DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) - one of the world's leading particle-accelerator centers, conducting top-level international research into the fundamental relationships of matter - was tasked with finding a successor technology for its control and data-acquisition systems, which were based on VME and proprietary hardware, some of which was more than 30 years old. The main requirements: better signal quality, higher bandwidth, and support for several decades of operation, allowing for a phased migration in current installations.[Continue reading →]

The 7th MicroTCA Workshop for Industry and Research was held at DESY [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron] in Hamburg, Germany on December 5 and 6, 2018. The workshop was attended by 190 participants from more than 20 research facilities and more than 30 companies from all over the world.[Continue reading →]

Modern-day medical applications have a wide spectrum of needs, from the demanding computing requirements of optical imaging technologies - such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical coherence tomography (OCT), X-ray computed tomography (CT), computed axial tomography (CAT) scans, and 3D ultrasounds - to the compact form factor and low power consumption necessary for mobile diagnostic equipment.[Continue reading →]

Welcome! PICMG is celebrating its 25th year with great momentum and many active committees. Since our founding, nine families of specifications and tens of thousands of successful collaborations have led to billions of dollars in products and solutions across a wide array of markets. We are poised to continue our efforts in solving embedded computing requirements through new and expanded open specifications.[Continue reading →]

Sensors Expo was held in San Jose from June 26 to 28, 2018. It was great to see a trade show with growing attendance and enthusiasm. Regardless of the type of sensor vendor on display, the trend to connect sensor technologies was widespread. Featured were wireless innovations, an embedded system area, a university showcase, and even clever end solutions such as the sensor-laden mattress, which we all admired longingly after being on our feet all day.[Continue reading →]

In order to improve signal-processing performance, FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) became a key component during the last few years. Embedded on complex but well defined mother board architecture, FPGA is the Swiss-knife for processing many different signals in video systems, radars or mission computers. The new paradigm for modern FPGA is extreme high-speed I/O which requires optical links.

WildcatFMC enhances the modularity of the FPGA board equipped with mezzanine VITA 57 site by providing a plug-in and turn-key multichannel optical interface. This advantage, allows the FPGA board to achieve high speed I/O for applications requesting massive data-transfer without requiring an expensive redesign.[Continue reading →]

Mark Aslett ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Dec. 4, 2018 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), announced that Mark Aslett, President and Chief Executive Officer, was elected to a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) beginning in 2019. In this role, he will work with other Committee members to act as a visionary for the organization, ensure adherence to its mission, vision and code of ethics, while developing and expanding programs and services for the membership.

“We’re pleased to welcome Mark to serve on AIA’s Executive Committee,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. “He’ll bring a unique and valuable perspective to AIA’s leadership, and we’re looking forward to working with him in the coming years.”[Continue reading →]

*Low-cost, single-slot 3U VPX development chassis *Supports Pentek's Quartz RFSoC FPGA products *Dual MPO optical interfaces support 100 GigE high-speed data streaming *Ideal for defense, radar, wireless, SIGINT and DRFM applications[Continue reading →]

• Pentek Quartz Architecture with Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC FPGA • Speeds integration for custom form factors • Eight wideband A/D and D/A converters • Supported by Pentek's Navigator IP core library • Commercial, air-cooled and conduction-cooled versions[Continue reading →]

VITA, June 20, 2018 — VITA, the trade association for standard computing architectures serving critical and intelligent embedded computing systems markets, announces the ratification by ANSI and VITA of ANSI/VITA 17.3-2018 “Serial Front Panel Data Port (sFPDP) Gen 3.0” standard. This standard has completed the VITA and ANSI processes reaching full recognition under guidance of VITA.

ANSI/VITA 17.3-2018 describes an open standard for the third generation “Serial FPDP”, a high-speed low-latency serial communications protocol for use in high-speed data transfer applications. As the name implies, it is directly related to the ANSI/VITA 17.0 Front Panel Data Port standard, deriving its serial protocol from the defined protocol and control signals of FPDP. The ANSI/VITA 17.3 standard moves away from the concept of defined link rates and instead allows any link rate to be used. The standard also supports multi-lane channel bonding and advanced 64B/67B encoding to greatly increase the bandwidth capabilities of the link.[Continue reading →]

NEW HIGH SPEED RECORDER 40 GBE DATA RECORDER CAPTURES >6 GB/S OF STREAMING DATA SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES INDUSTRY CONFERENCE (SOFIC) 2018, TAMPA, Fla. (Booth #1919) – May 21, 2018 – Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division today introduced the industry’s first two-channel 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) digital data recorder designed to address the extremely high bandwidth data capture requirements of today’s most demanding ISR applications. The new High Speed Recorder 40 GbE (HSR40) is a SWaP-optimized digital data recorder that can capture UDP or TCP/IP data from two 40 GbE interfaces at sustained rates of over 6 GB/s. The challenge of capturing wire-rate data from today’s compute intensive ISR sensor platforms puts new meaning to the old metaphor “drinking from a firehose.” Some platforms have hundreds of cameras and other sensors generating data that needs to be captured and stored. What’s more, these critical sensor systems can’t be throttled in order for the recording system to catch up with the flow of data.

