Military Embedded Systems April/May 2022

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John McHale

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Military avionics innovation

Technology Update

8

eVTOL and battlefield logistics

Industry Spotlight

Adapting FACE conformant avionics

Mil Tech Trends Busting COTS myths www.MilitaryEmbedded.com

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April/May 2022 | Volume 18 | Number 3

FUTURE VERTICAL LIFT PLATFORMS DRIVING AVIONICS UPGRADES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 16

Apr/May 2022 Volume 18 | Number 3

28

COLUMNS Editor’s Perspective 7 Upgrades, unmanned applications driving avionics innovation

By John McHale

Technology Update 8 eVTOL advances could change battlefield logistics

By Dawn M.K. Zoldi

Mil Tech Insider 9 Secure wireless communication supports mounted and dismounted connectivity

By David Gregory and Jeff Nelson

THE LATEST Defense Tech Wire 10 By Emma Helfrich Editor’s Choice Products 42 By Mil Embedded Staff Guest Blog 44 Rationalizing the Army’s “Need for Speed”

By Matt Donovan, Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Connecting with Mil Embedded 46 By Mil Embedded Staff

WEB RESOURCES Subscribe to the magazine or E-letter Live industry news | Submit new products http://submit.opensystemsmedia.com WHITE PAPERS – Read: https://militaryembedded.com/whitepapers

FEATURES RADAR ARCHITECTURES: From whiteboard to field 12 Overcoming obstacles to delivering new radar and EW capabilities

By Jeremy Twaits, NI

SPECIAL REPORT: Helicopter avionics 16 Open systems streamline helicopter avionics upgrades

By Emma Helfrich, Technology Editor

MIL TECH TRENDS: Certifying COTS hardware and software 22 Busting the myths of COTS devices in military applications

By Mike McCormack and Mark Kempf, CP Technologies 26 Adding new high-frequency capabilities to military avionics applications

By Ted Prema, Times Microwave Systems 28 Migrating legacy software from obsolete hardware to modern

system environments

By Russ Obert, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions and Denis Smetana, Northrop Grumman Defense Systems 32 Incorporating DO-326A security airworthiness into software-development

life cycle

By Ricardo Camacho, Parasoft

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT: Adapting FACE conformant solutions for

military avionics 38 MOSA, certification, and security challenges driving avionics software designs

By John McHale, Group Editorial Director

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ON THE COVER: Military helicopter avionics upgrades like those for Future Vertical Lift platforms make data and modular-agnostic hardware a priority for defense electronics manufacturers.

As systems and electronics evolve, many of these advances will have to comply with open architecture standards like the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) and must leverage a modular open systems approach (MOSA) to ease cost and timeto-market pressure. In the photo, National Guard soldiers conduct sling-load training with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at McCrady Training Center in Eastover, S.C., Nov. 2, 2019. Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Roberto Di Giovine. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1864255/

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EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

Upgrades, unmanned applications driving avionics innovation

By John McHale, Editorial Director Innovation in military avionics platforms is being driven by funding for new avionics platforms and upgrades of current systems plus new investment in unmanned aircraft system (UAS) programs. Avionics requirements are also demanding a modular open systems approach (MOSA) for nearly every refresh or platform.

MOSA approaches like The Open Group’s Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard are being led by avionics software designers, four of whom I spoke to about avionics trends for this issue. All four say they see upgrades and unmanned platforms fueling new avionics designs and demanding open architecture for software portability to keep long-term costs down.

Upgrades versus new platforms Major platforms have always generated funding for new systems and today is no different. “Based on current awards such as [Future] Vertical Lift [FVL) and the F-35, military programs will focus on major capability upgrades rather than new airframes and capability designs,” says Dr. Benjamin Brosgol, member of the senior technical staff at AdaCore.

“And upgrading to new platforms means that portability of software, both APIs and source code, will be necessary to keep costs and schedules within budgets. Language and tool capabilities that promote reuse of legacy code will be important.” (For more on FVL see our Special Report on page 16.)

The decades-long life of military aircraft also demands more consistent technology refresh for flight systems. “Upgrades seem to always outpace new programs,” says Gary Gilliland, technical marketing manager, DDC-I. “Military systems tend to be deployed for a very long time (often 20+ years). In this time, hardware goes obsolete and everything has to be upgraded to support the new hardware. Currently, there are quite a few new programs that are under www.militaryembedded.com

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development but we will have to wait and see if mission, cost, and politics allow them to be completed.”

Manned versus unmanned The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) use of autonomous systems continues to not only increase but also evolve operationally and tactically as we see more unmanned/ manned teaming strategies being deployed by the U.S. and allies.

“We are seeing research programs for manned/unmanned teaming as well as for optionally manned vehicles,” says Alex Wilson, director of A&D solutions, Wind River. “For example, the U.S. Army Future Vertical Lift program is designed around human pilots and optionally manned flight, as well as the integration of manned and unmanned systems. As articulated by Maj. Gen. David Francis, director of the Aviation Center of Excellence, at [the recent] Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference, ‘Maybe I don’t need two pilots all the time, maybe I don’t need every aircraft manned all the time.’”

Gilliland sees a similar trend: “It seems that most new programs are looking at having a crewed and uncrewed version of the aircraft,” he notes. “Most of these programs also want to have DO-178C certification evidence. Certifying uncrewed systems is still a ways out to be mainstream so I think the crewed will outpace the uncrewed in the near term. If we are talking about [UAS] not flown in civilian airspace, then the opportunities seem to be greater.”

“Upgrading traditional manned platforms with autonomous capabilities [means] big changes to system architectures to fully embrace multiprocessor technologies, connected-to-cloud and ML [machine learning] functionality,” says Will Keegan, chief technical officer, Lynx Software Technologies. “Systems become ‘systems of systems’ which creates changes in security, predictable latency across network connections, and evolving codebases (and the challenges of certifying those).”

International conflict is also driving UAS deployments. “The largest opportunity for major expansion in the military avionics market will likely come from UASs,” Brosgol says. “As evidenced by the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the current war in Ukraine, UAS-hosted weaponry can inflict devastating damage on an adversary at relatively low cost. But as is all too common, advances in technology outpace our ability to manage the many effects, anticipated or otherwise, that the new technology brings. For UASs, these effects include ethical, regulatory, and technical issues.

“On the technical side, the separation of functionality between the ground-based and onboard software presents a challenge, and UAS reliability requires secure communication and avoidance of GPS spoofing,” he continues. “But any challenge is also an opportunity, and software engineering techniques that have been successfully used for developing other kinds of avionics applications can also apply to UASs.” The four touched on much more than just market conditions. For the complete conversation, see the Industry Spotlight on page 38. For more on MOSA and FACE, don’t miss our FACE Special Edition, mailed to subscribers with their copy of this issue. If you don’t have a copy, be sure to visit militaryembedded.com to read the first issue of what will be an annual FACE Special Edition.

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Apr/May 2022

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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

eVTOL advances could change battlefield logistics

By Dawn M.K. Zoldi Funding for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft continues to increase as U.S. defense planners recognize that eVTOL platforms can be a game changer on the battlefield. eVTOL-maker Talyn Air (Los Angeles, California) recently secured $1.7 million in government funding through an AFWERX AFVentures Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) program in support of a two-year design/build/fly effort with the Air Force’s Agility Prime program.

This latest round of support enables Talyn to advance certification efforts with the Department of Defense (DoD) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), build full-scale aircraft, and continue in its quest to “revolutionize battlefield logistics.” The eVTOL technology is intended to enable aircraft to launch from virtually anywhere, without runways or other major downrange requirements.

Employing a dual-stage approach, Talyn engineers have separated the aircraft into a VTOL lift vehicle and a long-range fixed-wing cruise vehicle. This design bypasses the physics-based trade-offs that arise when forcing all the systems onto a single vehicle.

