WASHINGTON — Managers of PennWell`s Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine invite experts who design systems with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices, subsystems, and software to submit proposed papers and/or presentations for the COTScon East 2000 conference and exhibition, set for April 17 to 18 at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Hotel in Washington.
The deadline for abstract submissions is Nov. 1. COTScon East 2000 is the fourth of PennWell`s highly successful COTScon programs, and the third such event in the Washington area.
The theme of COTScon East 2000 is "COTS: Winning Strategies," and will include content on some of the most recent U.S. system-design lessons learned, and also will look ahead to the use of COTS in new military aircraft, ships, munitions, and vehicles.
The COTScon East 2000 show is entirely different from the COTScon West `99 event in December in San Diego. The content of COTScon East 2000 will be entirely fresh, with new speakers and new topics.
The COTScon East 2000 conference manager would like to see papers or abstracts on pertinent subjects from experts in the military and aerospace electronics field. A special emphasis of the conference is on how designers are making COTS work in new system designs and system upgrades.
Topics for COTScon East 2000 papers may include, but are not limited to: successful applications of COTS; COTS vs. mil-spec issues; the legal aspects of COTS design; the DOD policy evolution; the DOD perspective on the need for COTS; the case for mil-spec and customer design; whether QML and COTS are in conflict; the perspective of prime integrators on the need for COTS; diminishing manufacturing sources (DMS); the need and the place for plastic encapsulated microcircuits (PEMs) sources of military and aerospace research funding in the COTS world; component upscreening; COTS opportunities in defense industry consolidation; trends in nonrecurring engineering in the COTS world; trends in upgrading older military systems with COTS components; trends in open-systems architecture design; and the armadillo approach — hard on the outside and soft on the inside — of designing with rugged enclosures, shock-isolation packaging, and commercial-grade components.
The monthly magazine Military & Aerospace Electronics leads the industry in covering the latest COTS developments in its exclusive COTS Watch section. This magazine, which has been the authority in COTS longer than any other publication, sponsors COTScon as an extension of its news coverage and opinion into an interactive conference format for presentation on both coasts.
COTS design practices revolve around the 1994 directive by then-Defense Secretary William Perry for military systems designers to use COTS components and subsystems wherever possible.
The deadline for proposing paper topics for COTScon East 2000 is November 1, 1999. For more information on submitting papers, contact Ann-Marie Trebendis, COTScon conference manager, by phone at 603-891-9359, by fax at 603-891-9490, by e-mail at [email protected], or by post at 98 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, N.H. 03062-2801.
For information on registering for COTScon East 2000, contact Nuala Kimball of COTScon by phone at 603-891-9267, by fax at 603-891-9490, or by e-mail at nualak@ pennwell.com. Those interested in exhibiting at COTScon East 2000 may contact Maureen Kane by phone at 603-891-9423, by fax at 603-891-9490, or by e-mail at [email protected].
In this September issue of Military & Aerospace Electronics is the COTScon West `99 registration brochure. If for some reason you did not receive a copy, please contact Nuala Kimball, or visit the Military & Aerospace Electronics site at www.milaero.com/.
