Military Amp Aerospace Electronics - April 2019 PDF
Military Amp Aerospace Electronics - April 2019 PDF
RELEVANT. TRUSTED.
ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES.
Pentagon
payday
Requested DOD budget
of $718.3 billion has
roughly 40 percent of
funds earmarked for
electronics and related
technology. PAGE 5
Thinking small
Modern aerospace and
defense applications
with a focus on
small size, weight,
power consumption,
and cost. PAGE 24
militaryaerospace.com
AI in unmanned
military systems
Finding the right
balance between
machine autonomy
and human-assisted
operations. PAGE 12
2 TRENDS
4 NEWS
4 IN BRIEF
12 SPECIAL REPORT
COvER STORY
24 TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Military power electronics seeks to
increase voltage and efficiency
Power control for aerospace and defense
applications aims at sometimes-conflicting demands
for custom designs, open-systems standards,
and the ever-present quest for small size, weight,
power consumption, and cost (SWaP-C).
30 RF & MICROWAVE
35 UNMANNED VEHICLES
38 ELECTRO-OPTICS WATCH
41 PRODUCT APPLICATIONS
44 NEW PRODUCTS
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1904MAE02-03.indd 31
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news
General Dynamics to refurbish Special Forces sets May technology
Army Stryker vehicles in
deals worth $2.7 billion demonstration for artificial intelligence (AI)
Armored combat vehicles experts at General
BY John Keller
Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, with industry partners with promis-
Mich., will repair, retrofit, and support U.S. TAMPA, Fla. — Weapons experts at U.S. ing solutions. If the SOCOM technolo-
Army M1126 Stryker combat vehicles to like- Special Operations Command (SOCOM) gy demonstration evaluation panel fa-
new condition under terms of two separate at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., are in- vorably evaluates a solution brief at the
five-year contracts announced in late February viting companies to demonstrate new demonstrations, negotiations may be-
collectively worth $2.7 billion. Officials of the enabling technologies in artificial in- gin immediately.
Army Contracting Command in Warren, telligence (AI), machine learning, and This event is considered compet-
Mich., are asking General Dynamics for ret- robotic process control; hyper-enabled itive in the same manner as a broad
rofit, damage repair, and reset-refurbishment operator; and next-generation imagery, agency announcement or commercial
services to support the Stryker family of vehi- surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). solutions opening, and solutions will
cles; as well as for Stryker wholesale supply, SOCOM will sponsor a technology be evaluated independently for tech-
performance-based, logistics services. A reset demonstration called the Disrupter nical merit.
contract involves the repair and retrofit of Applications for artificial intelli-
battle-worn or damaged products to a like- gence, machine learning, and robotic
new condition, which means to refurbish to process automation may for predictive
near zero miles and hours of wear and tear. maintenance; warfighter mental and
The Stryker family of eight-wheeled armored physical health; cyber protection and
fighting vehicles from General Dynamics Land resilience; logistics; contract manage-
Systems is a derivative of the Canadian LAV ment; and partnered force operations.
III combat vehicle from a General Dynamics- Technologies may involve cogni-
General Motors Defence Canada team, and tive problem-solving software; pow-
is based on the Swiss Piranha III 8×8 com- er-efficient chips and solid-state cir-
bat vehicle. Stryker is designed as a deploy- cuits; AI-enhanced smart phones and
U.S. Special Operations Command is inviting
able fighting vehicle that is more lethal than companies to demonstrate enabling portable devices; simulations and cog-
light vehicles like Humvees, yet is lighter technologies in artificial intelligence (AI), nitive modeling assessment tools; au-
and more maneuverable than heavyweight machine learning, and robotic process tonomous or cognitive capabilities for
combat vehicles like the M1 Abrams main control in May. drones, vehicles and robotics; and tools
battle tank. For more information contact and that reduce cognitive workload.
General Dynamics Land Systems online Event from 20 to 22 May 2019 at Tam- Capabilities of interest for artificial
at www.gdls.com, or the Army Contracting pa Convention Center, 333 South Frank- intelligence, machine learning, and ro-
Command-Warren at www.tacom.army.mil. lin St., Tampa, Fla. 33602. The event botic process automation include per-
happens at the same time as the Spe- ception; speech recognition; document
Sikorsky-Boeing’s Future cial Operations Forces Industry Con- analysis; signals analysis; natural lan-
Vertical Lift helicopter ference (SOFIC) at the Tampa Conven- guage processing; recommendation en-
takes maiden flight tion Center. gines; and autonomous action, naviga-
On March 21, the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 During the event, participants pri- tion, and movement.
DEFIANT helicopter achieved first flight at vate one-on-one session with evalua- Technologies of interest for hy-
Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Fla., site. The tion panel to pitch, demonstrate, and per-enabled operator include edge com-
aircraft, developed by Sikorsky and Boeing, discuss their solutions. SOCOM offi- puting and analytics; layered and au-
cials want to enter into agreements tomated tactical communications and
1904MAE04-11.indd 5 1
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news
Boeing to build 78 F/A-
18E/F carrier-based combat
2020 $718.3 billion DOD budget
jets in $4 billion deal
is up; eyes hypersonics, laser
Combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co.
will build 78 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block weapons, trusted computing
III carrier-based jet fighter-bombers for the
BY John Keller
U.S. Navy under terms of a $4 billion con-
tract announced in mid-March. Officials of WASHINGTON — Leaders of the U.S. Depart-
the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent ment of Defense (DOD) are asking Con-
River Naval Air Station, Md., are asking the gress for $718.3 billion in federal fiscal
Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment year 2020, which represents a 4.7 per-
in St. Louis to build 61 single-seat F/A-18E cent increase over this year’s military
and 17 two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornets budget, according to budget figures re-
under terms of this five-year contract. The leased last month, which would rep-
twin-engine carrier-capable multirole fighter resent another record year for U.S. de-
and light-attack F/A-18E/F combat jets and fense spending.