The joined system takes off vertically, then transitions to forward flight until both vehicles are under wing-borne lift.

The lift vehicle then deploys the cruise vehicle and they gently separate. The cruise vehicle, with fully charged batteries, flies as an efficient winged aircraft to the destination where another lift aircraft performs a mid-air docking.

The craft then executes a joined vertical landing. (Figure 1.)

For additional flexibility in the field, the cruise vehicle can also take off and land in a conventional manner. Talyn’s cruise vehicle can also accommodate a variety of sensors, communications, armaments, and computing payloads to serve broad mission sets, according to the company.

8 Apr/May 2022

In December 2021, Talyn officials announced the company had attained a major milestone in its Phase II project: the successful demonstration – with a subscale prototype – of the system’s separation deployment while in flight.

Talyn reported deployment of its lift vehicle with its cruise vehicle as well as vertical takeoff and landing. (Figure 1.)

“In the current force structure, a single strike on a strategic base would significantly impact the ability to project air power and slow the response to such attacks,” explains Talyn co-founder Jamie Gull, an engineer who helped develop the Falcon 9 rocket at SpaceX. “Talyn’s system gives the Air Force the capability to generate combat and support sorties from nearly any location, resulting in a more complex operating picture and an additional layer of unpredictability for near-peer adversaries to process. This will help create the foundational elements of a more flexible and effective force structure, while removing more airmen from harm’s way.”

With its latest TACFI award, Talyn will now be able to build and fly full-scale prototypes, which are expected to have a maximum takeoff weight of about 1,500 pounds and be able to carry payloads of between 100 to 500 pounds, depending on the configuration. The company also says that the dual-vehicle configuration is capable of as much as triple the range of any other strictly battery eVTOL aircraft.

Talyn co-founder Evan Mucasey – an engineer who was part of the Falcon 9’s first hypersonic orbital reentry and was responsible for the design, testing, and certification for human space flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon – asserts that his company has near-term plans to provide commercial autonomous cargo delivery.

“We are excited to continue working with our partners at AFWERX to develop

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Figure 1 | Artist rendering of Talyn Air eVTOL lifting vehicle separating from cruise vehicle.

Talyn Air image.

this critical flight capability,” Mucasey says. “TACFI enables us to take the lessons learned from our subscale vehicle development program and apply them to our new, commercial-scale aircraft.

We will be able to use these prototype vehicles for flight testing as well as building a basis of success that we can leverage for future commercial and certification efforts.”

Commercially, the benefits of using the Talyn system for regional cargo and passenger operators includes both flexibility and time savings. Talyn combines the door-to-door capabilities of helicopters with the point-to-point speed and range of fixed-wing aircraft.

As part of its military/TACFI drive, the company must receive at least a dollar of private funding for every dollar in program funding. The company intends to raise as much as $40 million in additional private funding later in 2022, while it works on achieving significant technology and certification milestones.

Next up, the team will continue its work with the Air Force in order to move closer towards validating its aircraft for military and commercial solutions. Flight testing will be coordinated with the DoD and FAA, both of which will assess the operations and vehicle-certification criteria necessary for accelerated deployment.

Dawn M.K. Zoldi (Colonel, USAF, Retired) is the CEO of P3 Tech Consulting LLC. www.militaryembedded.com

MIL TECH INSIDER

Secure wireless communication supports mounted and dismounted connectivity

By David Gregory and Jeff Nelson An industry perspective from Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Secure wireless communications (SWC) technology for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-end user device (V2E) communication is useful for tactical environments as it improves network flexibility and operational maneuverability while reducing management complexity and cost. As seen in the commercial market, securely implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) communication opens the door for innovative solutions to existing and future operational challenges.

The goal of SWC is to provide controlled access to classified or controlled unclassified information (CUI) over any RF transport in the field, between vehicles and end users alike. Secure yet simplified system deployment, node integration, managed accessibility, network situational awareness, and configuration management are all a must for maintainability. Future ground-vehicle platforms, such as Command Post Integrated Infrastructure (CPI2), Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV), Manned Fighting Vehicle (MFV), and Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCV) – will definitely improve fleet speed and mobility and ripe for improvements in SWC. These ground vehicle programs will greatly benefit from vehicle-mounted secure wireless communication architectures using small-form-factor, rugged, modular open systems approach (MOSA) commercial off-the-shelf technologies (COTS) to interconnect vehicles, tents, users, and the like while maintaining sufficient security postures to meet various cybersecurity objectives.

Using properly configured, layered commercial technologies to correctly implement SWC promises multiple benefits including true mobility and maneuverability for both mounted and dismounted end-user devices (EUD). As an example, providing secured WLAN services inside vehicles and vehicle-mounted shelters – while simultaneously providing communications between vehicles over wireless mesh networks – will dramatically reduce (if not eliminate) setup time over current command-post deployments that are called “mobile” but still involve the installation of thousands of feet of networking cable and physical network infrastructure to interconnect vehicles and/or tents.

For true mobile use, Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) or CUI architectures enables users to wirelessly interconnect vehicles and host secure WLAN service from vehicle platforms for various EUDs – such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, soldier wearables, or IVAS [Integrated Visual Augmentation System] goggles. Use cases for these devices over classified, unclassified, and/or coalition partner networks include augmented reality (AR), mobile command and control, wireless intercom, conditionbased maintenance (CBM) offload, or ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] collection and dissemination.

There do exist several challenges around the deployment of SWC, including cybersecurity resiliency (i.e., intrusions detection and prevention), network configuration management, and situational awareness. Additionally, given existing and emerging electronic warfare (EW) and cyber threats it is assumed that cyberattacks will increase in sophistication and complexity. Without a robust monitoring and management solution the inclusion of wireless network technology at the tactical edge will increase both the attack-vector diversity and the training requirements of the warfighter.

Detecting (and preventing) intrusion attacks and continuously monitoring network access are essential to SWC since the RF transport is a physically unguarded transport medium. Leveraging a robust communication management tool is needed to automate intrusion detection system/intrusion prevention system (IDS/IPS) response and reduce configuration time and configuration errors. For situational awareness, it’s important to www.militaryembedded.com

Figure 1 | The PacStar Secure Wireless Command Post (SWCP) is intended for use in both mounted and unmounted end-user devices. Curtiss-Wright image.

have a remote operations and management tool on both central and distributed vehicles (even some EUDs) to provide redundancy and continuous monitoring needed for real-time status, alerts, and auditing.

An example of a complete SWC solution for V2V and V2E is the combination of Curtiss-Wright’s PacStar Secure Wireless Command Post (SWCP), SWCP-Extension (SWCP-X), and IQ-Core Network Communication Management (NCM) software with Remote Operations and Management (ROAM) capability.

The NCM software enables a single interface under a unified interface, with connections using SNMP, SSH, REST, APIs, or VICTORY. (Figure 1.)

The application runs within each node (i.e., mission command vehicle, remote support vehicles, command tents, etc.) to interact and manage on- and off-platform network components. The ROAM component adds capabilities to enable centralized management of distributed network nodes at multiple tiers in a hierarchical and efficient manner, and is designed to manage networks in disconnected, intermittent, and limited (DIL) environments.

David Gregory is the senior principal solutions architect, PacStar. Jeff Nelson is the director, Business Development at Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions for the PacStar product family.

Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions https://www.curtisswrightds.com/

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Apr/May 2022

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DEFENSE TECH WIRE NEWS | TRENDS | DOD SPENDS | CONTRACTS | TECHNOLOGY UPDATES

By Emma Helfrich, Technology Editor

Figure 1 | Artist’s rendering of the Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept.

Lockheed Martin graphic.

Hypersonic air-breathing weapon demoed with Lockheed Martin The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Lockheed Martin, and Aerojet Rocketdyne team have flight-tested the Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC). According to a DARPA report on the test, the flight reached speeds in excess of Mach 5, gained altitudes greater than 65,000 feet, and furthered the understanding of operations in the high-speed flight regime. With the test, officials hoped to demonstrate that air-breathing hypersonic systems are a cost-effective solution to address rapidly emerging threats.

