cyber
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Trends in avionics connectors
After World War II, aviation electronics evolved away from electromechanical components toward electronic and digital technologies, as seen in the development of fly-by-wire systems. That evolution continues today, as both military and commercial aircraft use increasing amounts of computing power and generate huge reams of data.
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New open standards drive military software radio architectures
Since the 1994 Perry directive to use COTS [commercial off-the shelf] components, virtually all defense and intelligence organizations have been seeking standards-based solutions for electronic equipment and systems. However, even without that mandate, government customers have come to recognize the commonsense benefits of open standards to take advantage of the latest technology, shorten procurement cycles, and foster competitive pricing. Instead of simply trying to comply with procurement policies, these large government organizations are now actively pursuing and promoting new standards to align with current and future mission requirements. More than simply new standards, these initiatives present a new paradigm of system architectures that can efficiently evolve to accommodate new threats and changing requirements, without starting over from scratch each time.
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Space missions gaining vision, precision, autonomy
Space missions requiring higher levels of autonomy and greater precision in navigation are becoming increasingly prevalent, and vision-based sensing systems are acting as a technology enabler for these application types. With high-precision relative navigation, these systems are playing a critical role in rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO); entry, descent, and landing (EDL); and robotic exploration of the solar system. With the private sector driving more ambitious mission requirements through technological advances such as autonomous satellite servicing, the future of these applications is looking bright.
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New mission profile in space means COTS is now an acceptable risk
New mission profiles in space mean that suppliers of radiation-hardened (rad-hard) and radiation-tolerant electronics are able to meet less stringent requirements. The end result: Lower cost and faster time to market for parts used in space applications.
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Mars, methodologies, and mastery of embedded development
Embedded software in military, defense and aerospace programs is on an exponential complexity curve. Yet fail-safe reliability durability and security have always been paramount for the military and aerospace sectors, which excel at building systems including significant hardware and software components. This discipline sent us to the moon, to Mars, and beyond. How can we leverage these defense industry lessons, with their focus on leading interdisciplinary communications and methodologies, augmented by today's new system and software development technologies? A JPL engineer reviews the Mars Viking 1976 program and explores the latest virtual platform technologies for embedded systems and software reliability and accelerated development.
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Artificial intelligence can help warfighters on many fronts
Bringing artificial intelligence (AI) or "smarts" to the battlefield is already changing the way battles are fought; this technology will become increasingly critical in the future.
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Military AI/machine learning speeds decision-making and efficiency for warfighters
Much of the public thinks of artificial intelligence (AI) and summons images of machines hunting humans or monitoring their every move. Unfortunately, fear and paranoia often accompany tech revolutions - think heavier-than-air flight or commercial drones.
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Pushing airborne ISR data recorders to new performance heights
Capturing wire rate data from today's compute-intensive intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensor platforms brings new meaning to the old metaphor "drinking from a fire hose." Airborne ISR systems may have hundreds of cameras and other sensors that generate data that needs to be captured and stored for later analysis. Such sensor systems can't be slowed down to let the recording system to catch up with the flow of data.
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RF spectrum sharing between U.S. military, public wireless users to be put to the test
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with help from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other agencies, is about to open up a 150 MHz-wide swath of radio frequency (RF) spectrum traditionally reserved for the military and allow it to be shared with mobile operators.
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UAS and counter-UAS outlook
Welcome to our annual Unmanned Systems issue, our yearly highlight of the hottest embedded computing elements in military unmanned platforms. We bring this to you every year on the eve of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Xponential show as the magazine and its editorial staff hit the exhibition floors and conference rooms of the event.
Rodger Hosking, Pentek, Inc.
Mariana Iriarte, Technology Editor
Larry Lapides, Imperas
John McHale, Editorial Director
John McHale, Editorial Director