“Curtiss-Wright is committed to bringing the most advanced, rugged digital data recorder solutions to our Military and Aerospace customers,” said Lynn Bamford, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Defense Solutions division. “We are proud to announce the industry’s highest performance two-channel 40 Gigabit Ethernet data recorder, the new HSR40, which delivers unprecedented data capture capability to deployed ISR applications. It breaks through data bottlenecks to record vast amounts of critical data at full wirespeed.”[Continue reading →]

*40Gb Ethernet, Serial FPDP and LVDS digital input options *Real-time aggregate recording rates up to 4 GB/s *SSD RAID storage capacity up to 30.6 TB using NTFS files *Small form factor 17 pound chassis[Continue reading →]

Modern-day medical applications have a wide spectrum of needs, from the demanding computing requirements of optical imaging technologies - such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical coherence tomography (OCT), X-ray computed tomography (CT), computed axial tomography (CAT) scans, and 3D ultrasounds - to the compact form factor and low power consumption necessary for mobile diagnostic equipment.[Continue reading →]

Welcome! PICMG is celebrating its 25th year with great momentum and many active committees. Since our founding, nine families of specifications and tens of thousands of successful collaborations have led to billions of dollars in products and solutions across a wide array of markets. We are poised to continue our efforts in solving embedded computing requirements through new and expanded open specifications.[Continue reading →]

NEW SERIES OF OPEN ARCHITECTURE COTS MODULES FEATURES NVIDIA PASCAL(tm)-BASED 3U OPENVPX(tm) AND XMC MEZZANINE MODULES WITH VIDEO CAPTURE AND 3G-SDI INTERFACES ASHBURN, Va. – April 24, 2018 -- Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division today announced the first members of a new series of rugged graphics modules for video capture, processing, and display applications in deployed embedded defense and aerospace systems. As the number of high-resolution cameras and sensors and graphics-intensive applications, such as digital moving maps and diminished visual environment (DVE) systems, proliferate on deployed platforms, embedded system integrators seek the highest performance video capture, image processing, and graphics display technology. To meet these requirements, Curtiss-Wright has added three new graphics modules to its industry-leading range of OpenVPX and XMC modules. The XMC-4730 XMC Graphics mezzanine module and VPX3-4731 3U OpenVPX Graphics Processor bring the NVIDIA Pascal GPU architecture to embedded defense and aerospace applications. Both modules provide digital DVI, DP, and HD/3G-SDI interfaces, and include analog capture interfaces for legacy compatibility. For embedded systems that don’t require the NVIDIA GPU, the XMC-4701 XMC Video Capture mezzanine card eases the integration of video capture functionality. It also supports HD/3G-SDI and analog interfaces.

Resulting from its recently announced Reseller Agreement with WOLF Advanced Technology, these high-performance, pre-validated XMC and OpenVPX modules complement Curtiss-Wright’s previously announced family of NVIDIA Pascal GPGPU modules by speeding and easing the integration of video acquisition and graphics processing functionality in demanding video capture, process, encode and display applications.[Continue reading →]

The Stuttgart University has chosen a Spectrum Arbitrary Waveform Generator for their experiments in which single atoms in a diamond are replaced by nitrogen atoms. This method is a base for applications like a magnetic field detector at the atomic level or a qubit in a quantum computer.[Continue reading →]

The annual PICMG resource guide showcases how important PICMG [PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group] standards have been and continue to be to the embedded computing industry. It represents all of the group's standards and reflects the multitude of offerings showcased at this year's Embedded World show in Nuremburg, Germany.[Continue reading →]

Southampton, UK and Paris, France– June 13, 2016 – VadaTech, a leading manufacturer of embedded boards, enabling software and application-ready platforms, has partnered with ECRIN Systems to showcase the latest VadaTech solutions for defence, aerospace and security at Eurosatory being held in Paris between the 13 th and 17 th June.

In Hall 5, stand J730 visitors will be able to see and learn about new Xilinx FPGA FMC carriers in the PCIe, VPX and AMC form factors, FMC analog-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analog (DAC) cards based on TI and Analog Devices technology, and rugged 1U platforms for sonar and radar applications. [Continue reading →]

The integrated onboard automated control systems are currently considered as advanced and multifunctional platforms providing solutions for a wide range of tasks. In such a case, depending on the type of a vehicle, they can either assist human-operators and expand opportunities (a classic example here is the onboard avionic system on a manned aircraft) or can be the main (sometimes the only one) command center of any self-propelled robotized vehicle (Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), spacecraft etc.). The core of such control platforms is the onboard computing system -- a special-purpose Box PC, usually controlled by real-time operating system and using peripheral equipment for connection to the systems of data acquisition and vehicle control.[Continue reading →]

In this interview with engineers in the Machine Beam Controls Group at DESY, Holger Schlarb and Michael Fenner discuss the data acquisition requirements of the accelerator community, as well as how a tradition of using COTS signal processing solutions continues to improve uptime and maximize performance for some of the most complex machines on Earth.[Continue reading →]

VITA and PICMG are the open standards bodies that define the specifications underpinning embedded form factors such as VPX and CompactPCI. Both groups continue to provide a vital service to commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) component manufacturers and customers alike, enabling engineers to spend less time worrying about interoperability between subsystem components and more time working on application development.[Continue reading →]

A military prime contractor in Europe has chosen MicroTCA over OpenVPX for its RADAR Signal Processing application. The applications include ground-based mission surveillance, and airborne and ground-based RADAR. The company was looking for a high-performance, compact solution for data processing that could be used across multiple platforms including light-rugged and extreme rugged applications. MicroTCA provides excellent SWaP-C (Size, Weight, Power, and Cost). The architecture is an easily ruggedized form factor and provides a versatile ecosystem for a wide range of applications. The customer’s system provides simultaneous multi-mission capability, high survivability (small target, high mobility), and is fully self-contained. The MicroTCA platform is expected to expand into other mission computing and RADAR projects for the company.

System Requirements [Continue reading →]

Embedded Tech Trends 2014, the business and technology forum for critical and intelligent embedded systems, just wrapped up in Phoenix. This year 19 sponsor companies and 13 editors and industry analysts gathered for an intensive two days of technology presentations and meetings. Twenty-five presentations were delivered in a very fast paced format that kept everyone on their toes. Each morning session of presentations was followed by a hectic afternoon of one-on-one sponsor/media meetings.