Additionally, Lockheed Martin claims to be weaving a digital thread throughout the design, test, and manufacturing process to ensure efficient production. The company has also made investments in the development of critical hypersonic technologies needed to enable operational systems to help the United States and its allies to counter rapidly emerging threats.

Sensor data tracking near-Earth-objects collected and released by Space Force and NASA An agreement between NASA and the U.S. Space Force recently authorized the public release of decades of data collected by U.S. government sensors on fireball events, or large bright meteors also known as bolides, for the benefit of the scientific and planetary defense communities. Release of the data follows an agreement between NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) and the U.S. Space Force to continue furthering U.S. efforts in planetary defense, which include finding, tracking, characterizing, and cataloguing near-Earth objects (NEOs).

The report states that bolides are a regular occurrence that result when the planet is impacted by asteroids too small to reach the ground but large enough to explode upon impact with Earth’s atmosphere. U.S. government sensors detect these atmospheric impact events, and the bolide data is reported to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Center for inclusion in the Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) fireballs database.

Software modernization strategy published by DoD The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Software Modernization Strategy was published in February 2022 with a focus on how delivering a more lethal force will require the ability to evolve and adapt faster than adversaries. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen H. Hicks says that the department’s adaptability increasingly relies on software and the ability to deliver resilient software capability securely and rapidly, making it an advantage that will define future conflicts.

According to the announcement, the offices of the chief information officer, the undersecretaries of defense for acquisition and sustainment and research and engineering, and the software modernization senior steering group are involved in efforts to operationalize the upgrade strategy. The goal is to provide cybersecure development, security, and operations in software factories, cloud services, and faster delivery of software. In the report, Joint All-Domain Command and Control and artificial intelligence (AI) are highlighted as the primary initiatives the DoD should support.

10 Apr/May 2022

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Figure 2 | U.S. Department of Defense photo/Marine Corps Cpl. Armando Elizalde.

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SPY-6 radars to be installed aboard next-gen U.S. Navy ships Raytheon Missiles & Defense (RMD) won a $651 million contract, with options, for full-rate production of the AN/SPY-6(V) family of radars. The contract – which can reach as much as $3.2 billion – calls for five years of radar production to equip as many as 31 U.S. Navy ships with SPY-6 radars. Under the contract, RMD will produce solid-state, fixed-face, and rotating SPY-6 variants designed to deliver integrated air- and missiledefense capabilities for seven types of U.S. Navy ships over the next 40 years.

Figure 3 | An indoor shot of the Raytheon SPY-6 radar manufacturing facility.

Raytheon Technologies photo.

According to a news release from RMD, those vessels include the Navy’s new Arleigh Burke class Flight III destroyers, aircraft carriers, and amphibious ships; today’s Flight IIA destroyers will be retrofitted with an upgraded radar. SPY-6 array radar variants have between nine and 37 radar modular assemblies (RMAs) that enable SPY-6 to be scalable and modular.

5G-powered communications for DoD goal of Lockheed Martin, Intel agreement Lockheed Martin and Intel signed a memorandum of understanding that expands the ongoing strategic relationship between the two companies that will align 5G-enabled hardware and software solutions for the U.S. DoD. Intel’s 5G solutions are integrated into Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL Hybrid Base Station, which acts as a multinetwork gateway for ubiquitous communications between military personnel and current and emerging platforms.

Additionally, under the contract Lockheed Martin will leverage Intel’s processor technologies to bring cloud capabilities to the areas of tactical need, which the company asserts will ensure data-driven decisionmaking across domains in support of national security efforts. In late 2021, Lockheed Martin and Intel, using Lockheed Martin’s 5G-enabled ground vehicles, demonstrated how hardened security and 5G.MIL capabilities in cloud computing could enhance survivability capabilities for military personnel. The two companies have also worked together on advanced semiconductor packaging applications for high-density electronics.

Undersea-warfare contract for U.S. Navy garnered by Leidos Engineering company Leidos won a prime contract with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) to support the Navy’s undersea warfare systems. As part of the Seaport Next Generation (NxG) contract, Leidos will fulfill a task order with a total estimated value of $84 million, including a one-year base period, as well as four one-year options.

Under the terms of the contract, company officials claim that Leidos will provide operations and maintenance (O&M) crews aboard U.S. Navy Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance (T-AGOS) platforms and contract vessels and will make available a dedicated group of fieldsupport engineers to provide engineering, logistics, and technical support.

Ground-based antijam satellite comms capability demoed by Boeing Boeing has demonstrated the integration of its Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) software elements with an industry partner’s user terminal, proving technical maturity on the U.S. Space Force’s pathfinder program. According to news from Boeing, PTES provides ground-based Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) processing, enabling secure operations and protected tactical communications coverage over wideband global SATCOM (WGS) satellites without spacecraft modification.

PTES-over-WGS is designed to provide the U.S. DoD with fleetwide protected communications globally; Boeing officials say that the method mitigates interference and adversarial jamming for high-data-rate satellite communications in contested environments, creating greater resiliency and enabling missions in otherwise denied areas. At the integration event – during which Boeing showcased the PTES encryption capabilities in a virtual environment – the demonstration validated the Boeing-developed key management system’s ability to interface with a PTW ground terminal, validated the network-management software, and virtualized mission-planning components. www.militaryembedded.com

Figure 4 | U.S. Marine Corps photo/Lance Cpl. Mackenzie Binion.

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Apr/May 2022

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RADAR ARCHITECTURES

Title Overcoming obstacles

By John McHale, Editorial Director to delivering new radar and EW capabilities abstract

By Jeremy Twaits

Dominance of the electromagnetic spectrum is critical to mission success – not only the act of disrupting or denying the radar, comms, or navigation systems of an adversary, but also the protective measures that enable friendly forces to operate electromagnetic (EM) systems The effectively and reliably. Developing novel radar and electronic warfare (EW) systems with improved capabilities requires good ideas to be realized in real-world tactical deployments; ideas cannot get waylaid and halted along the path from simulation to lab to field. Tools that help developers to assess new algorithms, architectures, and waveforms quickly are key to turning concepts into reality.

12 Apr/May 2022

From whiteboard to field

caption

New ideas fuel new capabilities for deployed radar systems. But if a new idea cannot be assessed and proven in a timely and cost-effective manner, its benefits may never be realized in the field. Researchers and systems engineers are tasked with rapidly transitioning ideas from the whiteboard to prototypes to fielded systems, and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) tools with integrated development tools can remove obstacles and accelerate that process.

Recent reports that Ukrainian forces captured a Russian Krasukha-4 electronic warfare (EW) system outside Kyiv highlight the importance that must be placed on designing electromagnetic (EM) systems that are resilient to electronic attacks. With systems in-theater that can disrupt ground, air, and even low-Earth-orbit platforms, electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) are a critical domain in global conflict, with opposing forces locked in tussles of countermeasure versus counter-countermeasure.

Organizations designing and deploying radar, communications, and navigation systems must continue to develop more capable systems with more effective electronic-protection measures, enabling these systems to operate reliably despite interference – whether accidental or deliberate.

The path to delivering new radar capabilities to the field is often far from smooth. As the saying goes, ideas are cheap. Taking an idea from the whiteboard to the lab, to a technology readiness level appropriate for deployment, can pose a significant challenge.

The first hurdle is assessing an idea’s feasibility as a concept, often with modelling and simulation in tools including Python, C/C++, and MATLAB. This assessment is an important step that enables validation of ideas and

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early demonstration of results, all before the more costly process of testing with realworld signals in the lab or on the range begins.

The next step presents a common stumbling block: Moving code from simulation tools to a hardware-based testbed can decelerate the development process, unless software tools scale throughout the design cycle. Furthermore, if the project researchers or systems engineers must build a testbed from custom hardware, that step may add time, complexity, and cost.

