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News
- Trends
  - High-speed 1553: a promising technology wasted by the military
    Most would agree in this day and age that the U.S. government—particularly the Department of Defense (DOD)—no longer can afford to waste money.
- News
  - Canadian research could lead to running JTRS-compatible radio waveforms on Android smartphones and tablets
    Software-defined radio (SDR) experts at the Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC) in Ottawa have ported the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)-compatible P25 emergency public-safety radio waveform to an Android handheld communications device, which may lead the way to running SDR applications on commercial smartphones and rugged tablet computers.
  - Lockheed Martin nets $4 billion order for 30 F-35 jet fighters; Japan chooses F-35 for future air defense
    Military aircraft designers at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, will build 30 F-35 Lightning II advanced jet fighter aircraft and advanced avionics for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps under terms of a $4 billion contract modification from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md.
  - BAE Systems to provide communications networks for Navy destroyers
    Engineers from the BAE Systems Support Solutions segment in St. Inigoes, Md., will design and build onboard radio communications and network capability for two new U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers under construction, the USS William S. Sims (DDG 113) and USS Callaghan (DDG 114).
- In Brief
  - IN BRIEF: Lockheed Martin’s battle command system undergoes limited user testing in Afghanistan
    U.S. Army units have been testing a Lockheed Martin Web-based system that combines the power of Google Earth, Command and Control Web applications, and existing tactical communications systems to deliver a common operating picture of the battlefield to any network user with a laptop computer.
Special Report
- Avionics in Abundance
  Jan. 1, 2012. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps manned and unmanned aircraft benefit from increasingly robust, flexible, and advanced electronics. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps officials share a singular goal: to infuse new and existing aircraft with advanced avionics technology. Today’s avionics advancements, being employed in manned and unmanned aircraft, provide a competitive advantage and increased potential for mission success and warfighter safety.
Technology Focus
- Rugged embedded computing at the crossroads
  Designers of rugged computer boards and chassis continue to struggle with reducing size, weight, and power, developing efficient cooling systems, and fighting tin whiskers, as a new generation of standard small-form-factor embedded computing prepares to make its debut.
Opinion
- Using the h.264 standard might not be the best idea for real-time, mission-critical UAV video data feeds
  Unmanned aerial vehicles must be able to receive and transmit video data. There is generally no substantive visual intelligence at the node, which is the trade-off of moving to unmanned aircraft.
Product Intelligence
- Advanced military night-vision sensors rely on sensor fusion, networking, and signal processing
  Major trends today in military night-vision sensors involve enhancing legacy analog light-intensification tube technology, moving light-amplification sensors into the digital realm, blending digital and analog night-vision sensors, and finally, using digital networking technology to make real-time, night-vision battlefield imagery available to the fighting forces that need it most.
Electro-optics Watch
- Additional Army AH-64D Apache attack helicopters to receive low-light pilotage sensor upgrades
  U.S. Army aviation officials needed a low-light TV camera sensor for the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter.
- Next step in infrared countermeasures development will involve protecting UAVs from missile attack
  Missile-defense experts at the Raytheon Co. Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz., are offering their Common Infrared Counter Measures system for a U.S. Army competition to protect combat helicopters and other aircraft by jamming the infrared guidance systems of heat-seeking missiles and diverting the missiles away from the aircraft.
Product Applications
- DISPLAYS: Color helmet-mounted display for Air Force CV-22 tiltrotor special-ops aircraft to come from Elbit Systems
  Military avionics experts at Elbit Systems of America LLC will supply the U.S. Air Force with the CV-22 Color Helmet Mounted Display for crews of the Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.
- NAVIGATION AND GUIDANCE: CEi chooses MEMS-based inertial measurement unit from Systron Donner for Navy Subsonic Aerial Target
  Aerial target and unmanned aerial vehicle designers at Composite Engineering Inc. needed an inertial measurement unit for the U.S. Navy Subsonic Aerial Target and International Variant.
- EMBEDDED COMPUTING: Argon ST engineers to adopt GE rugged single-board computers for shipboard signals intelligence application
  Officials at Argon ST needed single-board computers for the company’s Ships Signal Exploitation Equipment system. They found their solution at GE Intelligent Platforms.
New Products
- DATABUSES AND NETWORKING: Multichannel data converter for communications and radar processing introduced by Pentek
  Pentek Inc. in Upper Saddle River, N.J., is introducing the model 71651 multi-channel data converter for communications and radar signal processing applications.
- IMAGING EQUIPMENT: Stabilized camera gimbal for day and night surveillance for UAVs introduced by Goodrich Cloud Cap Technology
  The Goodrich Corp. ISR Systems Cloud Cap Technology subsidiary is introducing the TASE400 stabilized camera gimbal for day and nighttime surveillance imaging for applications in unmanned aerial vehicles and other manned and unmanned vehicles that require small size, light weight, and low power consumption.
- VIDEO STORAGE: Graphics and video storage and distribution server for mission-critical applications introduced by RGB Spectrum
  RGB Spectrum is introducing the DSx H.264 graphics and video server line for centralized recording, storage, management, and distribution of H.264 graphics and video in demanding, mission-critical applications.
- POWER ELECTRONICS: Multilayer varistor that responds to 8-kilovolt ESD strikes in less than one nanosecond introduced by AVX
  AVX Corp. in Fountain Inn, S.C., is introducing the AntennaGuard MLV ultra-low capacitance 0603 device.
The Last Word
- Wayne Plucker
  An aerospace and defense industry analyst ponders the health of the avionics market, its promising subsegments, and potential impediments to future growth.

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