their avionics are based on the McDonnell The 2020 DOD budget request fo-
Modernizing the nation’s nuclear forces is a
Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, which entered U.S. cuses on technologies like unmanned cornerstone of the record 2020 budget
Navy squadrons in 1983, but are larger and vehicles and automation; artificial in- proposal for the U.S. Department of Defense.
more advanced derivatives. The F/A-18E/F telligence (AI) and machine learning;
has a larger wing and a longer fuselage to hypersonic weapons; and directed-en- Missile defense next year would re-
carry more fuel and more powerful engines. ergy weapons in their fiscal 2020 bud- ceive $13.6 billion, including $1.7 bil-
The Block III configuration adds enhanced get request to Congress. Fiscal year lion for 37 SM-3 Aegis ballistic missile
network capability, longer range, reduced 2020 begins next October 1. defense weapons; $1.5 billion for mis-
radar signature, an advanced cockpit sys- Roughly 40 percent of the entire DOD sile-defense studies; $1.7 billion for
tem, and enhanced communications sys- budget goes for military electronics and ground-based midcourse defense; $800
tem. Boeing will begin converting existing related technologies, such as comput- million for 37 Terminal High Altitude
Block II Super Hornets to Block III early in ers, sensors, communications, integrat- Area Defense (THAAD) missiles; and
the next decade. The fighter’s life also will ed circuits, electronic warfare (EW), $700 million for 147 Patriot advanced ca-
be extended from 6,000 hours to 10,000 surveillance and reconnaissance, and pability (PAC-3) missile enhancements.
hours, Boeing officials say. For more infor- power electronics. Space would receive $14.1 billion
mation contact Boeing Defense, Space & Cyber security and trusted com- next year, including $3.7 billion for es-
Security online at www.boeing.com/com- puting would receive $9.6 billion next tablishing the U.S. Space Force; $1.7
pany/about-bds, or Naval Air Systems year, highlighted by $3.7 billion for of- billion for four national security space
Command at www.navair.navy.mil. fensive and defense cyberspace op- launches; $1.8 billion for one GPS III
erations; $5.4 billion for cyber securi- secure navigation satellite; and $1.6
Radiation detection offers ty; and $61.9 million to modernize the billion for space-based overhead per-
remote inspection of shipping DOD general-purpose cloud comput- sistent infrared surveillance.
containers and trucks ing environment. New aircraft would receive $57.7
Physicists at the University of Maryland have Unmanned and autonomous projects billion, including $11.2 billion for 78
developed a powerful new method of radi- would receive $3.7 billion; artificial in- F-35 joint strike fighters; $2.3 billion
ation detection by using an infrared laser telligence and machine learning would for 12 KC-46 aerial tankers; $2 billion
beam to induce a phenomenon known as receive $927 million; hypersonic weap- for 24 F/A-18E/F carrier-based jet fight-
an electron avalanche breakdown near the ons development would receive $2.6 bil- er-bombers; $800 million for six VH-93
material. The new technique can perform lion; and directed-energy technologies presidential helicopters; $1.5 billion for
remote detection of shielded material from a like laser weapons would receive $235 six P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and
million, according to DOD documents. surveillance aircraft; $1.5 billion for six
6
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
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S PECIAL REPORT
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A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
Military leaders may be even more weapons are released, so the military
cautious when it comes to AI. “By their is very cautious about deploying fully
very nature, the military is less cau- autonomous systems with the ability
tious,” Engle says. “The question about to do harm. More quickly will be sup-
full autonomy on the battlefield is do port systems, such as medevac and
you want a system that does not have supply delivery.”
a human in the loop controlling when Sean Baity, Technology Director for
Unmanned Systems at Textron Sys- HR3000 is a rugged, half-rack width, short
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Radiall_MAE_1904 1 3/26/19 10:53 AM
HoltInt_MAE_1904 1 3/26/19 10:45 AM
any human intervention. That is a chal- right time to achieve the intended out- giant predicted a future where AI plays
lenging environment, but does not have come, being able to recognize a situa- a major role in just about every part of
the considerations of civil air space tion and make a decision that reach- military and civilian life.
safety.” es the appropriate outcome, he says. “In an AI-enhanced future, hu-
AeroVironment Inc. in Monrovia, One of the most enthusiastic sup- mans will become better at everything;
Calif., has a long history in the pro- porters of AI-based systems is Lock- they’ll also become safer and less vul-
duction of UAVs for the military and, heed Martin Corp. in Bethesda, Md. In nerable to danger,” the paper states.
more recently, for commercial use. Ste- a January 2019 paper, the aerospace “AI-enabled autonomous systems are
ven Gitlin, vice president of corporate
strategy, also sees the technology out-
pacing the military’s concept of opera-
tions (CONOPS).
“It’s a quickly evolving space with
lofty ambitions and a lot of horsepow-
er and we’ve been able to deliver some
basic autonomy capabilities that we be-
lieve, over time, can deliver more value
to the customer,” Gitlin says. “Anything
that can enable a customer to perform
their mission more safely, efficiently
and cost-effectively is attractive. And
that’s what unmanned vehicles have
done already. It’s a continuum.”