Getting out of a jam with cognitive and adaptive techniques Ultimately, for any new concept to be worth pursuing, it must deliver tangible performance benefits in-theater. Improved performance will often be delivered by way of novel algorithms, waveforms, architectures, or RF and digital components. Deployed radar systems will inevitably face interference, whether accidentally by commercial broadcast or 5G signals, or through deliberate jamming by the EW systems of opposing forces. Introducing cognitive and adaptive techniques that increase frequency agility and add the capability to dodge spectrum interference increases the effectiveness of a radar system. After designing an algorithm that senses the spectrum and enables the radar to hop to less populated frequency bands – rather than dashing straight out to the range, a potentially expensive step – the initial priority in validating performance is to experiment with simulated emitters.

Beyond simulation Commonly, tools like MATLAB and Simulink software are used to design waveforms, sensor arrays, and signal processing algorithms. Libraries of algorithms – for functions including matched filtering, adaptive beamforming, target detection, space-time adaptive processing (STAP), and environmental and clutter monitoring – save developers from needing to design these for themselves. Moreover, designing and debugging radar models at early stages means that developers can avoid costly redesigns.

If initial results in simulation look encouraging, then the next step is to move into a prototyping testbed, to see how the new algorithms or waveforms will operate with real hardware. This introduces another obstacle to overcome – how well will IP from simulation interface with hardware? Software tools may not be optimized for use throughout the full development process, leading the time-consuming rewrites. For example, code may need to be refactored to execute on other processing platforms like FPGAs [field-programmable gate arrays] or GPUs [graphics processing units]; operate within real-time latency constraints; handle data movement throughout the system; and account for real-world gain, attenuation, noise, spurs, and memory effects.

Bridging the gap between simulation and hardware NI and MathWorks have collaborated on a variety of methods of bridging the gap between simulation and prototyping. These include nodes that enable modules written in MATLAB to be called from within LabVIEW, plus options for exporting MATLAB code and Simulink models using HDL Coder, then importing the resulting VHDL code into LabVIEW FPGA to run on COTS hardware. Additionally, the two have demonstrated library-based methods for calling PXI-based modular instruments from MATLAB. This involves wrapping RF signal analyzer (RFSA) and RF signal generator (RFSG) drivers into dynamic link libraries (DLLs) that may be called within MATLAB. Figure 1 shows the structure of this library-based approach, which can be downloaded as freely available example code.

Ultimately, the ability to use IP built in modeling and simulation tools with COTS hardware is beneficial to radar system designers, who no longer need to make significant changes to their code base. This new approach contributes to accelerating the path for new radar capabilities to reach field deployment.

Developing a prototyping testbed Even once the radar-processing IP has been configured to run with hardware, architecting a hardware-based prototyping testbed brings its own challenges. www.militaryembedded.com

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RADAR ARCHITECTURES

From whiteboard to field

Let’s return to considering ways that the radar system could operate more effectively in congested and contested environments. One method to making radar systems more resistant to jamming is to use active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology. On top of increased directionality contributing to lower likelihood of detection, AESAs can bring other advantages including more precise scanning, longer range, and the ability to detect and resolve smaller targets.

While such multichannel architectures provide benefits, they can be challenging to prototype. Large numbers of channels lead to large volumes of data to deal with, even at relatively low bandwidths. Systems must be designed carefully to avoid bottlenecks, whether at the point of streaming data from radios, into processing units, or recording data to disk. Processors must be selected with the ability to aggregate and compute those large volumes of data, possibly offloading to additional units such as FPGAs for inline, low-latency operation, or to GPUs for implementing artificial intelligence/ machine learning (AI/ML) approaches. Moreover, the design must achieve precise synchronization from channel to channel, providing the phase coherency required for accurate beamforming and angle-of-arrival estimation.

Building hardware from components or eval boards can provide the benefit of meeting exact performance requirements while carrying other challenges, such as needing larger teams with broader hardware development experience, less flexibility for iterative design, and increased maintenance and support burden. The requirement to develop board support packages and build data movement and synchronization infrastructure can add further schedule risk.

Open-source software with COTS software-defined radios (SDRs) provide the building blocks for researchers and systems engineers to quickly get started with a hardwarebased testbed. There is significant benefit to using architectures that provide validated streaming and synchronization performance, plus documentation on how to assemble systems to achieve that performance, such as by routing shared local oscillators for phase coherency. (Figure 2.)

Validated results with open source, freely available software have displayed channelto-channel phase skew with repeatability less than 0.1° and stability less than 0.2° over a duration of an hour. Returning to the prior example of jamming-resistant

Figure 2 | Multichannel software-defined radar prototypes, consisting of many phasecoherent radios, can be challenging to build without reference designs and documentation to follow.

systems, those phase coherence metrics enable the development of highly accurate beam-steering techniques, leading to radars that will be tougher to detect. Combining this type of radar with dynamic streaming of waveform data to SDR outputs provides the ability to trial adaptive modes of operation. As a result, waveforms may be adapted to deal with detected threats – especially if coupled with AI/ML algorithms handed off to a GPU. MES Jeremy Twaits is a solutions marketing manager in NI’s aerospace, defense, and government business unit, focusing on radar, EW, and communications applications.

Readers may contact the author at jeremy.twaits@ni.com.

Figure 1 | An API for interfacing MATLAB with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) RF hardware enables radar system designers to use simulation IP in prototyping testbed with minimal code rewrites.

14 Apr/May 2022

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SPECIAL REPORT

Helicopter avionics

A view of the cockpit of the UH60V Black Hawk helicopter. Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman/Edgar Mills.

Vertical Lift, open architectures fuel helicopter avionics upgrades

By Emma Helfrich Military helicopter avionics upgrades like those for Future Vertical Lift platforms make data and modular-agnostic hardware a priority for defense electronics manufacturers. As systems and electronics evolve, many of these advances will have to comply with open architecture standards like the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) and must leverage a modular open systems approach (MOSA) to ease cost and time-to-market pressure.

16 Apr/May 2022

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Figure 1 | Collins Aerospace photo of a helicopter flight deck during a multidomain operations demonstration using the company’s digital backbone, hardware, software, and integration methods.

programs in hopes of developing a helicopter weapons system that could provide the Army with the agility it needs to support multidomain operations.

Additionally, sustainment costs have been a debilitating aspect of helicopter ownership for the Army specifically, especially when considering the fact that different platforms require different electronics, maintenance procedures, and repair methodologies. The FVL program and the internal push for open architectures are intended to address and mitigate these concerns.

The FVL program is essentially focused on modernizing military helicopter fleets and their respective cockpits to ensure the platforms are better suited for interoperability initiatives like Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). Electronics companies are insisting that the overall glue for the FVL program will be establishing a digital backbone, or a method through which the Army could update a helicopter’s architecture digitally.

The Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program continues to be a major driver of innovation and investment in military avionics upgrades. Since 2004, the U.S. Army has been considering the FVL program to develop replacements for the Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook, and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters.

These replacements are being conceptualized under the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) www.militaryembedded.com

More on the digital backbone L3Harris, one of those companies, refers to the digital backbone concept as an enabler for the integration of next-generation helicopter subsystems. Chris Polynin, director of business development for L3Harris Technologies Commercial Aviation (Melbourne, Florida), asserts that it would be paramount in establishing a network capable of meeting the needs of the Joint Force.

“The digital backbone provides the overall glue for military Future Vertical Lift aircraft that are headed toward real-time, time-sensitive networking (TSN) based on TSN 802.1,” Polynin says. “More specifically, these architectures use middleware, which must be compliant to FACE [Future Airborne Capability Environment] and MOSA [modular open systems approach] standards allowing standardization and interoperability of avionics network elements connected to the digital backbone.”

