Power electronics
Flight simulation manufacturers chooses E-T-A circuit breakers
Flight simulator designers at CAE in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, needed fast, rugged circuit breakers for their next-generation full flight simulator called the Sim XXI. They found their solution from E-T-A Circuit Breakers in Mount Prospect, Ill.
CAE engineers asked E-T-A to design circuit breakers with lower activation currents and faster trip times than many existing circuit breakers, as well as devices that resist the ill effects of shock and vibration. The result is the E-T-A 9510 G Circuit Breaker Simulator.
The new device is a single-pole switch with aircraft-style threadneck mounting and a standard push-pull actuator that matches all of E-T-A's aircraft circuit breakers in front-panel appearance and operating forces.
Yet the new 9510 G breaker avoids the need for relatively large activation currents within the aircraft simulator. It operates on 28 or 48 volts DC. It has a magnetic trip time faster than 25 microseconds, a trip current of less than 200 milliamps at 28 volts DC.
The breaker also can withstand vibration more intense than 3 Gs, shock stronger than 5 Gs, and has a rated life of more than 10,000 operations and functions over an operating temperature range of -30 to 60 degrees Celsius.
Versions are available as modular devices with removable, multiconfigurable terminal options, and offer terminals that designers can use to pre-wire an installation and then snap switches into the terminals when wiring is finished.
For more information contact E-T-A Circuit Breakers 847-827-7600, by fax at 847-827-7655, by e-mail at [email protected], by post at 1551 Bishop Court, Mount Prospect, Ill. 60056-6060, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.e-t-a.com/.
Computers
Miltope to supply rugged computers for Greek military applications
Systems integrators at Printec S.A. in Athens, Greece, needed rugged computers for use in various Greek military applications. Computers from Miltope Group Inc. of Hope Hull, Ala., met their needs.
The initial contract from Printec requires a variant of the Miltope TSC-750 computer system, the TSC-750P, which includes the Miltope Milbrite 13.3-inch sunlight readable display, 40 gigabytes of removable hard drive, DVD/CD ROM, Ethernet, and two Type II PCMCIA card slots.
The TSC-750P includes a touch-screen display and 10 internal, environmentally sealed, RS 232 serial ports for communications and control functions for radio and command-and control-applications.
Deliveries will begin in May 2003 and finish in late 2003. For more information contact Miltope by phone at 334-284-8665, by fax at 334-613-6302, by post at 3800 Richardson Road South, Hope Hull, Ala. 36043, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.miltope.com/.
Computer peripherals
Coast Guard chooses GPS software from TeleType
U.S. Coast Guard leaders needed global positioning system (GPS) capability for handheld computers. They found their solution from TeleType Co. Inc. in Boston.
The Coast Guard will install the TeleType GPS software for handheld computers of crewmembers who ride in the backs of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, TeleType officials say.
TeleType is providing the company's GPS Wireless WorldNavigator software to give Coast Guard crewmembers with situational awareness, area familiarization, and mission flexibility, company officials say.
With this increased level of situational awareness, Coast Guard crews may help pilots avoid hazards such as mountains, towers, and other airports. The TeleType GPS software provides the pilot and crewmembers with "obstruction alerts" if the plane is headed toward danger.
By increasing pilot and crewmember access to GPS technology, the TeleType helps them familiarize themselves with the area prior to actually flying, TeleType officials say. In addition, Coast Guard crews can load pictures on their maps with information on landing sites and landmarks.
For more information contact TeleType by phone at 617-542-6220, by e-mail at support @teletype.com, by post at 20 Park Plaza, Boston, Mass. 02116, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.teletype.com/.
Communications equipment
Swiss International chooses satellite communications antennas from CMC
Leaders of Swiss International Airlines in Basel, Switzerland, needed satellite communications (satcom) antennas for their fleet of 12 Airbus A340 aircraft.
The CMA-2102 high-gain satellite communications antenna from CMC Electronics in Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec, met their needs. Deliveries will be completed by January 2004.
CMC's high-gain Satcom antenna's top-mounted technology and architecture sharply reduces multipath interference, and allows for relatively simple installation, CMC officials say.
The CMA-2102 supports Swift64 high-speed data service, without modification, to enable applications ranging from intranet virtual private network (VPN) access for crews to multichannel voice services and fast e-mail for passengers.
This new Inmarsat service has been designed to meet the needs of aircraft passengers, corporate users, and the flight deck, while making use of existing AeroH/H+ Satcom components already found on many airline and corporate jet aircraft, company officials say.
The performance of the CMA-2102 in handling the demands of higher data rates and providing coverage over far northern routes is unbeatable," says Bruce Bailey, CMC Electronics vice president of commercial aviation, explains.
CMC has captured more than 75 percent of all Aero-H/H+ airline installations with its Satcom antennas, company officials say. CMC's Satcom antenna customer list includes more than 65 airlines and a number of corporate/VIP and military operators.
CMC Electronics designs electronics products for aviation, infrared sensing, global positioning, and space applications.
For more information contact CMC Electronics by phone at 514-748-3148, by fax at 514-748-3100, by post at 600 Dr. Frederik Philips Blvd., Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada H4M 2S9, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.cmcelectronics.ca.
Sensors
Marine Corps chooses Axcess system for base security system
Systems designers from Honeywell Inc. needed wireless identification credentials to speed access for authorized personnel to Camp H.M. Smith Marine Corps Base, Hawaii. They found their solution from Axcess Inc. of Carrollton, Texas,
Experts from Honeywell, the Marine Corps, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division in Indian Head, Md., are using the base-access system at Camp Smith on the island of Oahu as a common approach to reducing the long wait times for base entry.
The system at Camp Smith will enable security personnel to verify the identities of personnel and vehicles in real time while vehicles are moving, Axcess officials say. A final report in the system's effectiveness is to be available to the U.S. Department of Defense by October.