The purpose of the event is to bring media and industry thought leaders together to exchange ideas and to network among peers. It is good old fashioned face-to-face networking that is not possible with even the best of online social media networks. Nothing beats spending a few days with such a collection of industry colleagues. I left the event filled with new ideas and industry connections.[Continue reading →]

VITA, June 20, 2018 — VITA, the trade association for standard computing architectures serving critical and intelligent embedded computing systems markets, announces the ratification by ANSI and VITA of ANSI/VITA 17.3-2018 “Serial Front Panel Data Port (sFPDP) Gen 3.0” standard. This standard has completed the VITA and ANSI processes reaching full recognition under guidance of VITA.

ANSI/VITA 17.3-2018 describes an open standard for the third generation “Serial FPDP”, a high-speed low-latency serial communications protocol for use in high-speed data transfer applications. As the name implies, it is directly related to the ANSI/VITA 17.0 Front Panel Data Port standard, deriving its serial protocol from the defined protocol and control signals of FPDP. The ANSI/VITA 17.3 standard moves away from the concept of defined link rates and instead allows any link rate to be used. The standard also supports multi-lane channel bonding and advanced 64B/67B encoding to greatly increase the bandwidth capabilities of the link.[Continue reading →]

Rencie released their rugged 2TB 4TB 3U Open VPX SATA storage card in 2017, it’s a high reliability storage solutions designed for real-time signal acquisition, processing, storage and playback for complex embedded systems such as satellite navigation and communications, radar, aircraft, ships, weapons, vehicles etc..

Renice's 3U Open VPX storage card adopts self-developed SATA6Gb RS3502-IT controller, with dual SATA channels (single channel speed up to 500MB/420MB), super stable writing performance, built-in MIL-STD polymer tantalum capacity to provide abnormal power-down protection and one key physical and logical self-destroy function, AES128/256bit encryption, and wide working temperature from -40°C to +85°C. Supporting Linux, Windows various versions, and virtualization systems. Its ECC capacity can up to 80bit@512Byte. In a word, it's an ideal max storage solution for Military and Defence applications.[Continue reading →]

NEW HIGH SPEED RECORDER 40 GBE DATA RECORDER CAPTURES >6 GB/S OF STREAMING DATA SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES INDUSTRY CONFERENCE (SOFIC) 2018, TAMPA, Fla. (Booth #1919) – May 21, 2018 – Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division today introduced the industry’s first two-channel 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) digital data recorder designed to address the extremely high bandwidth data capture requirements of today’s most demanding ISR applications. The new High Speed Recorder 40 GbE (HSR40) is a SWaP-optimized digital data recorder that can capture UDP or TCP/IP data from two 40 GbE interfaces at sustained rates of over 6 GB/s. The challenge of capturing wire-rate data from today’s compute intensive ISR sensor platforms puts new meaning to the old metaphor “drinking from a firehose.” Some platforms have hundreds of cameras and other sensors generating data that needs to be captured and stored. What’s more, these critical sensor systems can’t be throttled in order for the recording system to catch up with the flow of data.

“Curtiss-Wright is committed to bringing the most advanced, rugged digital data recorder solutions to our Military and Aerospace customers,” said Lynn Bamford, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Defense Solutions division. “We are proud to announce the industry’s highest performance two-channel 40 Gigabit Ethernet data recorder, the new HSR40, which delivers unprecedented data capture capability to deployed ISR applications. It breaks through data bottlenecks to record vast amounts of critical data at full wirespeed.”[Continue reading →]

NEW SERIES OF OPEN ARCHITECTURE COTS MODULES FEATURES NVIDIA PASCAL(tm)-BASED 3U OPENVPX(tm) AND XMC MEZZANINE MODULES WITH VIDEO CAPTURE AND 3G-SDI INTERFACES ASHBURN, Va. – April 24, 2018 -- Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division today announced the first members of a new series of rugged graphics modules for video capture, processing, and display applications in deployed embedded defense and aerospace systems. As the number of high-resolution cameras and sensors and graphics-intensive applications, such as digital moving maps and diminished visual environment (DVE) systems, proliferate on deployed platforms, embedded system integrators seek the highest performance video capture, image processing, and graphics display technology. To meet these requirements, Curtiss-Wright has added three new graphics modules to its industry-leading range of OpenVPX and XMC modules. The XMC-4730 XMC Graphics mezzanine module and VPX3-4731 3U OpenVPX Graphics Processor bring the NVIDIA Pascal GPU architecture to embedded defense and aerospace applications. Both modules provide digital DVI, DP, and HD/3G-SDI interfaces, and include analog capture interfaces for legacy compatibility. For embedded systems that don’t require the NVIDIA GPU, the XMC-4701 XMC Video Capture mezzanine card eases the integration of video capture functionality. It also supports HD/3G-SDI and analog interfaces.

Resulting from its recently announced Reseller Agreement with WOLF Advanced Technology, these high-performance, pre-validated XMC and OpenVPX modules complement Curtiss-Wright’s previously announced family of NVIDIA Pascal GPGPU modules by speeding and easing the integration of video acquisition and graphics processing functionality in demanding video capture, process, encode and display applications.[Continue reading →]

The VPX form factor is used today for a wide range of applications and deployed environments. Applications vary from rail management systems to active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars on high-performance fighter aircraft, and environments vary from lab-benign (or near-lab conditions like wide-body jets) to tracked vehicles and unpressurized bays in high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The ruggedness and huge bandwidth provided by VPX make it a natural choice for many projects. However, one application space that benefits more than most from the processing power of VPX is electronic warfare (EW) and military sensor processing (SP) systems.[Continue reading →]

VP69701 VP69702 January 30th, 2018, as an independent embedded computer manufacturer, LinkedHope® released a VPX double-GPU image & video processing board, VP69701, and a VPX image & video processing and 10GbE data transmitting board, VP69702.

