rates and deliver actionable intelligence
For more information contac t Cur- beyond-line-of-sight, and beyond-visual-line-of from its multi-int sensors in near real-time.”
tiss-Wright Defense Solutions online at www. sight RF communications for law enforcement, For more information contact Persistent
curtisswrightds.com or Tactical Air Support at homeland security, humanitarian, and commer- Systems online at www.persistentsystems.com,
https://tacticalairsupport.com. cial UAV missions. or PAE ISR at www.paeisr.com.
32
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
new products
contact John Keller at [email protected].
VIDEO
DISPLAY, SWITCHING & TRANSMISSION
We Have Proven Solutions
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5.5 pounds, the Spectrum Rider FPH spectrum analyzers have a battery that
lasts more than six hours. The analyzer can be controlled remotely via USB or
LAN. Its MobileView app for iOS and Android provides wireless remote control
of the Spectrum Rider FPH from a mobile device. For more information contact
SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES
Rohde & Schwarz online at www.rohde-schwarz.com. Phone: 1-800-869-6882 / International Callers: +1 512-982-4277
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.mae-subscribe.com
MOTION CONTROL
GROUP PUBLISHER Alan Bergstein
Differential measurement for space and airborne night 603 891-9447 ⁄ [email protected]
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John Keller
vision and image stabilization introduced by Kaman 603 891-9117 ⁄ [email protected]
The Measuring Division of Kaman Precision Products Inc. in Middletown, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jamie Whitney
603 891-9135 ⁄ [email protected]
Conn., is introducing the KD-5100 differential measurement system for night
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR WESTERN BUREAU J. R. Wilson
vision systems, precision telescope positioning, fast steering mirrors (FSM) 702 434-3903 ⁄ [email protected]
for space-based and airborne applications, and image stabilization systems. ART DIRECTOR Meg Fuschetti
www.pennwell.com
PHALANX II:
Military & Aerospace Electronics
61 Spit Brook Road, Suite 501, Nashua, NH 03060
603 891-0123 ⁄ www.milaero.com
TECHNOLOGY GROUP
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/PUBLISHING DIRECTOR & CMO June Griffin
F E B R UA RY 2 0 1 9 35
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