Advances in Electric Power in Modern Military Systems

Duration: 1 hour
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Summary

This set of live interviews will see the host talk with five guests about the next generation of electrification and electric power in military systems, including aviation, Phased Array, SONAR, UAV payloads, hybrid military vehicles, and battlefield power.

In the past 20 years, we have seen electric systems replace pneumatic and hydraulic, flat plate AESA replace dishes, and battery life be extended 5x over. In our interview series, we will cover these advances and overview some solutions to complex power problems, in addition to predicting what the next decade has in store for powering modern military systems.

Starting with aviation, we will discuss the migration away from hydraulics and pneumatics to electric systems. We will specifically outline how electric systems reduce weight and increase reliability while decreasing costs. Closely related will be UAV payloads with a specific focus on powering reconnaissance systems that are becoming increasingly more complex with computing at the edge.

Next, we will transition our discussion into Phased Array and SONAR, contrasting the Beamforming and Beamsteering concepts common to both. Our focus will be on powering not only the ADC/DAC pairs, but also the FPGAs and Processors behind them. We will touch on Power Management Integrated Circuits (PMICs) and putting power IP into ASICs and MMICs.

The last segment will consider how one takes automotive hybrid technology and puts it into heavy military vehicles to reduce signature, save fuel, lower maintenance costs, and provide battlefield power where needed. While there are many unique challenges, we show were modifications to existing automotive electrification technologies will allow for quick adoption by the military of these solutions.

Finally, we will conclude with a fun segment that asks our guest to make one prediction on electrification they expect to see 15 years from now.