VP69701 is based on AMD Radeon™ E8860 and designed for applications of embedded image & video processing and GPGPU. On VP69701, there are 4 independent display outputs routed to front and 2 GPU. Each GPU of VP69701 is equipped with 2GB GDDR5 video memory, 768/48 GFLOPS single/double precision pfeak processing ability and 640 shader processing units.[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Feb. 21, 2019 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), announced it received a $3.1 million follow-on order from a leading defense prime contractor for rugged system-in-package (SiP) devices embedding a processor and memory devices in a single, SWaP-optimized package. The order was booked in the Company’s fiscal 2019 second quarter and is expected to be shipped over the next several quarters.

Mercury offers a comprehensive portfolio of microelectronics optimized for weapons applications, spanning both the radio frequency (RF) and digital domains. For assured long-term supply continuity of mission-critical technologies for the U.S. warfighter, the Company has established three Advanced Microelectronics Centers (AMC) located in close proximity to major customers. With design engineering and scalable manufacturing resources housed in the same facility, these AMC facilities deliver precision-engineered microelectronics in high volume production without sacrificing affordability. [Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Jan. 17, 2019 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) announced it received a $7 million order from a leading defense prime contractor for rugged servers to be used in an on-the-move tactical communications application. The order was booked in the Company's fiscal 2019 second quarter.

Mercury’s EnterpriseSeries™ servers are successfully deployed in a broad range of C4ISR applications. Designed from the ground up for mission-critical applications where performance, reliability, and uptime are crucial, Mercury’s servers feature leading-edge components while providing superior resilience to shock, vibration, and temperature extremes.[Continue reading →]

Mercury's broad portfolio of SWaP-optimized RF and microwave solutions include high frequency amplifiers, filters, integrated microwave assemblies and precision-engineered subsystems ruggedized for unpredictable, harsh operating environments.[Continue reading →]

Mercury Systems' design win is for advanced, safety certifiable flight controllers from an international aerospace company with an anticipated lifetime value of $40 million over the ten-year period of the contract.[Continue reading →]

Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd (www.blighter.com), a British designer and manufacturer of electronic-scanning (e-scan) radars and surveillance solutions, is targeting further expansion into Korea with the appointment of S-Connect, in Seoul, as its local manufacturing partner (www.s-connect.co.kr).

S-Connect is a leading manufacturer of precision assemblies and electronics for the mobile phone, tablet PC and medical devices markets. Following intense training in the UK and in Korea, S-Connect is now fully qualified to build, test, support and maintain Blighter e-scan radars. The partnership has also led to the establishment by S-Connect of a new, dedicated radar manufacturing and support facility at Jeongok, southwest of Seoul. [Continue reading →]

Annapolis Micro Systems, a leading FPGA board and systems supplier, is now integrating Samtec’s FireFly™ Optical System in multiple high-performance COTS boards, for maximum signal density and speed over longer distances.

“The FireFly enables our FPGA boards to rapidly process huge volumes of data from an optical network,” said Noah Donaldson, Annapolis Micro Systems Chief Technology Officer. “With converters increasingly positioned close to the sensor, optical I/O is becoming more prevalent in multi-function EW, phased array radar, cybersecurity network processing, and high performance financial computing.” [Continue reading →]

*40Gb Ethernet, Serial FPDP and LVDS digital input options *Real-time aggregate recording rates up to 4 GB/s *SSD RAID storage capacity up to 30.6 TB using NTFS files *Small form factor 17 pound chassis[Continue reading →]

WASHINGTON. Funding requested for Department of Defense (DoD) Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 totals $92.4 billion, accounting for 33 percent of the Trump administration's Procurement and Research, Development, Test...[Continue reading →]

Software Testing harnessing the power of Asperger\\\'s Syndrome & HFA (EMAILWIRE.COM) HIGHLAND PARK, IL -- The public is invited to join Aspiritech (www.aspiritech.org) for an Open House and Ribbon Cutting in Chicago on April 29, 2018, at their newest office at 550 West Van Buren Street, Suite 300 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. This expansion was made possible through a generous grant from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

Ambassador Fay Hartog-Levin (ret.), Weinberg Foundation Trustee, will officially cut the ribbon to kick off the celebration. In addition to the ribbon cutting ceremony and presentations, there will be opportunities to meet the staff and tour the facility. Refreshments will be served. To reserve your spot, please RSVP to robink@aspiritech.org.[Continue reading →]

*Four 200 MHz, 16-bit A/Ds *Four wideband FPGA-based Digital Down Converters (DDCs) *32 narrowband FPGA-based DDCs *XMC (VITA 42) with PCIe Gen 3 interface *Jade Architecture with Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA *Navigator Design Suite for streamlined IP development[Continue reading →]

Funding requested for Department of Defense (DoD) Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 totals $94.9 billion, more than $17 billion dollars over the FY 2017 request, making up 46 percent of the Trump administration's $208...[Continue reading →]

Huntsville, AL – Baron, a leading provider of critical weather solutions, announces their exclusive intelligent processing of radar data. The company is now delivering new severe weather enhancements to its full suite of active weather monitoring, alerting and Weather API cloud distribution service. The new Baron Intelligent Radar Processing enables the generation of weather products that are timelier, more accurate and pinpoint the most critical part of every storm.