In terms of technologies neces-
sary to enable the next generation, he
adds, “there’s a lot of development go-
ing on in machine vision, AI, neural
nets, machine-to-machine communi-
cation. Those calls need to happen very
quickly and the more complex the en-
vironment and task, the faster those
calls need to take place.” AI’s role will
be making the right decisions at the
The Textron Systems Aerosonde Small Unmanned Aircraft System has more than 300,000 flight hours of experience from land and sea
operations around the world. At any given point in time, there is an Aerosonde system operating somewhere in the world.
changing the way militaries operate be successful, could raise the figure surveillance missions or undersea car-
and protect their forces, the way first far higher for military and commer- go vessels to deliver sensor payloads
responders fight fires, how research- cial sales combined, with one of the and other UUVs.
ers explore the far reaches of space and largest applications being agriculture, The Navy and DARPA have been
the ocean’s depths.” where automation already has taken working with Boeing and Lockheed
“Effective manned/unmanned a strong hold. Martin for several years on a vari-
teaming reduces the high cognitive ety of large UUV efforts, such as the
workload, allowing the warfighter to Autonomy in unmanned vehicles Large-Displacement Unmanned Un-
focus on creative and complex plan- Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace derwater Vehicle project. The LDUUV
ning and management,” the paper con- and defense company, also is a major is an autonomous submarine no larger
tinues “Autonomous systems also have supporter of unmanned technologies than 80 inches in diameter that will be
the ability to access hazardous mis- today and fully autonomous unmanned used to help develop concepts for us-
sion environments, react more quick- vehicles tomorrow. In mid-February, ing the larger XLUUVs.
ly and provide persistent capabilities the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing Defense, While the operating environment for
without fatigue.” Space & Security a $43 million order to UUVs is less complex than that for ei-
Some analysts predict global sales build four Orca Extra-Large Unmanned ther UAVs or UGVs, it nonetheless pres-
of $100 billion in unmanned vehi- Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs). At sev- ents several unique obstacles for an
cles through 2025, 80 percent of that en feet in width, the XLUUV is among unmanned system. First, direct com-
on UAVs. But those figures do not ac- the largest unmanned submersibles munication from a manned submarine
count for AUVs, which, if shown to ever conceived for long-endurance or surface ship is impossible. Instead,
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A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
the UUV must cope with rapidly chang- And a lot of decisions will need to be potential combat adversaries: China
ing thermal layers to large aquatic ani- made in real time.” and Russia. Both have made it clear
mals like whales, to fishing nets, mine- they are working hard on both tech-
fields, and even sunken ships. To be Autonomy and safety nologies — and China has boasted of
successful, a long-range underwater One concern of those involved in the its advances in 5G. In addition, nei-
vessel needs some form of AI to han- development of AI and AUVs in the ther government faces the potential
dle those obstacles as well as changing U.S. is the possibility of falling behind weight of public opposition should
conditions related to its mission. two of the nation’s chief rivals and something go wrong.
AI is actually a multi-layered con-
cept, ranging from machine learning,
to adaptive reasoning, cognitive com-
puting, and to full artificial intelligence.
The first has been in use for several
years, the second more recently, the
third is still under development, and
“In the last 10-to-15 years, across the world, we’ve gotten The extensive certification programs are almost certain
used to the concept of digital convergence,” Bratton says. to change significantly.
“The functionality that goes into smart “Going through certificating with an
phones, with a full back-up of cloud air vehicle currently is very long and
data center resources behind it, it will arduous, with only a few companies
be a critical enabler for autonomy. Those seeking certification,” says Mercury’s
same technologies are now being seen in Engle. “But there are hundreds of start-
other applications, such as automotive.” ups popping up all over the world that
Safety also plays a big role. “There eventually will show up at the FAA [and
is the potential for us to be behind the its overseas equivalents] and ask to be
Russians and Chinese [in military AI and certified. How to scale this industry to
AUVs], who may not have the same safe- handle the evaluation and approval of
Falcon-Strike is a C5ISR small form factor,
ty mindset,” Bratton says. “The U.S. has high performance multi-mission computer all those systems is something we have
a goal of saving every possible person fielded for fixed and rotary wing missions as to resolve. And that’s just aviation. Be-
and minimizing the risk to every sol- well as ground-vehicle counter-UAV fore a ground vehicle can be deployed,
dier. But that’s more sociological than applications. does some federal agency have to vali-
technical. This is a brand-new domain date it is ready to go? I think that is an-
and we don’t fully understand the liability issues. If an au- other thing slowing this industry down.”
tonomous vehicle runs someone down, who is liable — and Textron’s Baity says he believes the true force driving
what were the circumstances involved? There are no abso- future AUV development will not be the military, but the
lutes with AI outputs, so it will be a little more interesting.” commercial world.
20
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1904MAE12-23.indd 121
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FLIR Systems in Wilsonville, Ore., Enabling technologies for AI the board, making what was science
acquired Endeavor Robotics (nee iRo- To handle a fully autonomous system, fiction only a few years ago quickly be-
bot) last February, is expanding its from navigation to sensors to com- coming reality.”
portfolio from sensors to robotic munications — perhaps, eventually, Unmanned systems have prolif-
systems, with a long-term focus on weapons — will require a complex, erated across all domains, from the
autonomy. multi-level AI system with a single Boeing-built U.S. Air Force unmanned
“In the future, we will be looking interface to all of those to avoid SWaP X-37B mini-shuttle, to the Orca, to driv-
to integrate manned and unmanned parameters that make the system too erless cars to UAVs. The next step, fully
systems across multiple domains, in- large to be practical. autonomous platforms, appears to be
cluding unmanned air and ground sys- “Through integrating, ruggedizing technologically close, and depends only
tems, collaborating in the battle space the right hardware, we can enable an on advances in artificial intelligence.
as well as working with manned sys- AI footprint in a single system rather “AI is a vision of what could be, with
tems,” says Roger Wells, vice president/ than several difference pieces in the a tremendous amount of work under-
general manager for unmanned sys- past,” says Aneesh Kothari, vice pres- way, such as machine learning and oth-
tems & integrated solutions at FLIR’s ident of marketing at rugged comput- er aspects that simplify things down to
Government & Defense Business Unit. er specialist Systel Inc. in Sugar Land, a ‘check engine’ light level,” says Tex-
“This gives us the opportunity to move Texas. “It also provides a single point tron’s Baity. AI will make sure that con-
from sensors, where we have a long of integration for all the sensors these fidence is established and maintained
and robust history, to intelligent sen- platforms will carry. The number of in the system and mitigates the cost of
sors and sensing to fully integrated things now possible is quite remark- training and maintenance. There is a
solutions designed to meet the needs able. And such systems divert weight desire to minimize the amount of train-
of the missions.” and operational requirements from the ing required so you can walk up to a
It’s likely we will see more of this in individual soldier.” system and know how to use it, much
the future. “We see unmanned auton- Many improvements have come as you do with a telephone.
