WASHINGTON, 21 Feb. 2012. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) budget for research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) would continue its decline next year if Congress approves the DOD's fiscal 2013 request for $69.65 billion for military-related research. Next year's Pentagon RDT&E request is down nearly 14 percent from recent-year peak spending of $80.92 billion in 2010, according to DOD budget documents.

WOBURN, Mass., 21 Feb. 2012. Concurrent Technologies Inc. in Woburn, Mass., is introducing the XM RS1/20x low-power Express Mezzanine Card (XMC) asynchronous serial communications adaptor for military embedded systems, as well as for industrial, telecommunications, commercial, and financial applications. The XMC embedded computing board supports either the industry standard RS232 interface, RS422 differential interface, or the RS485 multi-drop interface.

NASHUA, N.H., 21 Feb. 2012. Executives and engineers at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, Calif., needed an electronic warfare system able to detect, intercept, identify, locate, record, and analyze threats, such as sources of radiated electromagnetic energy. They found their solution at BAE Systems in Nashua, N.H.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., 20 Feb. 2012. Intilop Inc., maker of complex ultra-low-latency networking Mega IP building blocks and systems, is introducing its 4th Gen. SX-Series 10G ultra-low-latency TCP Offload Engine (TOE) + EMAC + Altera PHY Mega IP cores running on a Stratix IV field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The TOE’s architecture is scalable, customizable, and adaptable. Intilop’s product-line solutions are available in flexible FPGA/ASIC/SoC technologies, which can accommodate a diverse set of technical design specifications.

QUIMPER, France, 20 Feb. 2012. Interface Concept in Quimper, France, is introducing the IC-INT-VPX3a 3U OpenVPX single-board computer for demanding military embedded systems applications like radar processing that require performance, flexibility, and reliability. The embedded computing module based on the Intel second-generation Core i7 processor.

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass., 20 Feb. 2012. WIN Enterprises Inc. in North Andover, Mass., is introducing the MB-73240 low-power PC/104-Plus embedded computing module for space-limited applications such as military embedded systems, industrial control, mobile medical, and human-machine interface (HMI). The board offers a choice of the Intel Atom D525, D425 and N455 processors, and as much as 2 gigabytes of DDR2 memory.

HIAWATHA, Iowa, 16 Feb. 2012. Crystal Group Inc in Hiawatha, Iowa, is introducing the RE0412 rugged embedded computer for airborne and ground-mobile applications in which performance, ruggedness, and reliability are imperative. The RE0412 features an Intel mini-ITX board, i3 (Desktop) CPU, DC power inputs from 18 to 36 volts DC, one fan for air-over-components cooling with 8000-hour mean time between failures, and conformal coating options for humidity protection.

WASHINGTON, 15 Feb. 2012. Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend at least $31.6 billion next year for activities related to command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), according to Pentagon budget documents released this week. The $31.6 billion the military plans to spend on C4ISR in fiscal 2013 is down 10.92 percent from the $35.47 billion in the Pentagon's current-year budget, and is down 16.8 percent from 2011 C4ISR spending levels.

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 15 Feb. 2012. U.S. Army officials needed micro unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to equip four-to-six-soldier fire teams with video reconnaissance and situational awareness during route- and compound-clearing operations. They found their solution from ReconRobotics Inc. in Edina, Minn. The Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., awarded ReconRobotics a $14 million contract Monday to supply micro robots for video reconnaissance missions.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., 15 Feb. 2012. Real-Time Innovations (RTI) in Sunnyvale, Calif., is introducing the RTI Connext family of software-engineering tools to connect real-time software applications across an enterprise. RTI Connext is a service-oriented architecture (SOA) tool designed to help provide enterprise-wide integration to improve efficiency, responsiveness, and real-time business intelligence, RTI officials say.

WASHINGTON, 14 Feb. 2012. Officials of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend at least $5.78 billion to buy and develop unmanned vehicles and unmanned vehicle payloads next year, according to data in the Pentagon's budget documents released this week. This figure is down 13.14 percent from the same levels of spending this year, and is down 16.9 percent from unmanned vehicles procurement and research in 2011.

THE MIL & AERO VIDEO BLOG, 14 Feb. 2012. The Pentagon's proposed 2013 budget may not be the best news for military platforms like new plans, ships, and tanks, but among the brightest opportunities for aerospace and defense electronics suppliers involves military systems upgrades and technology insertion, with several new contracts and solicitations issued recently, reports John Keller this week in the Mil & Aero Video Blog.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif., 12 Feb. 2012. Innovative Integration in Simi Valley, Calif., is introducing the PEX6-COP field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based half-length PCI Express desktop or server coprocessor card featuring the Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA family for digital signal processing (DSP) applications such as radar, signals intelligence (SIGINT), or wireless communications.

MIDDLETON, Wis., 10 Feb. 2012. Extreme Engineering Solutions Inc. (X-ES) is introducing the XPand4201 sub-half ATR forced-air-cooled embedded computing enclosure for conduction-cooled modules in military embedded systems and similar applications like command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; avionics; helicopters; fixed-wing aircraft; and unmanned vehicles.

ARLINGTON, Va., 10 Feb. 2012. Military communications experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are asking for industry's help in providing pervasive, high-throughput military communications to deployed military units by using a mobile backbone that provides communications over long distances to military units on the move.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 10 Feb. 2012. The Microsemi Corp. SoC Products Group in Mountain View, Calif., is introducing ceramic quad flat pack (CQFP) packaging for the company's radiation-tolerant RT ProASIC 3 family of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which are designed for applications involving orbiting satellites, manned spacecraft, and aircraft that operate at high altitudes for prolonged periods.

PRODUCT INTELLIGENCE, 9 Feb. 2012. CompactPCI has been a staple of many military computers for more than fifteen years. The venerable computer bus interconnect was ratified in 1995, and is still used today in applications where size and cost matter more than moving huge volumes of data.

GUELPH, Ontario, 9 Feb. 2012. Connect Tech Inc. in Guelph, Ontario, are introducing the COM Express carrier board for PC/104-Plus and PC/104-Express proof of concept or production embedded computing applications. The carrier board measures 17 by 115 millimeters, and is compatible with COM Express type 2 basic or compact modules, and is suitable for military embedded systems.

BOHEMIA, N.Y., 8 Feb. 2012. North Atlantic Industries (NAI) in Bohemia, N.Y., is introducing the VPX55-3 3U rugged VPX power electronics device for harsh-environment aerospace and defense applications on land, in the air, and at sea. The VPX55-3 provides as much as 300 Watts of power with six outputs and complies with MIL-STD-704F.