Any business or entity focused on increasing business efficiency and using weather data to improve revenue and provide life-saving services, recovery and response will benefit from Baron Intelligent Radar Processing, as it helps provide critical information allowing businesses to intelligently leverage weather in their decisions.[Continue reading →]

Mercury Systems LDS3517 ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Sept. 13, 2018 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) announced the EnsembleSeries™ LDS3517 processing blade for advanced on-platform processing, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Each blade combines an Intel Xeon® D server-class processor, a Xilinx® UltraScale® FPGA and a mezzanine site in a 3U OpenVPX™ form-factor. Wafer-stacking and system-in-package (SiP) miniaturization technologies enable the latest general and FPGA processing capabilities, their extensive supporting memory and a versatile mezzanine expansion site to fit into this compact form-factor. The LDS3517 blade is ideally suited to on-platform cognitive electronic warfare (EW), next-generation radar, machine learning and AI applications that require small, powerful and scalable processing engines. Optionally configured with embedded BuiltSECURE™ systems security engineering and packaged with modified-off-the-shelf-plus (MOTS+) technology, the LDS3517 compute blade can support military missions anywhere.

“Our customers are asking us for small, powerful processing blades they can run their most compute-intense applications on and these resources need to be rugged and secure for deployment at the tactical edge,” said Joe Plunkett, Mercury’s Senior Director and General Manager for Sensor Processing Solutions. “The EnsembleSeries LDS3517 meets these needs, making all manner of new missions possible from advanced on-platform electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) and EW cognitive processing to platform autonomy and AI.”[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. - July 11, 2018 - Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) announced the beginning of customer engagements for the newest product offering in its ASURRE-Stor® portfolio of self-encrypting solid-state drives (SSD). This newest drive features up to 512 GB of user-accessible storage capacity in a rugged 2.5-inch, low-profile form factor (7mm) optimized for laptops and workstations storing highly sensitive data. This device was designed to the rigorous specifications dictated by the Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) program, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 standards and the Common Criteria Full Disk Encryption FDE-EE and FDE-AA collaborative Protection Profiles (cPP). The Company expects to receive all necessary certifications by November 2018 for the new device to be included in the CSfC component index.

Developed by the National Security Administration (NSA) and the Central Security Service (CSS), the CSfC program protects highly sensitive data by simultaneously implementing two compliant commercial security components in layers. Additional details on the CSfC program are available on the NSA website, located at www.nsa.gov/resources/everyone/csfc. [Continue reading →]

According to latest Study "Military Embedded Systems Market by Application (ISR, Communication, Computer, Cyber, Combat, Command & Control), Component (Processor, GPU, DPS, IP-Chip, Others), Platform (Land, Air, Naval), Architecture, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021",

The military embedded systems market is expected to grow from USD 71.29 Billion in 2016 to USD 134.88 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 13.60% from 2016 to 2021.[Continue reading →]

CMOS Image sensor wafer San Jose, Calif., USA - 8 March, 2018. Testing CMOS image sensors on a wafer-size scale is not easy because of the challenges of creating uniform illumination over a large area. Presto Engineering has developed a custom, computer-controlled solution that illuminates sections of the wafer in turn. Integrating the results enables the whole wafer to be tested automatically for an array of large sensors or even sensors that are right up to the size of an entire 12-inch wafer.

"An entire wafer can be tested in a laboratory using a similar method," explained Martin Kingdon, Presto Engineering's VP of Sales. "However laboratories are not geared up for fast commercial testing so we designed our own solution to test any size wafer. Importantly, we can do this in small to medium sized test runs here in Europe at our Class 10K cleanroom facility in Meyreuil, France, near Aix-en-Provence. We believe that we are probably the only such commercial test service to be available in Europe."[Continue reading →]

Mercury Systems' follow-on order is from a leading defense prime contractor for state-of-the-art radio frequency subsystems that are integrated into an advanced airborne electronic warfare system.[Continue reading →]

*Low-cost, single-slot 3U VPX development chassis *Supports Pentek's Quartz RFSoC FPGA products *Dual MPO optical interfaces support 100 GigE high-speed data streaming *Ideal for defense, radar, wireless, SIGINT and DRFM applications[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass.  Oct. 25, 2018  Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) announced the start of customer engagements for the first BuiltSECURE™ 16GB high density double data rate fourth-generation synchronous dynamic random-access memory (DDR4 SDRAM) in a rugged, ultra-compact 16mm x 23mm ball grid array (BGA) package. The Company’s new product was designed using a new packaging technology that doubles the number of the devices embedded in a single package without compromising performance or reliability. While delivering immediate benefits to defense prime contractors requiring DDR4 memory today, it also provides a low-risk path forward to commercializing fifth-generation (DDR5) memory devices with 5 GB/s data transfer speeds. Mercury’s new rugged DDR4 device is ideally suited to address the need for memory resident data in unmanned systems applications and real-time execution of artificial intelligence (AI).

Conventional three-dimensional (3D) packaging technologies embed multiple memory devices in a single package to meet the processing demands of space-constrained military systems. Stacking multiple devices in a single package inherently degrades the signal integrity performance, resulting in low data transfer speeds and compromised long-term reliability performance. The new packaging technology commercialized in the 16GB BuiltSECURE memory device addresses these challenges by significantly reducing crosstalk and return loss while doubling the number of devices embedded in a single package compared to the similar-sized 8GB device. This new military-hardened product supports the high-speed bus rates of today’s fastest processors and field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices, with data transfer rates of up to 2666 MB/s while operating over an extended temperature range of -55 to +125 °C. [Continue reading →]

Curtiss-Wright's Defense Solutions division today announced that its Avionics business unit, based in Christchurch, Dorset, UK, has been awarded Silver accreditation by the UK's Investors in People Standard, demonstrating the Company's commitment to high performance through good people management.[Continue reading →]

Alphacore has received SBIR Phase II funding from the Department of Energy to continue developing two critically demanded rad hard products:

