Technological advances in data acquisition, data storage, surveillance and recognition continually open new possibilities and promise to revolutionize the art of defense. These rising aspirations and the critical need to gain advantage and save lives in the field have made it even more important for designers to ensure their systems reach full potential. Yet even the most seasoned engineer can be vexed by design challenges that put their new systems at risk.

Through heat dissipation, thermally conductive adhesives and potting compounds play a pivotal role in the protection of today’s electronic circuitry.  In tandem with the great growth of the technological sector comes the need for a new generation of innovative, highly advanced solutions capable of reliable performance in the ever increasing temperatures of electronic devices. Master Bond’s white paper examines the challenges design engineers face as chip makers up the ante on microprocessor power and density, and how thermally conductive adhesives and potting compounds can manage heat while solving other application issues.

The Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing CHAMP-AV6 is a latest-generation, VPX-REDI platform for Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications. Current users of the Curtiss-Wright Controls CHAMPAV4 VME-based card undoubtedly are – or will soon be – considering a move to the CHAMP-AV6. This decision is driven by the enormous performance upside of the board itself, coupled with the increasingly acknowledged advantages of the VPX format. This paper presents information from a benchmark prepared by Gedae Inc. which compares the relative performance of the CHAMP-AV4 and AV6 running a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) application. Also described is the effort required to port an application developed with the Gedae® environment from the CHAMP-AV4 to the AV6.

With the advent of high-speed serial fabrics, the VME Parallel Bus proved insufficient for the needs of higherperformance embedded systems. VPX, also known as VITA 46, is the follow-on to the VME Specification for the next generation of high-speed interconnects for harsh environments. While advancing the state of the technology,VPX provides backwards compatibility to traditional VMEbus through the use of specialized bridges.

Historically, processors from the PowerPC® family, now known as Power Architecture® processors, have been the dominant choice for implementing Digital Signal Processing (DSP) in high-performance embedded military applications that take advantage of open system Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products. Today, however, beginning with Intel Core™ i7 dualcore processors, the low-power, high-performance advantages of the Intel architecture processor technology can be used for the first time to design DSP engines for the rugged deployed COTS signal processing space.

As embedded systems grow in sophistication, systems designers and their customers are increasingly concerned with the importance of protecting the data residing in their systems, and by extension their investment in intellectual property. This paper will present an overview of the potential threats to an embedded system, and how the Trust Architecture can effectively defend against these threats.

Now in its new 4th edition, this handbook reviews the development of gigabit switched serial fabrics to enhance the VMEbus and PMC mezzanines; the role of FPGAs to implement this technology; and finally, how some of the latest VXS, XMC and VPX products can be used in high-speed data acquisition, recording and software radio systems. Download the free copy.

The folks at Pentek, who wrote the book on software radio, are pleased to announce their recently released and expanded Software Defined Radio Handbook. Now in its 8th edition, the handbook covers the principles of sampling, the inner workings of the SDR, actual board- and system-level implementations, and available COTS products. Downloaded thousands of times, this handbook has proved to be a useful technical reference for engineers. Download the free copy.

Now in its new 5th edition, this handbook reviews the application and advantages of FPGAs for implementing software radio functions such as DDCs (Digital Downconverters). Some of the advantages include design flexibility, higher precision processing, higher channel density, lower power and cost per channel. Pentek SDR products that utilize FPGA technology and their applications are also presented. Download the free copy.

Now in its 6th Edition, this handbook focuses primarily on A/D converters with sampling rates higher than 100 MHz. Sampling techniques are reviewed, as well as FPGA technology and high-speed serial fabrics. The latest Pentek high-speed A/D products and applications based on such products are also presented. Download the free copy.

The aerospace industry has long been perceived as slow to adapt to new wire harness engineering technologies and processes. Many enterprises rely on systems created in-house, with each tool being structured to support a very specific design/build process. Departments and divisions responsible for defining the electrical content of vehicles and integrating the electrical systems have one of the most demanding jobs in vehicle design.  While these organizations are often understaffed relative to the scope of their task, they have the distinction of being expected to manage the highest number and rate of design changes. Companies, especially OEMs, are finding it difficult to adopt new wire harness technologies and processes while maintaining the quality of their deliverables. Until recently, electrical system and wire harness development tools have not been viewed as an adequate solution for developing complex electrical wiring systems. Now aircraft systems and wiring designs are making a transition from traditional mechanical and pneumatic systems to electrical, and the entire electrical architecture of the vehicle is becoming more complex. Companies are finding that their existing solutions do not provide the needed engineering capability. But powerful new technologies are emerging and many companies are taking another look.  Entrenched beliefs are changing.