omous systems becoming much more only recently. “It seems to be evolving “The area of autonomy is a broad
pervasive, in our personal lives and on very rapidly, especially in the past two one and people feel very passionately
the battlefield,” Wells continues. “It is years,” Kothari says. “You can see that about it,” Baity continues. “It is some-
evolving by leaps and bounds every across the military services, such as the thing that will benefit our lives and our
day. We are getting to the point in our Army’s robotic combat vehicle, small- ability to get the job done. We want to
technology development — especial- er-form-factor UAVs, UGVs being looked make sure they are extensions of hu-
ly in terms of SWaP [size, weight and at as forward deployed units, the Na- man intent and managed in that man-
power] — where we can package tre- vy’s autonomous helicopter. The man- ner, covering customer needs in air,
mendous amounts of capability into date for AUVs is quite common across land and sea.”
small units. The architectures are al-
lowing the systems to more effective-
ly integrate into the force structure as COMPANY LIST
well as operate in autonomous ways
across a wide spectrum of missions. AeroVironment Inc. FLIR Systems Systel Inc.
The analytics, AI and applications are Monrovia, Calif. Wilsonville, Ore. Sugar Land, Texas
allowing our systems to be more ef- www.avinc.com www.flir.com www.systelusa.com
fective at understanding the environ- Boeing Defense, Space & Lockheed Martin Corp. Textron Systems Unmanned
Security Bethesda, Md. Systems
ment and conducting their mission Huntington Beach, Calif. www.lockheedmartin.com/en- Hunt Valley, Md.
relative to what they are sensing. This www.boeing.com/defense/ us/capabilities/autonomous- https://www.textronsystems.
autonomous-systems unmanned-systems.html com/what-we-do/
is providing a unique set of capabil-
unmanned-systems
ities to small units on the front line, Crystal Group Mercury Systems Inc.
Hiawatha, Iowa Andover, Mass.
with systems around them support- www.crystalrugged.com https://www.mrcy.com
ing that.”
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Copyright © 2018 Broadcom. All Rights Reserved. Broadcom, the pulse logo, and Connecting everything are among the trademarks of Broadcom. The term
“Broadcom” refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. 052118
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TECHNOLOGY F CUS
Modern aerospace and defense elec- are still paramount,” says Robert Rus- Increasing voltage challenges
tronics applications are calling for pow- sell, vice president of product market- One of the primary challenges for
er control and conditioning compo- ing at Vicor. “Our idea is to improve on power systems designers today is
nents that offer increasing amounts of the SWaP-C metric while letting our cus- squeezing every last bit of power out
power density, efficiency, and voltages tomers do what they are good at, so they of ever-more-tightly packaged power
to meet often-stringent requirements can do what they do.” components. “Everybody
of small size, weight, power consump- The ability to take- always asks for higher
tion, and cost (SWaP-C). on SWaP-C is one of the power density and effi-
At the same time, however, the pow- ciency,” says Leonard Les-
er industry is confronting requirements lie, vice president of en-
from other directions — namely grow- gineering at VPT Inc. in
ing needs for high-power systems like Blacksburg, Va.
laser weapons, all-electric aircraft, and “We get requests for
many other applications that are de- Elma Electronic is in the increased power in the
manding high power and low SWaP-C. rugged embedded same package, and less
“Things are getting smaller and computing business, yet power dissipation from
company engineers have
more powerful,” says Jeffrey Ham, our products,” Leslie
designed their own VPX
principal applications engineer at Vicor strongest pitches that Vi- and small-form-factor says. “As systems get
Corp. in Andover, Mass. “The smaller cor officials make to their embedded power more complex, and as
we can make something and the more customers. “Our products modules to meet they try to do more in the
powerful we can make it, enables our draw a lot of interest for customer needs. same space and weight,
customers to meet their needs.” size and weight, where they are pushing for a
Designing electronics that are small- customers need a lot of power in a more dense solution.” VPT engineers
er and more powerful than ever before small package,” says Tom Curatola, are approaching this challenge with
is an imperative that runs across the in- field applications engineer at Vicor. updated power topologies like syn-
dustry’s waterfront, and power electron- “They look at our expertise to pack chronous rectification. “Some of the
ics is no different. “SWaP-C challenges a lot of power into a small package.” things we’ve worked on are wider input
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
voltage ranges to meet mil-specs without additional mod- high-voltage opportunities — 270 volts and up,” says Ste-
ules in front of the converters,” he says. ven Goldman, product line manager for solid-state power
New kinds of packaging can be key to meeting today’s controller products at DDC. “That’s a big shift for us, and we
power challenges. “To move to higher are going to higher voltages and high-
voltages, we need packages that meet er power.”
clearances for safety,” says Vicor’s Ham. Much of the shift to higher-power
“Having a higher-voltage device lets you systems comes from the hybrid and
use less copper to drive current. We need electric vehicle industry. Military sys-
to reduce the amount of current flow- tems designers want to take advan-
ing around at a given voltage level. The tage of these maturing power tech-
driver is the customer’s desire to re- nologies as they move to ever-more
duce the size of his payload without powerful systems.
adding more copper for moving cur- “We are seeing a lot of higher-pow-
rent at lower voltages.” The U.S. Ar- er requirements driven by motive sys-
my-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical tems,” explains DDC’s Santini. The
Vehicle (JLTV), for example, is moving commercial electric power market is
up to 600-volt systems for a variety centered on 370 volts for the automo-
of power needs — sometimes even tive market. There are small hybrid ve-
higher — Ham points out. hicles and some high-power drives that
Not only can higher voltages help are centered on 400 volts.”