Collins Aerospace is another company that has incorporated this idea into its helicopter-modernization efforts. While the company is completely on board with supporting MOSA initiatives like FACE, it has developed its own approach to open standards that is intended to work alongside the digital backbone to address the integration challenges that MOSA solutions cannot always solve. (Figure 1.)

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SPECIAL REPORT

Helicopter avionics

“MOSA and FACE are absolute requirements for FVL, and we are developing our MOSARC avionics solution with them in mind,” says Chip Gilkison, director, customer capabilities and requirements for military avionics at Collins Aerospace (Charlotte, North Carolina). “MOSARC is a revolutionary approach to aircraft integration. We start with a digital backbone that meets government open systems standards while ensuring the separation of air-vehicle and mission-system equipment and the ability to manage the exchange of information between the two. This increases performance, safety, and cybersecurity, and will enable rapid third-party integration into the field for current and future warfighters.”

This approach is also inspiring avionics manufacturers to produce their own MOSA-aligned systems, with officials like Lindsay McEwen, vice president of navigation, targeting, and survivability for Northrop Grumman (Falls Church, Virginia), stating that embracing this commonality could help customers balance affordability with modernization needs.

With even the digital backbone adhering to government open standards, one could imagine the impact that FACE has had on helicopter cockpits overall. Knowing that achieving interoperability, upgradability, and modularity is at the heart of military modernization efforts, open architecture systems have been a major driver in advancing helicopter avionics.

“OpenLift is our MOSA for rotary-wing aircraft,” McEwen says. “It’s currently flying on the UH-60V and applicable to a wide range of aircraft, including Future Vertical Lift and Enduring Fleet platforms. In the UH-60V, our digital, integrated glass cockpit replaces the legacy analog cockpit of the UH-60L. This brings the advantages of MOSA to the UH-60, upgrading it to the most modern standard. It’s open, safe, and secure, and the only Army helicopter flying today with an airworthinesscertified multicore processor.” (Figure 2.)

MOSA making the most out of the cockpit “Open systems designs will enhance the ability for systems and sensors to share data with minimal upgrade effort,” Polynin says. “This sharing will allow more flexibility for new components to be integrated incrementally, which should shorten the time from development to fielding. For example, the next generation of flight recorders must support interoperability for these stacks to interconnect to the backbone to receive the voice, data, and potential video that must be recorded for mission and/or crashprotected recorders. That is, the recorder internal hardware does not need FACE/ MOSA, but to simply interface to the FACE/MOSA network.”

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Designing to open architectures not only enables these helicopter systems to evolve and incorporate new technologies over time, but it also presents manufacturers with an easier way to integrate third-party hardware and software capabilities when necessary.

“In the past, we commonly developed software modules, like situationalawareness or primary flight-information displays, to fit a particular hardware solution,” Gilkison says. “In today’s environment, being modular and hardwareagnostic is predominant. It’s similar when it comes to communication and navigation, which also involves hardware capable of sustaining these requirements.

We believe in high-integrity, multicore capabilities as well as the use of higherbandwidth ethernet-based solutions such as time-sensitive networking (TSN).”

Robust networking and the accompanying data and software will be a paramount aspect of military-helicopter modernization efforts. Considering that a defining aspect of multidomain operations will be achieving the ability to share actionable information across platforms, manufacturers are looking to MOSA aligned networking infrastructures to ease the transition. www.militaryembedded.com

Robust software and data sharing “There is increasing emphasis on open architecture and databases,” Polynin says. “This allows us to rapidly share data. It should also improve reliability with information available to many systems versus point-to-point. Similar to the FACE/MOSA question, software is becoming more open source, compatible, and updatable with less need to wait for large block points for improvement.”

Data is also hugely important to a helicopter’s success outside of the combat realm. Keeping track of a platform’s flight information through intuitive software and data collection is another aspect where manufacturers are streamlining maintenance and safety-certification procedures.

Figure 2 | Northrop Grumman photo of the company’s OpenLift avionics architecture flying aboard a UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter.

“Currently, if the aircraft has a quick access recorder, flight-data recorder, avionics suite, or other type of recording device in the aircraft, users can download the data on the memory card and send it to us or our partner Truth Data,” Polynin says. “The flight data is processed and identifies basic flight information, flight phases and events, or exceedances of flight parameters. The system creates a database of all information produced and aggregates the data into various graphic formats and dashboard presentations.” (Figure 3.)

Polynin goes on to explain that these analytics would reveal actionable operational trends to improve the operation’s safety and efficiency. Additionally, the user could establish a customized flightdata monitoring or flight operations quality assurance program to transform the data into useful information.

“As always, software continues to evolve to enable more capabilities and shorten integration timelines,” says Dennis Neel, director of integrated digital systems for Northrop Grumman (Woodland Hills,

Figure 3 | L3Harris Technologies photo of one of the company’s flight-data recorders. www.militaryembedded.com

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SPECIAL REPORT California). “Because more capabilities are needed, more processing is also needed.

The UH-60V is the first helicopter for the U.S. Army to have received an airworthiness release for its multicore processor solution. It is also one reason why we say that OpenLift [avionics suite] is open, safe, and secure. By enabling use of more than one core on a processing system, our customers can use the increased processing power available in the hardware they own now, without compromising safety.”

Increased processing power will also be pivotal in enabling artificial intelligence(AI) and machine learning (ML)-powered helicopter avionics. Joint-force initiatives will require timely, accurate distribution and utilization of structured data, and AI is projected to be a significant enabler for these efforts.

AI-enabled helicopter platforms According to a Northrop Grumman announcement, the company recently won a contract from the Defense Advanced

Helicopter avionics Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Perceptually Enabled Task Guidance (PTG) program to develop a prototype AI assistant. Neel explains that the prototype will be embedded in an augmented-reality (AR) headset to help rotary pilots perform expected and unexpected tasks.

“The goal is to provide users of PTG AI assistants with wearable sensors that allow the assistant to observe what the user perceives and know what the user knows,” Neel says. “Using advanced information processing and an AR interface, the goal of the program is to have the AI assistant provide feedback and guidance through speech and aligned graphics at the right place and time to augment the aircrew.”

Capabilities that enable helicopter pilots to focus on the mission at hand rather than poring over reams of unstructured data will be critical in efforts to keep pilots’ eyes “up and out.” AI is playing a pivotal role in force-modernization efforts

Joint-force initiatives will require timely, accurate distribution and utilization of structured data, and AI is projected to be a significant enabler for these efforts. across the board, and military helicopters will be no exception.

“Northrop Grumman is also using artificial intelligence now to identify optimal discrimination features to separate threats from clutter in survivability systems,” Neel says. “This is a critical advancement in threat detection, as it allows for developers to transition from two-dimensional space into N-dimensional space [that is, having an arbitrary number of dimensions], which improves performance, robustness, and cycle times.” MES

THE

The McHale Report, by mil-embedded.com Editorial Director John McHale, covers technology and procurement trends in the defense electronics community.

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MIL TECH TRENDS

Certifying COTS hardware and software

caption

Busting the myths of COTS devices in military applications

By Mike McCormack and Mark Kempf The benefits of using commercial off-theshelf (COTS) components and systems for the military arena are clear, with the major points being lower cost and greater availability.

Moreover, the modern-day ability to modify and ruggedize these parts is improving the entire landscape of military embedded electronics technology.

22 Apr/May 2022

Military-qualified systems and components are notoriously costly due to rigorous testing requirements and strict compliance standards. Any changes in the technology will typically require a complete requalification of the device.

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components have been around for decades, but recent technology advancements, digital transformation efforts, and the supply changes prompted by the pandemic have reinvigorated the industry. These factors have also driven home the point that COTS systems and components are essential to military technology. While not removing all of the expense and complex processes, modified COTS systems offer many benefits for cost effective and faster delivery.