Aircraft Electrical Wiring Interconnect Systems (EWIS) regulatory requirements are stringent and can be expensive to fulfill. Specifications encompass harness naming conventions, physical wire spacing, and much more. While manual design approaches have long sufficed, increasing complexity is driving an industry-wide move to automated design solutions. By applying rules and constraints, commercial off-the-shelf tools can help designers manage complex system designs while simultaneously building databases for compliance, manufacturing, and maintenance documentation.

In this paper, the problem of wiring complexity that confronts electronic and electrical (EE) design engineers in the automotive, trucks and off-road industries will be discussed. The forces driving growing complexity in designs will be identified, including the pace of technological advancement, increasing legislative safety and environmental mandates, and escalating consumer demand. The consequences of escalating complexity for automotive EE designs and total manufacturer product cost will be analyzed. Areas needing improvement in current practices will be suggested and a suite of tools focused on the design-to-build-and-service flow will be described. Transportation platforms such as automobiles, trucks and off-road vehicles have contained electrical systems for decades. However, the last few years have seen a discontinuity in the nature of these electrical systems. Rapid growth in on-board electronic content and embedded software is putting huge demands on electrical design complexity. Put simply, the number of signals flowing around each vehicle is rising rapidly. Naturally this has a profound effect on harness design and construction.

This paper addresses the issue of increasing complexity of today's automotive and aerospace electrical systems. Manufacturers now seek a high degree of integration between their business and design tools.  MCAD, ECAD, PLM, PDM, Workflow and ERP systems are no longer selected purely through their individual functionalities, they must also integrate - and the integration must include all data in the process

Manufacturers of off-highway vehicles are faced with the same challenges as companies in other sectors reducing design and manufacturing costs, reducing lead times, and improving product quality. Today, many of these companies create their electrical and wire harness designs using basic drawing packages. This paper describes how off-highway vehicle manufacturers can gain significant productivity and quality improvements in their electrical design process by using dedicated electrical design software tools.

This paper describes a notional Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) solution that can be integrated utilizing a high-performance digital receiver and a high-performance Digital Signal Processing (DSP) engine. The combination of the Tuner and the DSP engine presents a low-risk approach to the development of SIGINT and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for deployment in air-cooled and rugged conduction-cooled environments. System Integrators can reduce their risk and achieve superior performance by basing their design on this proven combination of reliable, high-performance tuner and signal processing hardware that communicate over the high throughput VXS interconnect.

Imagine a new type of trainer aircraft for the twenty-first century. One that can adapt to a particular student's requirements, transforming its' console to match that of the specific type of aircraft the training calls for. An aircraft that lowers the cost of training for jets, while expanding on functionality and capabilities. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., with Curtiss-Wright, has made this ideal new teaching platform a reality. The Pilatus PC-21 is a next-generation turboprop trainer that provides an unmatched level of advanced technology, configuration flexibility, and lifecycle cost savings. With an intelligent avionics system that can be modified to suit the student pilot's phase of training, the PC-21 is significantly less costly than jet aircraft training alternatives. This high performance, aerobatics aircraft uses Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing hardware and subsystems integration expertise to manage and control its sophisticated mission system.

Multi-core processing is rapidly becoming a necessity in embedded computing with the convergence of two conflicting trends: demand for high density storage and a requirement for smaller footprints. To address this demand for increased storage and smaller real estate, manufacturers are turning to MLC NAND. Consumers refuse to pay the performance penalty that often accompanies the error correction required for MLCs multi-bit architecture. Embedded SBCs are able to offset this performance hit. Another advantage of this configuration is that an extra CPU is supplied without duplicating peripheral hardware. These cores often share main memory, Flash memory, busses/interconnects, bridges and endpoint devices. Using Flash to store file systems has become increasingly popular with embedded software to log large amounts of data or store complete sets of maps. For software, the question becomes; How can you divide ownership and control access to devices and avoid the undesired effects of dual simultaneous access?

The armed forces of the United States and its allies throughout the world rely on critical military technology that is under constant threat: from reverse-engineering of systems lost on the battlefield, to the accidental introduction of counterfeit components on the factory floor. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is answering the call for critical technology and data protection for our customers worldwide, with our Trusted COTS" program of open-architecture products, dedicated personnel, and comprehensive processes and services.

Numerous media reports and investigations, coupled with public statements by government and industry players, provide ample evidence to suggest that the proliferation of counterfeit parts and materials in the electronics industry is becoming increasingly widespread. This situation is forcing the industry to develop strategies to maintain the integrity and reliability of its products.