increase overall system power, but This has military systems designers
they also play a role in keeping SWaP Elma Electronic engineers have designed thinking about how to implement tomor-
to a minimum. A relevant application their own CompactPCI small-form-factor row’s systems like all-electric drones.
is tethered unmanned aerial vehicles embedded power modules to support the “That’s when you start seeing 370-volt
company’s line of small rugged embedded
(UAVs), which receive their operating buses instead of just 270-volt buses in
computers.
power and instructions through a thin military applications,” Santini says.
cable to the ground. “In the tethered Additional high-power military appli-
drone market, anything that can be done to reduce the size cations involve the emerging generation of laser weapons, as
of the tether is important, so the higher the voltage, the well as systems that are moving away from hydraulic actua-
smaller the cable size that is necessary.” tion to electric power. “In high-power systems, we are seeing
Not only do systems designers need higher-voltage sys- customers looking even for 1,000-volt systems,” says DDC’s
tems than they have in the past, but they also need clean- Goldman. “This is pushing us to the higher-power require-
er and more precise power control. ments; they need all the power they can get. Those laser
“Some of the things that before might have been accept- weapons use a super-capacitor to power and fire the weapon.”
able include living with harmonics,” says John Santini, chief
technologist at Data Device Corp. (DDC) in Bohemia, N.Y.
“Now they are saying we can’t afford those harmonics any-
more, and need a true power factor corrector. The Navy, for
example, for years has used multi-pole transformer rectifi-
er setups, or some kind of passive power factor correction.
Now our customers are saying we need active power fac-
tor correction, so then you are driven to an active solution.”
sa
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2019 d e n
pa s a
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1904MAE24-29.indd 291
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Raytheon to build three
prototype AMDR radar systems Harris to provide EW avionics to protect
for Burke-class destroyer
Surface warship radar experts at the
Kuwaiti combat aircraft from missiles
BY John Keller
Raytheon Co. will build three advanced-pro-
totype versions of the new AN/SPY-6(V) Air PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — Electronic war-
and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) under fare (EW) experts at Harris Corp. will
terms of $402.7 million U.S. Navy order provide sophisticated EW systems to
announced in March. Officials of the Naval the government of Kuwait that are de-
Sea Systems Command in Washington are signed to protect combat aircraft from
asking the Raytheon Integrated Defense incoming radar-guided missiles.
Systems segment in Marlborough, Mass., Officials of the Naval Air Systems
to provide three low-rate initial production Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Harris is providing the AN ALQ-14 electronic
warfare (EW) system to help protect Kuwaiti
(LRIP) versions of the AMDR for late-model Station, Md., has announced a $43.3 mil-
military aircraft from radar-guided missiles.
Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) Aegis destroy- lion order to the Harris Electronic Sys-
ers. LRIP means building small quantities of tems segment in Clifton, N.J., for addi- 78 AN/ALQ-214 A(V)4/5 EW jammers for
the system to enable Navy experts to test the tional lot 16 AN/ALQ-214 A(V)4/5 EW F/A-18C/D and F/A-18E/F combat jets.
it thoroughly to ensure it meets Navy require- jammers for F/A-18E/F Super Hornet The RF countermeasure system en-
ments. This phase also enables Raytheon to fighter-bombers for the Kuwaiti military. gages incoming missiles autonomous-
tool-up for full-rate production. LRIP is the The AN/ALQ-214(V)4/5 is an elec- ly with a series of measures designed
first step in switching from customized hand- tronic jammer component of the in- to protect the aircraft from detection.
built prototypes to the final mass-produced tegrated defensive electronic count- The AN/ALQ-214(V)4 is a smaller and
end product. The AMDR will supersede er measures system (IDECM) avionics. lighter version of its predecessors, and
the AN/SPY-1 radar, which has been stan- It protects fighter-bombers from ra- has an open-architecture design that
dard equipment on Navy Aegis Burke-class dar-guided surface-to-air and air-to- is ready for integration on several dif-
destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. air missiles. ferent kinds of aircraft.
One year ago Boeing agreed to sell The system is designed to count-
Northrop Grumman starts full- 28 Super Hornets to Kuwait worth as er radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles
scale development of AARGM- much as $1.2 billion. Of this order, 22 with electronic countermeasures (ECM)
ER radar-killing missile will be single-seat F/A-18E models and techniques that deny, disrupt, delay,
U.S. Navy aerial warfare experts are begin- six will be F/A-18Fs — the two-seat ver- and degrade the enemy missile launch
ning full-scale development of a new and sion of the jet. The U.S. State Depart- and engagement sequence. The sys-
advanced radar-killing missile designed ment approved the Super Hornet sale tem identifies, ranks, and counters
to enable U.S. jet fighter-bombers to sup- to Kuwait in November 2016. incoming missiles, and displays en-
press enemy air defenses preceding bomber The ALQ-214 component of the gagements to the flight crew for situ-
attacks. Officials of the Naval Air Systems IDECM EW system has been delivered ational awareness.
Command at Patuxent River Naval Air to the U.S. Navy and to the Royal Aus- On this order Harris will do the work
Station, Md., announced a $322.5 million tralian Air Force for contemporary in Clifton, N.J.; as well as in San Jose,
contract in March to the Northrop Grumman versions of the Boeing F/A-18 combat San Diego, Rancho Cordova, and Moun-
Corp. Innovation Systems segment (formerly aircraft. The system blends sensitive tain View, Calif., and should be finished
Orbital ATK) in Dulles, Va., for engineering receivers and active countermeasures by August 2022.
and manufacturing development (EMD) of to form an electronic shield around the
the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation aircraft, Harris officials say. For more information contact Harris Electronic Sys-
Guided Missile – Extended [PAGE 34] Last month Harris won a $168.8 mil- tems online at www.harris.com/es, or Naval Air
lion order to provide the U.S. Navy with Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
Innovation
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BuiltSECURE
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Copyright © 2019 Mercury Systems and BuiltSECURE are trademarks of Mercury Systems, Inc.