As the name implies, COTS devices were not specifically designed for military purposes. However, when integrated correctly, COTS components can perform as the equal of some of the most sophisticated military applications available; can be sourced in less time for lower cost; and can help design

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The ability to manage COTS hardware and create modified solutions is now much easier because of more advanced software capabilities. contributed to the current and ongoing supply-chain disaster.

There is also a misconception that the COTS supply chain cannot deliver on the unique needs of the military, including highly advanced and customized avionics hardware that meets ruggedization standards. But this is not the case in today’s ecosystem, as many providers can customize COTS components to meet the most advanced military requirements and provide the ruggedization that other types of customers – including those in manufacturing and other nonmilitary markets – seek.

teams achieve size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements. Benefits of using COTS systems and components include: › › › ›

Reduction in costs Diversification of supply chain Flexibility in meeting design challenges Ability to meet SWaP requirements

The challenges of a diversified supply chain The need to diversify the supply chain for both military and commercial applications has become critical in the last several years due to the effects of COVID-19 and the geopolitical situation with China. China’s impact on the electronic-component supply chain has been enormous, because of both the detrimental effect of COVID-19 on China’s manufacturing sector and the need to remove Chinese content from critical U.S. defense systems due to perceived threats to U.S. defense technology. Compound these two factors with burdensome tariffs, a lack of truck drivers and warehouse workers, a shortage of shipping containers, and increased energy costs – all of these factors have www.militaryembedded.com

With the entire world and nearly every industry experiencing shipping delays, leveraging COTS components to diversify a supply chain offers a significant benefit.

But to achieve this, many of the components that are required to deliver a COTS solution need to be sourced in North America or with more reliable manufacturing sources. We can see this trend toward the desire for enhanced capability, for example, in the semiconductor industry where many new semiconductor plants are either expanding their U.S. presence or are moving entire fabs into the U.S. Lower costs and greater availability The biggest benefits that have emerged from using COTS components are overall lower costs, greater availability, and faster delivery. Non-military-grade technologies are always going to be less expensive, with more vendor choice But the assumption that the lower cost associated with COTS components is synonymous with lower quality is simply not true anymore, with the reliability of commercial-grade components and systems increasing greatly.

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Apr/May 2022

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MIL TECH TRENDS

Certifying COTS hardware and software

Another hurdle is availability: Because of the strict regulatory requirements in the defense industry, availability of military-grade components is often limited. Developing new technology in the defense industry is incredibly time-consuming so the volume of components isn’t always there, while refurbishing or upgrading old components includes a lot of red tape and a lot of time. Therefore, turning to COTS components is sometimes necessary to navigate parts availability.

Advanced technology Military applications used to be the pinnacle of innovation and quality, but in many cases, innovation in other industries has eliminated the justification for expensive military-grade equipment. Some of the most advanced systems and technology used by military customers are built using mostly COTS components, whereas in the past these systems were primarily developed by defense prime contractors over many years and at twice the cost.

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In the past, the knock on COTS components was usually that COTS products tended to be behind the technology curve. However, with the advent of gaming, augmented reality, robotics, and supercomputing, the commercial and industrial markets now lead the defense market in sophistication level and reduced SWaP and are more applicable as COTS components.

Military-grade systems are notorious for proprietary hardware packages with locked-down interfaces that make them difficult to integrate into existing systems. A major benefit of using COTS systems is they are almost always easier to integrate into customer’s existing system or can be engineered to be both hardware and software agnostic. Enhanced interoperability also correlates with the increase in flexibility that military customers have when designing systems using COTS components. (Figure 1.)

Importance of software The ability to manage COTS hardware and create modified solutions is now much easier because of more advanced software capabilities. Additionally, it’s important to understand that sometimes having full government rights and access to information might not need to be the ultimate goal: A design team that has clearly defined requirements and an understanding of the purpose of what it is buying for can put less emphasis on access to proprietary information. www.militaryembedded.com

In fact, limiting what systems and capabilities really need full access to proprietary information can make it easier to hire and work with the most innovative technology vendors, without the need for limits (like security clearances) on the pool of people considered to create new designs.

Modified COTS = MOTS Ultimately, it isn’t just about the advancements in commercially available hardware and software that make COTS components a more viable option. It’s also about the possibility of creating modified COTS (MOTS) products. Such MOTS parts can provide the best of both worlds. MOTS products are customized to meet the needs of the customer, as they use COTS devices as a starting point. They include all of the benefits mentioned of COTS devices but can then be customized and built to meet all the ruggedization and other needs associated with the military. Some of the most advanced hardware currently being used

in the military are MOTS parts, including computers, displays, tablets, storage servers, and surveillance systems.

Ultimately, the use of COTS products is here to stay; frankly, they are needed more than ever as the industry grapples with ongoing pandemic-related supply-chain issues. The good news is that the widespread use of COTS components and digital transformation across the world has made world-class commercially available technology readily accessible. Using COTS devices was key to the quick rollout of emerging technologies such as Wi-Fi, LTE, and smartphones in the military. Going forward, COTS and MOTS will be key to future protocols such as enhanced 5G/6G and advanced cybersecurity.

Mike McCormack is currently the president and CEO of CP North America. He also sits on the board of the Arizona Manufacturers Council and the Center for the Future of Prescott. Mike brings executive-level domestic and international experience to his current roles, including the management of private equity-owned companies and regional subsidiaries of publicly traded companies. Mike attended University of California, San Diego and earned an MBA at The Open University.

Mark Kempf is currently the vice president of CP Technologies and CP Systems at CP North America. Previously, Mark served for 26 years in the military, most recently as a captain in the U.S. Navy as a program manager of at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR). He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA at The Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, California).

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MIL TECH TRENDS

Certifying COTS hardware and software

caption

Adding new highfrequency capabilities to military avionics applications

By Ted Prema

Radio frequency (RF) system manufacturers are creating advanced new system designs to accommodate extremely restricted space constraints and rising operating frequencies in military avionics applications.

26 Apr/May 2022

Photo courtesy of Army Warrant Officer 1 Frederick Bittner/U.S. Dept. of Defense.

The high-frequency radio frequency (RF) interconnections within military avionics systems are essential components. They must perform repeatably and reliably and meet reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements. At the same time, the RF coaxial cables and connectors operating in these critical avionics applications have complex electrical, mechanical, and environmental requirements and must remain accessible for maintenance or troubleshooting.

Additionally, fitting these systems into very tight spaces can allow unwanted coupling between RF transmission lines such as coaxial cables.

High-density, modular multiport interconnect systems can create a smaller, modular connector assembly. Such multiport connector systems integrate multiple coaxial connector contacts into a single housing for much higher interconnection density than individual coaxial connections.

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These military avionics systems must handle these challenging environmental conditions while packing greater functionality into smaller spaces. This requires new coaxial cables and connectors to deliver high signal integrity and reliability.

Critical considerations for RF interconnects for challenging avionics and airframe applications include:

Figure 1 | Pictured is the M8 multiport connection system, which works up to 40 KHz and is intended for use in high-frequency applications. Times Microwave Systems photo.

Frequency requirements are rising Today’s military avionics technologies, including intelligence, radar, collision avoidance, electronic guidance, navigation, electronic warfare, and communications, require higher frequencies to provide increased bandwidth for a growing number of complex subsystems. Military avionics systems that once operated at frequencies of 12-18 GHz are now extending into the millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency range of 30 GHz and beyond.

High-frequency RF interconnects for military avionics systems must retain their predecessors’ lightweight and small form factors to fit the high-density requirements of modern airframes and avionics systems. Driven by reduced SWaP equipment requirements, avionics systems are being mounted within smaller airframes and equipment housings, requiring coaxial assemblies to maintain reliable electrical and mechanical interconnections in tight spaces and under the most severe operating conditions.

Such a compact modular multiport connector system provides smaller, lighter interconnections to support denser, more tightly packed avionics systems. By mating a single multiport connector rather than multiple separate coaxial cable assemblies, the single connector interface provided by multiport shells reduces installation time, can ease system maintenance and testing, and increase reliability.

