in brief

Increased military and aerospace sales boosted API Electronics orders by 30 percent over past six monthsRecent increases in U.S. defense spending to support military operations in Afghanistan and the global war on terrorism has been particularly beneficial for Hauppauge, N.Y.-based API Electronics Group, a provider of custom and standard integrated circuits for military and aerospace applications. API officials say new orders booked for the first half of the 2002 fiscal year are up 30 percent as the company benefits from increased military spending. "We are already seeing an increase in military orders and we recently shipped our largest order ever to the U.S. Military Electronics Supply Center," says Jason DeZwirek, API's chairman and chief executive officer. "As a result of the surge in military spending, as well as increasing demand for a variety of our electronic parts, such as suppressors, we are confident that new orders booked will continue to increase," DeZwirek says. API officials say they expect their sales and earnings growth to continue due largely to a sharp increase in the forecast for the electronics content of U.S. Department of Defense procurement over the next decade. For more information contact API Electronics by phone at 631-582-6767, by fax at 631-582-6771, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 375 Rabro Drive Hauppauge, N.Y. 11788, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.apielectronics.com.Harris to study satellite antenna for future space-based radar and motion-tracking systemU.S. military researchers are looking to satellite communications specialist Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., for new ideas on how to design antennas for a future space-based radar system that can track moving targets on the ground. Harris experts are to study how to build a spaceborne antenna system for the Innovative Space-Based Radar Antenna Technology (ISAT) Study. Harris is working under terms of a $2.5 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Special Projects Office in Arlington, Va., and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Sensors Directorate in Rome, N.Y. The satellite antenna study at the Harris Government Communications Systems Division (GCSD) in Palm Bay, Fla., ultimately is to help government and industry engineers integrate space based radar (SBR) and a moving target indication from space (MTIS) system. For more information contact Harris GCSD by phone at 321-727-6963, by fax at 321-727-4500, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 2400 Palm Bay Road, N.E., Palm Bay, Fla. 32905, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.harris.com.Signal Corp. to provide knowledge management for U.S. Army programInformation technology experts from the U.S. Army in Washington needed knowledge management and technical support to help the Army to transform itself into a network-centric, knowledge-based force. They found their solution from Signal Corp. of Fairfax, Va. Signal won a task order to provide knowledge management and technical support to the Department of the Army, Office of the Director of Information Systems for Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (ODISC4) in the Pentagon. The 7-year $25 million contract came from the GSA Millennia Lite Functional Area 4 - Legacy Systems Migration and New Enterprise Systems Development contract. For more information contact Signal Corp. by phone at 703-205-0500, by post at 3040 Williams Drive, Suite 200, Fairfax, Va. 22031, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.signalcorp.com/.Gabriel Electronics buys antenna business of Endwave Corp.Gabriel Electronics of Scarborough, Me., which makes advanced broadband antennas, acquired the antenna business of Endwave Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif. Endwave's antenna group has provided millimeter wave radio link solutions, and recently has collaborated with Gabriel to produce broadband antennas. Gabriel is acquiring intellectual property related to advanced microwave and millimeter wave antennas such as the GemFire and WavShapr products, patents and patent applications, laboratory equipment, and software that helps design and develop antennas. Gabriel's antennas are designed into military, commercial, and government and networks for voice, video, Internet, and data communications. For more information contact Gabriel by phone at 207-883-5161, by fax at 207-883-4469, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at Scarborough Industrial Park, 16 Manson Libby Road, P.O. Box 70, Scarborough, Maine 04070, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.Gabrielnet.com.Smiths Aerospace chooses eNGENUITY software tools to ensure system reliabilityAvionics integrators at Smiths Aerospace in Cheltenham, England, needed software-development tools to ensure the reliability of mission-critical applications code. They found their solution in the QCG software from eNGENUITY Technologies in Montreal. Smiths Aerospace will use QCG software on future fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter programs, and to upgrade existing applications, eNGENUITY officials say. The first flight of Smiths Aerospace-integrated displays that includes code generated with QCG should be in 2002. Avionics manufacturers must ensure that the software they use in aircraft performs as intended. The Federal Aviation Administration has published stringent guidelines on how qualifiable development software is to be developed, verified, and certified. The QCG software from eNGENUITY is an embedded graphics development tool produced under stringent RTCA DO-178B regulations. It meets these requirements and significantly reduces the time and cost involved to develop software applications, company officials say. For more information contact eNGENUITY Technologies by phone at 514-341-3874, by fax at 514-341-8018, by post at 4700 de la Savane, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4P 1T7, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.engenuitytech.com.International Rectifier offers mil-grade packaging on voltage regulatorsLeaders of the International Rectifier (IR) Hi-Rel Component and Subsystems Group in Leominster, Mass., are adding military-grade packaging on nine standard voltage regulators for military and aerospace applications. The packaging for these devices is the Omnirel Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC)-approved hermetic TO-204AA package. The OM1320NKM (DSCC Drawing Number 7703401) and the OM1324NKM (DSCC Drawing Number 7703405) positive adjustable regulators feature an output range of 1.2 volts to 37 volts with an input range of 4.25 volts to 41.25 volts. The OM1321NKM (DSCC Drawing Number 7703402) and OM1326NKM (DSCC Drawing Number 7703407) have a voltage output range of 1.2 volts to 57 volts with an input range of 4.25 volts to 61.25 volts. For more information contact International Rectifier Hi-Rel Component by phone at 978-534-5776, by fax at 978-534-4246, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 205 Crawford St., Leominster, Mass. 01453, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.omnirel.com.Military semiconductor sales are up at Satcon Technology subsidiarySemiconductor sales to the military are up at Satcon Technology Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., company officials reported. In recent weeks, the division has seen its military component backlog increase from 50 percent to 70 percent, officials say. SatCon, under its FMI product lines, manufactures components for the cruise missile video electronics, phased array radar, satellite uplinks, and the "heads up" display, for the U.S. F-16, F/A-18 and F-22 jet fighters, company officials say. Satcon's recently consolidated Semiconductor Products businesses in Marlborough, Mass., is producing specialty electronics for several major military suppliers, officials say. For more information contact Satcon by phone at 617-661-0540, by fax at 617-661-3373, by post at 161 First St., Cambridge, Mass. 02142, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.satcon.com.