in brief

Ball to provide low-observable communications antennas for Navy shipsEngineers at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., are providing a low-observable Integrated VHF/UHF/L-Band (IVUL) antenna system to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS), of Pascagoula, Miss., for the U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Ball's IVUL antennas, which will provide line-of-sight communications, are compatible with existing receiver hardware on the ships, yet offer improved reliability, reduced maintenance, and reduced radar cross section, company officials say. Ball is teaming with Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The IVUL antennas are to include UHF transmit/receive, VHF/UHF direction finding, and Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) transmit/receive. For more information contact Ball by phone at 303-939-6100, by fax at 303-939-6104,l by post at 1600 Commerce St., Boulder, Colo., 80301, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.ballaerospace.com/.UCLA researchers create fast organic memory deviceResearchers at the UCLA School of Engineering in Los Angeles built an organic, nonvolatile memory device that they claim is cheaper and faster than those now in use. These devices have potential use in personal computers, handheld computers, digital cameras, and other applications where nonvolatile memory is crucial, says Yang Yan, professor in the UCAL Materials Science and Engineering Department. The triple-layer devices are made from an embedded metal layer between two organic films, which couples to two electrodes. A positive voltage turns on the device, and the transition from the off state to the on state is equivalent to the writing process. The device remains in this state even when its power is turned off. Applying a reverse voltage pulse erases data. For more information contact David Brown at UCLA by phone at 310-206-0540, by fax at 310-206-3455, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.ucla.edu/.Tyco offers expanded support for RF connectorsLeaders of Tyco Electronics in Harrisburg, Pa., are announcing an RF connector team to serve military and industrial customers. The Mil-Aero team of Tyco Electronics Global Industrial Commercial Business Unit has the capability to serve industrial OEMs seeking RF connectors. The team is to support SMA, TNC, BNC, SSMA, N Series, OSP, OSMP, and Min/Twin Threaded connectors. Tyco can provide military-qualified RF connectors that meet MIL-C-39012, MIL-A-55339, and MIL-C-83517. For more information contact Tyco Electronics at 717-592-2409, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.tycoelectronics.com/.White unveils two new 4-megabyte SRAMsEngineers at White Electronic Designs are introducing two new 4-megabyte static random access memory (SRAM) integrated circuits in 5- and 3.3-volt versions. The devices — the WEDPS512K32-XBX and the WEDPS512K32V-XBX — integrate four 512K by 8 SRAMs into one 16-millimeter-by-8-millimeter 143 plastic ball grid array, and range in speed from 12 to 20 nanoseconds. These devices are available in commercial, industrial, and military temperature ranges. For more information contact White by phone at 602-437-1520, by fax at 602-437-9120, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 3601 E. University Drive, Phoenix, Ariz. 85034, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.whiteedc.com/.MIL-STD-1553 interface cards available in PC/104 from DDCEngineers from Data Device Corp. (DDC) in Bohemia, N.Y., are offering single-function MIL-STD-1553 data bus interface cards for the PC/104 format based on DDC-s Enhanced Mini-ACE terminal. The BU-65568 card has four dual-redundant bus controller/remote terminal/monitor channels. The cards are 16 bit, convection cooled, and comply with PC/104 specification version 2.3. DDC's BU-65568 cards some with free software, including a C library and drivers for DOS and VxWorks. For more information contact DDC's Mike Hegarty by phone at 631-567-5600, by e-mail at [email protected], or on the World Wide Web at http://www.ddc-web.com/.Plastic fiber-optic backlighting panels available from Poly-OpticalOfficials of Poly-Optical Products Inc. of Irvine, Calif., are offering a one-layer fiber optic panel called UniGlo for backlighting products such as membrane switches, liquid crystal displays, keyboards, and control panels. The UniGlo is 0.33 millimeters thick, rugged, generates no heat or electromagnetic interference, and operates in temperatures between -40 and 80 degrees Celsius, Poly-Optical officials say. For more information contact Nancy Callanan of Poly-Optical by phone at 949-250-8557, by fax at 949-250-1840, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 17475 Gillette Ave., Irvine, Calif. 92614, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.poly-optical.com/.New software helps designers with EMC emission testingSoftware experts at Schaffner EMC in Edison, N.J., are offering new software that enables electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) emission and immunity testing in one package. The EMC Compliance 3 software comes with standard tests that users can run without complex configuration or setup by choosing from the pre-installed list of tests, Schaffner officials say. Users can create complex sequences for specialized tests. The software drives common EMC test hardware and is adaptable to "virtually any test situation," company officials say. For more information contact MaryJane Salvador at Schaffner EMC, by phone at 732-225-9533, ext. 239, by fax at 732-225-4789, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 52 Mayfield Ave., Edison, N.J., 08837, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.schaffner.com/.Vista's Mainstream aims at using commercial parts in mission-critical systemsOfficials of Vista Controls in Santa Clarita, Calif., are announcing their Mainstream program to enable systems designers to adopt leading-edge commercial electronic technologies into deployed mission-critical systems. Mainstream seeks to help designers to use commercially developed components for harsh-environment and mil-spec applications with reasonable assurance that the commercial components will operate in that environment for the life of the product. At the heart of mainstream are scrutiny of the lineage of components, an alliance with integrated circuit vendors, analysis of test reports, techniques to moderate environment-induced failures, and study of temperature affects. For more information contact Vista, a Curtiss-Wright company, by phone at 661-257-4430, by fax at 661-257-4782, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 27825 Fremont Court, Santa Clarita, Calif. 91355, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.vistacontrols.com/.Teledyne Relays releases new solid-state relay for aerospace applicationsEngineers at Teledyne Relays in Hawthorne, Calif., are introducing the Series LPBD100 relay, a normally closed, dual, solid-state relay for aerospace applications such as aircraft flight control systems, automated test equipment, and 28-volt DC aircraft instrumentation systems. The 250-milliamp 100-volt DC device has two independent relays isolated from each other that systems designers can use as two single-pole, single-throw relays or configured as a double-pole, single throw NC relay, Teledyne officials say. For more information contact Teledyne Relays by phone at 800-896-9504, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 12525 Daphne Ave., Hawthorne, Calif. 90250, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.teledynerelays.com/.First F/A-18E/F flight with Kaiser projection display completedDesigners at Kaiser Electronics in San Jose, Calif., flew their first projection display system on an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet fighter-bomber at China Lake Naval Weapons Center, Calif. The Kaiser Digital Expandable Color Display — otherwise known as the DECD — is a 6-by-6-inch reflective micro liquid crystal display projection-based smart display, Kaiser officials say. The display is a ruggedized commercial off-the-shelf projector. For more information contact Kaiser Electronics, a Rockwell Collins company, by phone at 408-532-4000, by fax at 408-433-0553, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 2701 Orchard Parkway - MS-91, San Jose, Calif. 95134-2083, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.kaiseraerospace.com/.Broadax unveils high-reliability 2U computer serverEngineers at Broadax Systems Inc. of City of Industry, Calif., are introducing the RMS-6260 computer server with six hot-swappable RAID5-compatible drives, dual-redundant hot-swappable power supplies, and dual Intel Pentium II 1.4 GHz processors. The RMS-6260 is for high-reliability applications, and comes in 2U-high rack-mount versions, with power supplies accessible from behind a lockable front panel. For more information contact Edward Shil of Broadax Systems by phone at 800-872-4547, by fax at 626-964-2665, by e-mail at [email protected], or on the World Wide Web at http://www.bsicomputer.com/.