Expand capabilities within existing infrastructure Military avionics interconnect systems operate in harsh environments on a wide range of airframes, enduring high-shock and vibration; corrosive effects of fuels, hydraulic fluids, and other chemicals; vacuum-like conditions created by high altitudes; and wide temperature ranges. www.militaryembedded.com

› Lightweight: Weight reduction is critical to increasing fuel efficiency. Today’s frequency band requirements are also becoming more complex, creating the need for additional lightweight, small, high-precision RF solutions. › High density: The increasing number of antennas in military avionics applications creates the need for more electronic boxes and their connections.

Furthermore, new high-density solutions are required as frequencies increase and interconnect dimensions decrease to accommodate shorter wavelengths. › Shock and vibration: When a connector attached to an antenna vibrates, as it will in flight, microphonic noise can impact the connection. This can cause interference in the signal transmission and errors for the RF system. Minimizing space between the cables and connectors is necessary for the interconnect system to survive the high vibration. Furthermore, this microphonic noise wears out the plating on the pins. Use of spring-loaded interfaces can all but eliminate this for both electrical and mechanical improvements. › Temperature: Higher altitudes, speeds, and frequencies result in higher temperature requirements, making materials considerations more complex. › Maintenance and access: Antennas mounted on the aircraft’s exterior are routinely damaged, and expedited repair of those antennas is essential.

However, antennas are often difficult to access in many avionics systems, making maintenance and replacement very complicated and time-consuming.

Multiport shells such as the M8 multiport connection system are constructed from lightweight aluminum and have advanced reach/ROHS-compliant conductive platings tested to the most severe corrosion resistance requirements. (ROHS is a directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.) The new contact designated M8M works up to 40 GHz and meets the needs of new high-frequency applications. The M8 multiport system has a a shielded structure to meet the electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) requirements of densely packed military and civil avionics systems. The design also enables blind-mating interconnections. A spring-loaded design aims the parts for use in the harsh, high-vibration, environments typically found in military avionics applications. These parts are in service on a variety of U.S. and allied military aircraft from SIGINT/ELINT [signals intelligence/electronic intelligence] platforms to fast fighter jets. (Figure 1.)

Advanced military avionics electronics applications must accommodate extremely restricted space constraints and rising operating frequencies. A military avionics wireless system’s range that once operated between 12 and 18 GHz is now extending into the millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency range of 30 GHz and beyond. Highfrequency RF interconnects for military avionics systems must retain their predecessors’ light weight and small form factors to fit the high-density requirements of modern airframes and avionics systems. MES Ted Prema began his career at Times Microwave Systems in 1979 as a program manager and has held multiple management and technical sales responsibilities in the company’s commercial and mil-aero business segments over the years.

He has years of experience in applications including engineering, RF assembly design engineering, and program management.

He earned his BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MBA from University of New Haven.

Times Microwave Systems • https://www.timesmicrowave.com/

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MIL TECH TRENDS

Certifying COTS hardware and software

caption

Title

By John McHale, Editorial Director abstract

Migrating legacy software from obsolete hardware to modern system environments

By Russ Obert and Denis Smetana The Virtualization software and model-based design provide a path that not only enables system designers to maintain legacy software for avionics and other mission-critical systems but also makes it possible to migrate that code to modern higher-performance processing platforms, for example from an older PowerPC-based VME board over to a new x86 or Arm-based VME or OpenVPX module.

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An E-2C Hawkeye lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) in the Atlantic Ocean. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Rebekah M. Rinckey.

For embedded defense and aerospace systems, the most expensive element is rarely the underlying hardware. Actually, the most costly part is the valuable application software that runs on the hardware. In many cases the hardware, whether the semiconductor devices such as the processor or the module form factor in use, will become obsolete long before the software running on that hardware loses its value. The challenge has been how to reliably and cost-effectively retain the investment in critical legacy software code when the life of the hardware it was originally designed to run on has come to an end.

Virtualization software can enable system designers to reap the advantages that enterprise virtualization and layers of cyber hardening bring to real-time embedded systems. Such an approach enables weapons systems to decouple software from specific hardware configurations and combat obsolescence. This approach makes it possible to protect older application software with contemporary cybersecurity protections that weren’t available when the code was first written. Northrop Grumman’s Real-time Virtualization And Modernized Protection (ReVAMP) software enables a

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environment or in the modern environment. Once the system is emulated, interfaces provide the means for new software written in a modern language to interact with the legacy software.

If, for example, an updated Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder is required, the new code used to deal with that separate transponder capability can be added to the original application code through a process called “thunking.” This process involves the software designer essentially “jumping” out of the current execution of the legacy application and operating system to execute the newly written IFF code, and then jumping back into the application code where they left off, while still maintaining critical timing requirements. “Thunk” code can be used to either enhance or completely replace a section of legacy code.

secure enclave execution environment that delivers a layer of protection from outside threats. Secure boot and modern hardware-supported encryption are available once the legacy software runs in a ReVAMP virtual environment.

For embedded avionics applications, programs can now move trusted and proven applications from legacy Compact PCI, VXS, or similar form factors, to a contemporary VME, OpenVPX, or XMC module to improve the performance of avionics systems and drastically reduce sustainment costs.

Because the software enables system designers to effectively future-proof their software systems by virtualizing the obsolete hardware currently being used, without changing a single line of the original application’s code, it’s possible to extend the life of critical real-time software so that it can run exactly as first written, but on new hardware. Virtualization software also makes it possible to add modern functionality, performance, and capabilities to an older system while maintaining the original application software. Since the original application code is not changed, the high cost and significant risks of having to port or rewrite legacy code in order to migrate it to modern hardware are eliminated.

The virtualization software is used to emulate the original system at the hardware level. New capabilities can then be added by writing new software in the legacy www.militaryembedded.com

A virtualized system is also capable of handling any I/O interfaces used by the legacy software. An I/O layer called Emulated I/O Services (EIOS) enables the user to remap I/O. If a legacy serial port interface was used on the obsolete hardware, and the new infrastructure requires data to be communicated over Ethernet, the I/O layer provides the necessary mapping between legacy serial and Ethernet. The I/O layer extracts data at the interface layer, so the legacy code continues to operate with no required changes. (Figure 1.)

The software took a digital modelbased approach and implemented a new technique for modeling a processor architecture that eliminates the need to create a new emulator from scratch.

The digital model is built first, without needing knowledge of the target environment in which the emulator will run.

After the model of the legacy system is completed, it’s run through the engine with the particular end-state target architecture as an input. For example, if the new target platform for an obsolete PowerPC board is x86-based, the model is run through the model’s engine to generate an emulator that will run on that x86 target platform. The same model can be used to generate emulators for dissimilar target platforms.

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Certifying COTS hardware and software

As an example, if an x86 card is running a ReVAMP emulator and that x86 card is going to be upgraded to an Arm processor, the model doesn’t need to be rebuilt since the model is stored in a library. The engine simply needs to be set for the appropriate new target board and Arm architecture in order to generate an emulator that will run on that target Arm platform. This approach enables software to continuously migrate to newer hardware platforms as needed, thus allowing weapon system owners to more clearly understand – and accurately project – life cycle costs.

The virtualization approach used in ReVAMP was first developed in the late 1990s to support the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL); the earlier tool has been updated and

enhanced with mitigation for contemporary cybervulnerability concerns. The software is deployed on a wide range of programs including DoD aircraft, electronic warfare (EW) pods, missile warning radars, and in numerous other mission-critical environments. In one example application involving a mission computer for a U.S. Navy platform, the approach was able to consolidate 188 different cards to just four VME modules for a command-and-control system that was having significant hardware obsolescence. In that case, the system’s MTBF [mean time between failures] went from around 127 hours to approximately 22,000 hours, without changing a single line of the legacy code.