Traditional approaches to base access have been manpower intensive and are not flexible enough for efficient flow of people and vehicles onto sensitive military bases under tight security guidelines after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Navy researchers say.
Long traffic lines for base entry, with wait-times lasting more than an hour, have had a negative impact on the local community and raised force protection concerns outside the base, officials say.
"This problem exists at hundreds of bases worldwide, so we are very interested in providing a remedy here and one that can be replicated elsewhere", says Jennifer Fortner, the project manager from the Naval Surface Warfare Center. "The Axcess system gives us the necessary high-speed access while identifying both the car and the driver in a single solution. Results from our testing to date have been very encouraging."
As the vehicle approaches the base's gate, the Axcess activation antenna automatically wakes up the identification credentials for the person and the car that person is driving.
A new tri-band imaging camera from Honeywell does a facial scan remotely and the system compares that facial scan with the database picture from the Axcess I.D. tag with the facial scan.
Experts say they plan to tune the system to perform with no cases of false acceptance rate to enhance the flow of traffic onto the base and reduce the need for human security officers at the access gates.
The Axcess I.D. is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging technology, sold under the ActiveTag label. When activated, the wireless I.D. devices transmit automatically over long distances enabling fast access for personnel and vehicles.
The devices contain embedded batteries (which characterize them as "active" tags) that transmit a unique identifier that links easily into existing access systems and enhance biometric access technologies, company officials say.
For more information contact Axcess Inc. by phone at 800-588-6080, by fax at 972-407-9085, by post at 3208 Commander Dr., Carrollton, Texas 75006, or on the World Wide Web at http:/ /www.axsi.com/.
Design and development tools
Raytheon network group looks to Telelogic for software-engineering tools
Systems engineers at the Raytheon Co. Network Centric Systems (NCS) division in Plano, Texas, needed software-engineering tools for future embedded real-time systems they have in development.
A suite of software-engineering tools from Telelogic North America Inc. in Irvine, Calif., met their needs.
Raytheon experts are using the Telelogic Synergy, Tau UML, and DOORS tools, and are set to integrate the TAU Developer tool in the near future, says Jeff Rights, manager of the Raytheon NCS object technology center.
"We have a significant investment in the Telelogic suite of tools. We use the Telelogic Synergy tool for our configuration-management needs, and with DOORS and the TAU UML suite to do software design," says Jason Smith, senior software consultant at Raytheon Network Centric Systems.
"We have found Telelogic has done a good job of integrating these tools together and we look forward to seeing this integration with the new set of tools," Rights says.
Telelogic Synergy is a software change-and-configuration-management tool that helps software develops control changes and upgrades with a central repository database of software assets and information about projects, tasks, processes, and people.
Telelogic Tau is an integrated software-development environment for analyzing, designing, implementing, and testing real-time software systems. While the Tau UML tool helps with analysis, systems and software modeling, and object-oriented design, the Tau suite's SDL, TTCN, Tester, and Logiscope tools help with real-time tasks, conformance testing, systems integration, and quality metrics.
For more information contact Telelogic North America Inc. by phone at 949-830-8022, by fax at 949-830-8023, by post at 9401 Jeronimo Road, Irvine, Calif. 92618, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.telelogic.com/.
Board products
Navy SPAWAR chooses Synergy boards for Distant Sentinel satellite program
Experts from the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego needed high-performance single-board computers for the Distant Sentinel satellite receiver program. They found their solution from Synergy Microsystems Inc. in San Diego.
Through the U.S. General Services Administration, Synergy will provide SPAWAR with the company's VSS4VME Quad PPC 750 DSP PowerPC-based single-board digital signal processors for Distant Sentinel.
Each board will have four 366 MHz PowerPC 7400 microprocessors. Together, these boards will create an array processor system — a mini computer with four processor chips integrated for processing information as fast as 3.5 billion floating point operations per second, that runs the Linux operating system.
The boards will perform signal processing, system control, and interfacing for the Distant Sentinel program. Synergy is the only manufacturer that produces a commercial off-the-shelf array processor board that satisfied the Distant Sentinel processing, size, and interface requirements, according to government documents.
Synergy's VSS4 board also supports the Motorola AltiVec G4 processor, incorporating a vector-processing unit for enhanced DSP capability, Synergy officials say. The board also has a fast secondary data bus to link several boards for parallel processing.
For more information contact Synergy Microsystems by phone at 858-452-0020, by fax at 858-452-0060, by post at 9605 Scranton Road, Suite 700, San Diego, Calif. 92121-1773, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.synergymicro.com/.
Software
Army chooses General Dynamics for JTRS security software
U.S. Army designers needed cryptographic software for the Advanced INFOSEC Machine (AIM) processor chip to encrypt voice and data communications from the future Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). Code from General Dynamics Decision Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz., met their needs.
General Dynamics software engineers are working under terms of a $10 million Army contract to develop, test, and deliver cryptographic software products to run on the AIM chips in the radios under development for airborne, maritime, and ground applications. General Dynamics Decision Systems is a business unit in the General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology group.
The AIM chip is a secure, programmable device that enables users to embed security functions directly into radios and upgrade security with a software download. The chip can execute several different algorithms at the same time, which enables secure communications between relatively old fielded equipment and the next generation of radios in development. The product also allows for interoperability with coalition forces.
The software will be delivered to the JTRS Joint Program Office by the third quarter of 2003, which will make it available for use by select radio manufacturers. The AIM chip received Type 1 certification from the National Security Agency in December 1999.
For more information contact General Dynamics Decision Systems by phone at 480-441-3033, by post at 8201 E. McDowell Road, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85257, or on the World Wide Web at http://www. gd-decisionsystems.com/.