First, a Radiation Hardened High Speed Camera and Imaging System: a radiation-tolerant, triggerable, high speed imaging chip, and a complete camera system, for investigating rapidly occurring phenomena in radiation environments. With 10,000 frames per second and 100Gb/s total output data rate capabilities, it is ideally suited for electron beam monitoring in particle accelerator facilities, but the complete camera’s inherent high sensitivity also benefits healthcare, industrial thermal imaging for machine vision, and defense markets.[Continue reading →]

MyDefence is developing next-generation anti-drone technology, which among other things include closer integration into soldiers existing equipment, so they can mitigate the threat of drones more effectively. Innovation Fund Denmark invests 425,000 USD (362,000 EUR) in the project, which will secure that MyDefence can continue the further development of anti-drone technology.[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. - Aug. 9, 2018 - Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) announced that it received an $8.4 million follow-on order against a previously announced $152 million 5-year sole source basic ordering agreement (BOA) to complete subsystem engineering development in support of the U.S. Navy’s training environment. The order was received in the Company's fiscal 2018 fourth quarter and engineering development is expected to be completed over the next several quarters.

“This order further validates Mercury’s leadership role in the agile development of sophisticated subsystems critical to the success of the U.S. warfighter. These innovative subsystems will allow our aircrews to experience new adversarial electronic attack capabilities in a safe environment, thereby gaining an advantage in the event of actual combat,” said Brian Perry, President, Mercury Defense Systems. “As we continue to engage with our enemies on the electromagnetic battlefield, these capabilities are critical to maintain our position of air superiority.”[Continue reading →]

Two major challenges confront developers of military radar-processing systems. The first challenge is that modern multiband radar sensors produce huge amounts of data that need to be brought into the system's digital-processing stage as accurately and rapidly as possible in order to generate actionable data for the warfighter. The second challenge in this arena is the rapid rate of change that missions must respond to, as adversaries continually morph and evolve their tactics and develop more sophisticated technologies.[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Jan. 10, 2019 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) today announced the first production shipments of its rugged SpectrumSeries™ RFM3101 radio frequency (RF) transceiver to a leading supplier of integrated electronic warfare (EW) systems. Mercury’s OpenVPX™ RF transceiver features ultra-wideband frequency conversion with excellent phase noise, high dynamic range and a low spurious output in a compact 3U form factor optimized for future upgradeability. This single-channel, microwave transceiver is optimized for demanding, low-latency DRFM applications and includes an optional external LO input to support multichannel, coherent systems that offer best-in-class low spurious performance. In recognition of its high performance and open architecture compliance, the RFM3101 transceiver received a four-star distinction from Military Embedded Systems at the recent 55th Annual Association of Old Crows International Symposium and Convention in Washington, D.C.

Developed as a joint effort across multiple Mercury facilities, this modular RF transceiver features OpenRFM™ frequency conversion blocks to support customization and rapid upgradability. To ensure an efficient production ramp-up, all RFM3101 modules are manufactured and shipped from Mercury’s AS9100D-certified facility in Huntsville, Ala., where advanced automated manufacturing technology minimizes lead time and cost.[Continue reading →]

Data Converter Market by Type (Analog-to-Digital Converter and Digital-to-Analog Converter), Sampling Rate (High-Speed Data Converter and General-Purpose Data Converter), Application, and Region - Global Forecast to 2023[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Dec. 18, 2018 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) announced it received a $2.9M follow-on order from a leading electronics manufacturer for state-of-the-art GPS Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Modules (SAASM) devices for an undisclosed application. The order was booked in the Company’s fiscal 2019 second quarter and is expected to be shipped over the next several quarters.

In addition to high-performance SAASM devices, Mercury’s digital microelectronics product offerings include BuiltSECURE™ high density secure memory, precision-engineered BuiltSECURE system-in-package (SiP) devices and secure solid state storage devices in a variety of form factors. All of the Company’s digital microelectronics solutions are optimized for size, weight, power and affordability.[Continue reading →]

ANDOVER, Mass. ∠Dec 13, 2018 ∠Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com) today unveiled RES Trust, its newest EnterpriseSeries™ rackmount server product line. Featuring U.S.-designed and manufactured motherboards, multiple security feature sets, and versatile configuration options, RES Trust servers maintain affordability while delivering trusted performance and reliability.

“Our RES Trust servers are designed for critical applications in which trust is imperative and security must be built-in, not bolted on,” said Scott Orton, Vice President and General Manager of Mercury’s Trusted Mission Solutions group. “Trust and security are no longer optional for many of our customers. With our commercial business model and system security expertise we are committed to meeting their requirements while keeping customer costs and risks low.”[Continue reading →]

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling significant leaps in science and technology, including the fields of digital signal processing (DSP) and radio frequency (RF) systems. Methods nominally labeled as "AI" have been applied to radio systems for decades, but always with the goal of optimizing the control plane of a hand-engineered system (e.g., "smart radios" or "cognitive radios"). Using a class of AI known as deep learning, we are now able to learn entirely new systems by processing sample data which can provide greater sensitivity, better performance, and reduced power consumption and processing requirements as compared to traditional approaches. The effect of this breakthrough methodology will be significant, and as with many new technologies, we will first see its use and impact in military systems.[Continue reading →]

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: CY) today introduced a new PSoC® programmable system-on-chip that simplifies the design of next-generation industrial, home appliance and consumer systems that require multiple sensors. Many Internet of Things (IoT) applications require multiple sensors and can benefit from dedicated coprocessors that offload sensor processing from the host and reduce overall system power consumption. The new PSoC Analog Coprocessor integrates programmable analog blocks, including a new Universal Analog Block (UAB), which can be configured with GUI-based software components. This combination simplifies the design of custom analog front ends for sensor interfaces by allowing engineers to update sensor features quickly with no hardware or host processor software changes, while also reducing BOM costs.