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www.militaryaerospace.com
MerSys_MAE_1904 1 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS A P R I L 3/12/19 31
2 0 1 94:49 PM
with unknown behaviors and agile waveforms, so identify- the EA-18G carrier-based electronic warfare jet to count-
ing and jamming them is becoming increasingly difficult. er agile, adaptive, and unknown hostile radars or radar
Things will get worse in the future as radars develop modes. REAM technology is expected to join active Navy
the ability to sense their environment with artificial intel- fleet squadrons around 2025.
ligence and machine learning, and adapt their transmis- On this contract, the Navy is choosing Vadum sole-source
sion characteristics and pulse processing algorithms to de- to avoid roughly $5.9 million in cost duplication, and pre-
feat attempts to jam them. vent as much as three years’ unnecessary schedule delay,
New approaches like REAM seek to enable systems to Navy officials say.
generate effective countermeasures automatically against Vadum specializes in EW modeling and simulation. The
new, unknown, or ambiguous radar signals in near re- company has expertise in RF and wireless circuit and systems
al-time. They are trying to develop new processing tech- design; electronic board design, layout, and fabrication; em-
niques and algorithms that characterize enemy radar sys- bedded hardware and software design; RF modeling and sim-
tems, jam them electronically, and assess the effectiveness ulation; computational electromagnetics; antennas; wireless
of the applied countermeasures. testing; cell phone forensics; servo and stepper motor control;
Waveform-agile radar systems of the future will shift fre- algorithm and digital signal processing development; cryp-
quencies quickly in a pre-programmed electronic dance to tography; data compression; and RF detection.
foil electronic warfare attempts to defeat them. On this contract Vadum will do the work in Raleigh, N.C.,
Last April the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems seg- and will be finished by February 2024.
ment in Bethpage, N.Y., won a $7.3 million contract to de-
velop machine-learning algorithms for the REAM program. For more information contact Vadum online at www.vaduminc.com, or the
The company is moving machine-learning algorithms to Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/
Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Crane.
Custom Engineered
Air Force asks L-3 to build
Power radar proximity sensor to
Supplies trigger air-burst munitions
BY John Keller
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — Airborne weapons experts at L-3 Tech-
www.airborn.com has been building the DSU-33D/B sensor since 1999, and re-
cently delivered the 200,000th system.
32
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
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Northrop Grumman to upgrade SATCOM data [FROM PAGE 30] Range (AARGM-ER). The
AARGM-ER is an advanced and extend-
link aboard E-6B airborne command post ed-range version of the High-Speed Anti-
Radiation Missile (HARM). It is a new variant
BY John Keller
channels and one Ka satellite commu- of the AGM-88E missile that equips Navy
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — Satellite commu- nications channel. Other equipment carrier-based fighter-bombers and electronic
nications (SATCOM) experts at Northrop includes power conditioning, cooling, warfare jets.
Grumman Corp. will build and test ad- electrical, and network distribution.
vanced SATCOM capability for the U.S. The system also has equipment that Construction moves forward
Navy E-6B Mercury strategic airborne interfaces Block II B kits into the exist- on gallium nitride (GaN)
command post and communications re- ing E6-B avionics architecture. radar system in Alaska
lay aircraft under terms of an $37.5 mil- The E-6B provides command and Construction is moving forward on a U.S.
lion order announced in March. control of U.S. nuclear forces should military project to build a new ballistic mis-
Officials of the Naval Air Sys- sile defense system in Central Alaska that
tems Command at Patuxent Riv- involves a gallium nitride (GaN)-based sol-
er Naval Air Station, Md., are id-state active electronically scanned array
asking the Northrop Grumman (AESA) early warning radar. Officials of the
Mission Systems segment in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Anchorage,
Herndon, Va., to provide modi- Alaska, announced a $128.7 million contract
fications to the E-6B aircraft in- to ASRC Construction Holding Co. LLC in
volving the plane’s Multi-Role Anchorage, Alaska, to build the Long Range
Tactical Common Data Link Discrimination Radar (LRDR). The LRDR,
(MR-TCDL). planned for service in 2020 is part of the U.S.
Northrop Grumman will build new SATCOM
Northrop Grumman will pro-
equipment for the Navy E-6B Mercury airborne ground-based midcourse defense anti-ballis-
vide seven MR-TCDL data link command post, which maintains communications tic missile system. The U.S. Missile Defense
B-kits, one mission avionics sys- with submerged ballistic submarines at sea. Agency (MDA) in Huntsville, Ala., awarded
tems trainer B-kit, and A- and the Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary and
B-kit spares for the MR-TCDL upgrade ground-based control become inoper- Mission Systems segment in Moorestown,
aboard the E-6B Mercury. able. The plane is based on the four-en- N.J., a $784.3 million contract in late 2015
The Boeing E-6 Mercury is an air- gine Boeing 707 passenger jetliner. to build the LRDR. The LRDR program is
borne command post and commu- The plane has a battle staff area and the backbone of the MDA’s layered defense
nications relay aircraft based on the new flight deck systems based on mod- to protect the U.S. homeland from ballis-
1950s-vintage stretched Boeing 707- ern Boeing 737 avionics. The E-6 flew tic missile attack. It will be a long-range
320 narrow-body passenger jetliner. in 1987, and the first E-6B was accept- radar that will provide precision metric data
compared to the original 707 jetliner, ed in December 1997. The last produc- to improve ballistic defense discrimination
the E-6 Mercury has new engines and tion E-6B was delivered to the Navy in and replace existing sensors in the Ballistic
other system upgrades. late 2006. Missile Defense System (BMDS). LRDR will
The plane conveys instructions from On this contract modification keep pace with evolving ballistic missile
the National Command Authority to de- Northrop Grumman will do the work threats and increase the effectiveness of
ployed Navy nuclear ballistic missile in Salt Lake City, San Diego, and Bos- ground based interceptors, Lockheed Martin
submarines, as well as to land-based ton, and should be finished by Octo- officials say. For more information contact
atomic missiles and nuclear-armed ber 2021. ASRC Construction online at http://asrccon-
bombers. struction.com; Lockheed Martin Rotary and
The E-6 Mercury’s MR-TCDL provides For more information contact Northrop Grum- Mission Systems at www.lockheedmartin.
secure Ku line-of-sight and Ka SAT- man Mission Systems online at www.northrop- com, or the Army Corps of Engineers Alaska
COM systems for the E6-B aircraft. The grumman.com, or Naval Air Systems Com- District at www.poa.usace.army.mil.
data link includes two Ku line-of-sight mand at www.navair.navy.mil.