For example, in home automation applications, engineers can easily configure the PSoC Analog Coprocessor to continuously monitor multiple sensors, such as temperature, humidity, ambient light, motion and sound, allowing the host to stay in a standby low-power mode. Future design changes to support new sensor types can also be easily implemented by reconfiguring the programmable analog blocks. Cypress will demonstrate the PSoC Analog Coprocessor, along with its PSoC, FM Flexible MCU, Bluetooth® Low Energy and Energy Harvesting Power Management IC solutions at Sensors Expo from June 21 to 23 in booth 416 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose. More information on the PSoC Analog Coprocessor is available at www.cypress.com/PSoCAnalog.[Continue reading →]

Microchip announced the MCP9600--the world's first thermocouple-conditioning integrated circuit to combine precision instrumentation, a precision temperature sensor and a precision, high-resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC), in addition to a math engine preprogrammed with the firmware to support a broad range of standard thermocouple types (K, J, T, N, S, E, B and R).[Continue reading →]

CAMARILLO, Calif. -- Semtech Corp. (Nasdaq: SMTC), a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, today announced the uClamp3601P – a 33V, high-performance transient voltage suppression (TVS) device for protecting industrial sensors.

The single-line uClamp3601P achieves the low-clamping voltage performance needed to safeguard today’s small form factor proximity sensors from ESD, EFT and low level surge transients. [Continue reading →]

Microchip\'s new DACs are ideal for applications in the consumer and industrial markets, such as wireless microphones, mp3 player accessories and blood glucose test devices and applications such as motor control, instrumentation, sensor calibration, set point/offset trimming, among others. The integration and feature set of Microchip\'s new DACs offers customers system flexibility and power savings while simplifying their design efforts. CHANDLER, Ariz.[NASDAQ: MCHP] — Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, today announced the expansion of its non-volatile Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) product line with the MCP47FEBXX devices. The low-power, single and dual-channel DACs feature 8-, 10- and 12-bit resolution, integrated EEPROM and an I2C™ interface, and are offered in 8-pin TSSOP packages. The DACs are ideal for applications in the consumer and industrial markets, such as wireless microphones, mp3 player accessories and blood glucose test devices and applications such as motor control, instrumentation, sensor calibration, set point/offset trimming, among others.

The integrated EEPROM enables DAC settings to be recalled at power up, for added system flexibility. The choice of 8-, 10- and 12-bit resolution provides flexibility with design requirements and cost. The various shutdown modes significantly reduce the device current consumption for power critical applications. These devices offer customers the ability to utilize the internal bandgap for device voltage reference, simplifying development and lowering system cost, or use an external voltage reference source in order to optimize their design.[Continue reading →]

High-definition (HD) digital electro-optic and infrared sensors are shoveling evermore data into the battle space. How can soldiers get that information quickly enough to act on it in a timely manner?[Continue reading →]

Over the past few decades, mixed-signal integrated circuit (IC) design has been one of the most exciting and technically challenging segments of the semiconductor industry. Despite all of the advances that have occurred in the semiconductor industry over that time span, the one constant need is still to ensure the analog world we live in interacts seamlessly with the digital world of computing, a requirement especially driven by the current pervasive mobile environment and the rapidly emerging Internet of Things (IoT) "re-evolution."[Continue reading →]

Latency, or the time between input and output, can be very important, depending on the application. For processing of communications intelligence (COMINT) like audio conversations, text data and the like, relatively long latency is tolerable. For applications like Radar and Electronic Warfare (especially Digital Radio Frequency Memory or DRFM), just a small amount of latency is problematic, due to the necessity of quick response times.

Similarly, these demanding applications require very high bandwidth (throughput) due to the volume of data involved. Low latency without high bandwidth (and vice versa) is a waste of performance, as it won’t deliver mission success.[Continue reading →]

RFEL will be launching its latest core at EW Europe. The new Fractional Rate Resampler IP core, which was originally part of the company's multi-award winning ChannelCore Flex(tm) product, is now offered as a stand-alone IP core for FPGAs in response to customer requests.[Continue reading →]

To perceive is to assign meaning to what we see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Similarly, perceptual computing offers users a more natural way to interact with machines. Today's platforms have the ability to go well beyond simple facial recognition, which is becoming quite common today as a way to replace passwords. In fact, recent developments in software technology made practical by advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) are expanding perceptual computing to new levels of functionality in embedded applications.[Continue reading →]

Highlights:

USB Type-C standard enables reversible connectors and 10 Gbps data transfer speeds with support for new bi-directional USB power delivery[Continue reading →]

The ability to access accurate, real-time information across secure data links is a cornerstone of any successful military campaign. This ability is especially needed today given the requirement of the command-and-control center to communicate directly and instantly with soldiers in the field via both voice and data. What should be a strategic and tactical advantage, however, is only as good as the ability of advanced wireless technology to navigate a web of complex radio frequency (RF) and signal-processing technologies and to render a seamless, reliable, and secure communications network that delivers the right information at the right time in an ever-more-challenged RF spectrum.[Continue reading →]

It is the purpose of this primer to instead describe digital oscilloscopes, which have for practical purposes replaced their analog predecessors in the vast majority of applications. Covered here is a short description of the oscilloscope's origins, its transition from analog to digital, types of digital oscilloscopes and their major subsystems, key benchmark specifications, and measurements.