34
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
tc
watch
OPTICS
watch
c
OPTICS
a high fill factor aperture, non-me- terahertz range and wide operating bulky mechanical gimbals to steer
chanical beam steering, and integrat- bandwidths enable high-speed data the telescope and the back-end op-
ed amplification. transmission and 3-D imaging with tics like lasers and detectors.
Among the project’s goals was to sub-millimeter range resolution. Instead, the MOABB project sought
fabricate a coherent 10-centimeter Applications for these features to capitalize on developments in inte-
transmit/receive array with distrib- span the space from 3-D mapping, grated photonics that offer the poten-
uted gain built with wafer-scale pro- foliage penetrating lidar, navigation, tial for high-speed, non-mechanical
cessing, and demonstrate the coher- and long-range communications. beam-steering. Researchers believe
ent array in a packaged lidar system While free-space optical systems that efficient sources, detectors, am-
capable of 3-D imaging from as far offer compelling capabilities, they plifiers, and low-loss waveguides can
away as 100 meters. are too big, heavy, and expensive for be fabricated on one planar platform
Free-space optical systems have many applications. Above a 10-centi- for high-power, large scale apertures.
tremendous potential for sensing, illu- meter aperture, their size and weight On this contract JASR will do the
mination, and communications, DAR- are dominated by the bulky lenses, work in Solana Beach, Calif., and
PA scientists say. The micron-scale mirrors, stabilized mechanical com- should be finished by November
wavelength allows for 0.001-degree ponents, and large volume of emp- 2020.
angular resolution and antenna gain ty space of the telescope or imag-
of more than 100 decibels from a mod- ing system. For more information contact JASR Systems
est 10-centimeter aperture. On the other hand, aperture small- online at www.jasr.systems, or the Air Force Re-
The frequency in the hundreds of er than 10 centimeters still require search Laboratory at www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl.
Electronic warfare (EW) experts at Harris Corp. form an electronic shield around the aircraft, Navy asks Thales to provide
will provide the U.S. Navy with 78 sophisticated Harris officials say. power amplifiers for AN/USC-
EW systems designed to protect Navy combat The RF countermeasure system aboard 61(C) ship communications
aircraft from incoming radar-guided missiles. the Navy’s F/A-18 jet fighter-bombers RF and microwave experts at the Thales Group
Officials of the Naval Air Systems engages incoming missiles autonomously will continue supplying power amplifier compo-
Command at Patuxent River Naval Air with a series of measures designed to pro- nents for HF radio communications aboard U.S.
Station, Md., announced a $168.8 mil- tect the aircraft from detection. Navy surface warships and submarines under
lion order to the Harris Electronic Systems The AN/ALQ-214(V)4 a smaller and terms of $30.9 million contract.
segment in Clifton, N.J., for 78 lot 16 AN/ lighter version of its predecessors, and has an Officials of the Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego
are asking Thales Defense and Security Inc. in
Clarksburg, Md., to continue building and deliv-
ering High Frequency Distribution Amplifier
Group (HF-DAG) system components and engi-
neering services.
The HF-DAG replacement program is
designed as a substantial technology upgrade
to the existing HF communications systems
deployed on U.S. Navy ships. The HF-DAG
ALQ-214 A(V)4/5 EW jammers for Navy open-architecture design that is ready for inte- contract calls for Thales to provide 1000-Watt
F/A-18C/D and F/A-18E/F Hornet and Super gration on several different kinds of aircraft. power amplifiers and flexible power manage-
Hornet carrier-based fighter-bombers. The system is designed to counter radar- ment units (FPMUs).
The AN/ALQ-214(V)4/5 is an elec- guided anti-aircraft missiles with electronic The HF-DAG supports automated communi-
tronic jammer component of the integrated countermeasures (ECM) techniques that cations in a wide band of frequency spectra that
defensive electronic counter measures sys- deny, disrupt, delay, and degrade the enemy supports transmit and receive communications
tem (IDECM) avionics, which comes to the missile launch and engagement sequence. modes like duplex/simplex voice, continuous-wave
Navy from a joint venture of Harris and BAE The system identifies, ranks, and counters (CW), teletype, digital exchange, amplitude mod-
Systems. It protects Navy fighter-bombers incoming missiles, and displays engagements ulation (AM) and Link 11 HF networking.
from radar-guided surface-to-air and air-to- to the flight crew for situational awareness. The HF-DAG communications group sup-
air missiles by jamming the enemy missile On this contract Harris will do the work ports the Navy’s AN/USC-61(C) Digital Modular
guidance systems. in Clifton, N.J.; as well as in San Jose, San Radio (DMR) communications suite from the
The ALQ-214 component of the IDECM Diego, Rancho Cordova, and Mountain View, General Dynamics Corp. Mission Systems seg-
EW system has been delivered to the Navy Calif., and should be finished by May 2022. ment in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Electromet Corp.
as well as to the Royal Australian Air Force For more information contact Harris in Hagerstown, Md., provides electronic enclo-
for contemporary versions of the Boeing F/A- Electronic Systems online at www.harris. sures for the Navy’s shipboard DMR communi-
18 fighter-bomber. The system blends sensi- com/es, or Naval Air Systems Command cations suites.