Whether analog or digital, the oscilloscope is a versatile piece of test equipment. Even though its basic function is to measure and display voltage, its capabilities are vastly greater. They range from automation of the measurements described here, as well as signal detection and analysis in commercial and defense systems, and a wide array of others.[Continue reading →]

Modern radar and electronic warfare designs rely heavily on embedded computing systems that leverage high-speed commercial processors and FPGAs to find every target or signal and enable the warfighter to respond in real time. Meanwhile, signal processing system designers are cutting costs by using parallel compute platforms such as OpenCL that work across multiple chip platforms.[Continue reading →]

Often there are some advantages in using frequency domain techniques, as opposed to using strictly time domain techniques, to analyze signals obtained in data acquisition. The merits and possible issues of using a particular frequency-based transform methodology along with subsequent graphical analyses are discussed. Appropriate choices for analyzing signals in the frequency domain can often improve the overall system during the concept, development, and/or testing phase of many data acquisition systems.Frequency domain analysis plays an important role in the design and testing of many militarized systems, including wireless communications, remote sensing, radar processing, audio processing (such as speech recognition/authentication, watermarking, and compression/VoIP), and more. The development process of an embedded computing military application often requires sampling real-world physical systems through a data acquisition process that results in a digital representation of those signals.

Although the data representing these signals is most often sampled in the time domain, many applications engineers find it easier – and more conceptually clear – to work with the data in the frequency domain. This is because of the many engineering relationships governing information, which are typically described in the frequency domain. A thorough frequency analysis of the data being acquired and processed can facilitate the retrieval of subtle information contained within the signal and provide valuable insight into the real-world environment that will be encountered. Often that subtle information includes signal artifacts with very low Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs), which might be missed in analyzing the data exclusively from the time domain.[Continue reading →]

Vendors producing off-the-shelf FPGA wares face the issue of offering the greatest flexibility with the fewest design iterations. Accordingly, VITA 57 (FPGA Mezzanine Card or FMC) is bridging FPGA I/O capability and the external world.[Continue reading →]

Dataforth's updated 2017 Full-Line Product Catalog is now online. The 326-page document provides the most up-to-date information and specifications for all Dataforth signal conditioning, data acquisition, and data communication products.[Continue reading →]

The Sumida ESMIT-4180/C Series Isolation Transformer is the latest entry into Sumida’s line of low-profile, surface mounted isolation transformers. It was developed to better respond to the demands of the embedded-circuit based products, including automotive battery monitoring, high-speed modems and other circuits. As an example, the ESMIT-4180/C is included in the reference design for the NXP Freescale MC33771 and MC33664 High Voltage Battery Cell Controller and Transformer Physical Layer. This comprises a high-voltage battery management system.

The Sumida ESMIT-4180/C offers AEC-Q200 certification and a very high, 3,750 volt RMS, one second isolation capability (equivalent to a full minute at 3,000 volts RMS). Other specifications are consistent with the signal and high voltage isolation needs of digital data devices. [Continue reading →]

The TXMC590 is a standard Switched Mezzanine Card (XMC) compatible module offering 16 channels capable of measuring thermocouples, resistive sensors like RTD and thermistors, and strain gauges. Released as an extension to TEWS' growing portfolio of XMC modules, the TXMC590 is designed for industrial control, telecommunication infrastructure, medical equipment, traffic control and COTS applications.[Continue reading →]

For applications where fast electronic signals in the GHz range need to be remotely acquired and analyzed, Spectrum has extended its popular digitizerNETBOX series of LXI based instruments and released eight new models.[Continue reading →]

By treating connectivity as a system, aerospace designers can evaluate various tradeoffs – copper versus fiber, types of shielding, cable construction, and the like – to meet requirements for both signal integrity and the environmental and mechanical needs of the application.[Continue reading →]

Specialist UK instrumentation manufacturer Mantracourt Electronics has announced the acquisition of a new Ersa reflow soldering machine and plans to further acquire a new Ersa selective soldering machine in January.

Mantracourt’s expansion in manufacturing capability has been driven by a continued growth in worldwide demand for its range of wired and wireless sensor technology. Working with technical partners across the world, Mantracourt has established its brand in many new countries, as well as introducing new products into its range.[Continue reading →]

EIZO Rugged Solutions' Adapt Series was designed to convert DisplayPort outputs to DVI, VGA, and potentially support other connector types such as MIL-DTL-38999. Support for 3G-SDI and STANAG 3350 and other formats are to follow.[Continue reading →]

The TL8651 supports the video transmission of uncompressed image signals with 3G-SDI (SMPTE ST424M Level A) and HD-SDI (SMPTE292M) and now offers a maximum resolution of 1080p with an image frequency of 60 Hz. The TL8651 video interface board can be mounted directly to the side of the Tamron MP1010M-VC camera module and the interface board form factor is optimally adjusted to the dimensions of the camera.[Continue reading →]

Designed for demanding applications in the scientific research, defense and aerospace industries, it builds upon the award-winning technology of Vision Research's Phantom digital cinema products.[Continue reading →]

Designed for demanding applications in the scientific research, defense and aerospace industries, it builds upon the award-winning technology of Vision Research's Phantom digital cinema products.[Continue reading →]

The Hydra 1004 rugged 3G-SDI splitter eases video distribution for airborne and ground-based application. It features built-in signal regeneration which allows SDI signals to be retimed and conditioned to remove jitter/interference and to ensure that video quality is not compromised.[Continue reading →]

Tigard, OR – Sensoray introduces its new Model’s 3364 a USB 3.0 device available in SDI or DVI versions. It captures uncompressed SD/HD video in resolutions up to 1080p60 and uses H.264 video compression for inputs up to 1080p30, both with very low latency. A USB 3.0 device, it is capable of capturing uncompressed video at full frame rates and simultaneously sending uncompressed (preview) and compressed streams to the host.

Both models are UVC devices (USB Video Class), and do not require a device-specific driver or an external power supply. They are controlled using a video API (DirectShow or Video4Linux). [Continue reading →]