tive receivers and active countermeasures to at www.navair.navy.mil. The Navy awarded this contract to Thales
sole-source because the company’s broadband
www.militaryaerospace.com MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICS A P R I L 2 0 1 9 41
HF components are the only ones that interface England, and should be finished by January 2024, data across shipboard electronics and networks.
with the AN/USC-61(C) DMR shipboard commu- For more information contact Thales Defense NTCDL provides a real-time exchange of
nications system, Navy officials say. and Security online at www.thalesdsi.com, or voice, data, imagery, and full-motion video from
SPAWAR is awarding this contract on behalf SPAWAR at www.public.navy.mil. aircraft, surface warships, submarines, and war-
of the Navy Program Executive Officer for fighters on land. It helps the Navy network oper-
Command, Control, Communications, Computers, ations using currently fielded common data link
and Intelligence (PEO C4I), Communication RUGGED COMPUTERS (CDL) equipment, as well as next-generation
Program Office (PMW/A 170) in San Diego. Rugged computer servers from Systel manned and unmanned systems.
The HF-DAG supports AN/USC-61(C) mar- chosen for shipboard networking Initial NTCDL systems will go aboard Navy
itime radios to enable Navy surface warships Naval shipboard electronics enclosures specialist aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious
and submarines to communicate over high fre- Falstrom Company in Passaic, N.J., needed rug- assault ships. NTCDL is a modular, scalable
quency (HF), ultra-high frequency (UHF) line of ged high-density computer servers for the U.S. system designed to increase link capacity and
sight, UHF satellite communications (SATCOM), Navy’s Network Tactical Common Data Link embrace waveform evolution.
and very high frequency (VHF) radio bands. (NTCDL). They found their solution from Systel The technology uses an open-systems architec-
The AN/USC-61(C) DMR is a shipboard soft- Inc. in Sugar Land, Texas. ture with non-proprietary interfaces, and is repro-
ware-defined radio (SDR) that has become Systel will support NTCDL in partnership with grammable to adapt to new and evolving mission
standard for the U.S. military. The compact, Falstrom, which will design, build, qualify, and needs. BAE Systems is building NTCDL technology
multi-channel DMR provides several different deliver below deck electronic rack assemblies to at its facilities in Wayne, N.J., and Greenlawn, N.Y.
waveforms and multi-level information security the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in BAE Systems is working with partner Ball
for voice and data communications. Nashua, N.H., the program’s prime contractor. Aerospace to advance the two companies’ joint
The radio includes Embedded type 1 encryp- Multi Link CDL Systems development. Ball is
tion; embedded red/black baseband switching building the Ku-band phased array antenna suite
and routing; co-site performance; reduced man- for BAE Systems on the NTCDL project.
power requirements; single point of control for These multi-beam planar phased array anten-
HF/VHF/UHF/SATCOM radio communications; Falstrom specializes in custom rugged enclo- nas from Ball Aerospace are based on silicon ger-
and built-in test (BIT). sures and electronic assemblies for naval shipboard manium (SiGe) technologies on one circuit board,
Software-defined radio waveforms are com- radar, conventional and nuclear power panels, avi- which results in a low-profile antenna.
puter programs that enable SDR-enable radios onics test equipment, and computer enclosures. The antennas initially will be installed on
to operate on different frequency bands with Systel is supporting NTCDL with high-den- naval aircraft carriers to enable the ships to com-
different encryption and cyber security func- sity 1U and 3U embedded computing servers for municate with a range of intelligence, surveil-
tions. The AN/USC-61(C) operates on Navy sur- high-speed communications and position, navi- lance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. Ball
face ships, submarines, and other military plat- gation, and timing (PNT) services. will do the NTCDL work in Westminster, Colo.
forms using frequencies from 2 MHz to 2 GHz. Systel’s rugged servers feature several cen- For more information contact Systel online
General Dynamics has certified the DMR to tral processing units and graphics processing at www.systelusa.com, BAE Systems Electronic
pass secure voice and data at multiple inde- units for high-performance parallel processing, Systems at www.baesystems.com, or Ball
pendent levels of security (MILS) over HF, VHF, high-density secure data storage, and high- Aerospace at www.ball.com/aerospace.
UHF, and SATCOM channels, and to withstand speed optical fiber data networking.
the effects of electromagnetic interference and Two years ago BAE Systems won an $87.7
other harsh operating conditions. million Navy contract to develop NTCDL tech- SENSORS
The DMR also is certified by the Joint nology that enables Navy surface warships to Northrop Grumman to install
Interoperability Test Command (JITC) to be transmit and receive real-time intelligence, sur- EW and electro-optical missile-
compliant with the U.S. government’s MIL-STD- veillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data from defense on P-8A jets
188-181B/182A/183A requirements for UHF several sources simultaneously. Military avionics experts at Northrop Grumman
SATCOM. General Dynamics builds the AN/USC- The system also enables the Navy to Corp. will provide electronic warfare (EW) and
61(C) using open-architecture standards. exchange command and control information missile-defense subsystems for the U.S. Navy
On this five-year HF-DAG contract, Thales will across disparate networks. The NTCDL helps P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol jet under terms
do the work in Clarksburg, Md.; and West Sussex, the Navy share large quantities of critical ISR of a $27.3 million contract.
42
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
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contact John Keller at [email protected].
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A P R I L 2 0 1 9 MILITARY & AEROSPACE ELECTRONICSwww.militaryaerospace.com
RGBSpec_MAE_1904 1 3/5/19 10:59 AM
EMBEDDED COMPUTING
GROUP PUBLISHER Alan Bergstein
Intel 16-core processor, high speed 10-Gigabit Ethernet channels, and operation in ART DIRECTOR Meg Fuschetti
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Endeavor Business Media, LLC
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