Another aim of the software is toward use in a virtual-software integration lab (V-SIL). Today, many customers have reduced resources and are seeking ways to gain efficiencies, reduce testing time, and increase the throughput of their labs in order to speed upgrades and

Figure 1 | A block diagram of virtualization software architecture.

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Figure 2 | The VME-1910 is an example of a modern VME single-board computer that can be used with ReVAMP to modernize legacy systems. Curtiss-Wright photo.

Denis Smetana is a senior product manager for FPGA and DSP products for Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions, based out of Ashburn, Virginia. He has more than 30 years of experience with ASIC and FPGA product development and management in both the telecom and defense industry and more than 15 years of experience with COTS ISR products. He has a BS in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.

Northrop Grumman Defense Systems https://www.northropgrumman.com/

modifications for weapon systems. Since ReVAMP can virtualize the entire system, it can provide a digital twin of a system that can be used for multiple lab testing scenarios with exactly the same operational flight program (OFP) that is deployed on the aircraft or ground system.

Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions https://www.curtisswrightds.com/

To help bring the benefits of this virtualization software – the main ones being obsolescence mitigation and technology refresh – to the defense and aerospace market, avionics buyers can use ReVAMP technology on products in many different form factors, including VME, 3U/6U VPX and XMC boards, and a range of processor types including NXP Power Architecture, Intel, and Arm architectures. (Figure 2.) MES

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Russell Obert is senior manager, Security, Messaging and Modernization Product Center for Northrop Grumman Defense Systems.

Since joining Northrop Grumman in 1988, previous assignments have included Operating Unit Director for the Air Command and Control Operating Unit; Program Director for the London Metropolitan Police Service command and control system upgrade; Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Civil Systems Division; and Manager of Product Engineering for the Public Safety Products line of business. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder; Russ also maintains Project Management Professional certification from Project Management Institute. www.militaryembedded.com

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MIL TECH TRENDS

Certifying COTS hardware and software

Incorporating DO-326A security airworthiness into software-development life cycle

By Ricardo Camacho

Before jumping right into adopting DO-326A to address cybersecurity certification, it needs to be put into the context of DO-178, which is the overarching standard. DO-178 is a process standard that contains steps for the software used in airborne systems. DO-178C, also known as ED-12C in Europe, is the latest version that aerospace systems and software engineers use as guidance to ensure airworthiness. Though it continues to evolve, one document cannot encompass all development needs and supporting or complementing documents to DO-178 have evolved over time. DO-326A is one of these; its purpose is to provide a framework with objectives and process guidance in addressing intentional and unintentional security threats to aircraft systems.

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In 2006, EUROCAE [European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment] formed Working Group 72 (WG-72); in 2007, RTCA [a U.S. organization focused on air safety] formed Special Committee 216 (SC-216): Both were named “Aeronautical Systems Security.”

Thus began the process that yielded DO-326A, which is also known as ED202A in Europe.

The first version of DO-326 was published in 2010, called “Airworthiness Process Specification.” It contained best practices – as was best understood at the time – for addressing security, which had not been widely implemented.

The current publication of the standard, “Airworthiness Security Process Specification,” was put out in August 2014. A key important or contributing element in the latest version of DO-326A is that it includes a focus on identifying and mitigating intentional and unintentional threats. In fact, this standard is the top-level guidance for attaining Airworthiness Security Certification.

A companion document to consider is DO-356A or the European equivalent, ED-203A, which is titled “Airworthiness Security Methods and Considerations.”

This document provides airworthiness security requirements throughout the stages of development and spells out details on risk assessment and objectives to be achieved.

Another complementing document is standard DO-355. Titled, “Information Security Guidance for Continuing Airworthiness,” it’s a collection of supplementary requirements focused on operations and maintenance. I recommend that you obtain these companion standards.

A couple of important points to mention: First, obtaining DO-326A type certification for avionics systems is mandatory for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The other point is that the approach toward cybersecurity overlaps with much of what has been done for many years in ensuring safety. So those who have been building safety-focused software systems will find that incorporating software security is fairly intuitive. www.militaryembedded.com

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MIL TECH TRENDS The core of DO-326A is to establish the Airworthiness Security Process (AWSP) for general civil aviation, including fixed-wing and prop aircraft and rotorcraft/helicopters, including the engines and propellers. One factor to be aware of: At present, military aircraft are not addressed by DO-326A. E-enabled avionics systems to consider DO-326A places special consideration around internal and external communication access points, since this is where the bulk of threats and vulnerabilities will be found.

DO-326A provides a list of e-enabled systems (those using TCP/IP technology for

Figure 1 | Shown is the RTCA DO-326A airworthiness security risk-management framework.

Certifying COTS hardware and software intranet and/or extranet communication) to observe. For instance, satellite communications are the main access point where information is transmitted to and from the aircraft, while Ethernet routers are used to communicate with Wi-Fi devices and onto an onboard server.

Some of these devices include cellphones, laptops, tablets, and much more.

Ground communication networks also access the aircraft by way of VHF/AM, digital VHF datalinks, ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) and wireless bridges.

Security for these different devices involves distinct levels of abstraction within the entire scope. These include the access point, the data being transmitted, plus the system and subsystems, those pieces that support lower levels and the code itself. The goal is to consider and protect all access points and data at all levels.

Airworthiness security process To ensure airworthiness security, DO326A has defined a seven-step security and risk management framework. Figure 1 captures an overview of the airworthiness security process. Starting at the top are steps 1 and 7, which express how to manage the actual certification process.

Step 1 is putting together the Plan for Security Aspects of Certification (PSecAC) document. It contains aspects like the risk assessment for the aircraft or system, which includes the especially important activities like assurance-level assignment, security-requirements capture, security-requirements validation, and much more.

Figure 2 | Pictured is the RTCA DO-326A security risk assessment workflow.

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The PSecAC serves as inputs to activities further down the line. In addition, this document has to agree with the regulatory authority because other supporting documents, like the “Aircraft Security Scope Definition” – which captures the operational environment for the aircraft as it relates to security – may be required by the authority. Evidence to support the PSecAC document, including things like assigned security-assurance levels and results of the verification and validation of requirements, are to be included www.militaryembedded.com

in the plan, which is Step 7. Therefore, they reside in the same certificationrelated activities box.

Step 2 establishes the scope; in other words, this is the step to identify the assets that are to be put through the airworthiness security process. These will be the logical and/or physical assets in development. It’s important to understand that ensuring security involves applying security measures to the asset within the different software levels of abstractions.

For example, start by looking at things from the perspective of the aircraft.

Consider assets like external communication systems and the interactions that happen, including with off-board personnel. At a lower level of abstraction, the system and its internal assets must also be considered: The systems, the subsystems, the interface, the data, the file transfer, and much more must be looked at, because these assets also need to ensure security.

Step 3 is the assessment of security risk, done similarly to the evaluation and assignation of the Design Assurance Level (DAL) in safety. (Figure 2.)

The Security Risk Assessment figure shows the workflow defined in determining the security-risk assessment level, or the level of threat and degree of severity. Chapter 3 of the standard goes into further detail, such as providing asset security attributes and threat conditions. The security assessment level assigned affects the various verification and validation methods that must be performed to ensure that the asset is secure.

The security-risk results feed into Step 4, which is a decision gate. If there is a security risk, evidence of assessment and mitigation measures need to be produced.

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Step 5 is where security protection is implemented in the design, with Step 6 measuring the effectiveness of the security protection implemented. To be more specific, in Step 5 additional security www.militaryembedded.com

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MIL TECH TRENDS requirements are defined as part of decomposing high-level security requirements into lower-level security requirements, which drive architectural and implementation decisions. Not only do all security requirements need to be implemented, but they need to be measured for effectiveness. This equates to Step 6, the verification and validation of requirements, which means testing.

The results feed Step 7, where all evidence is captured in the PSecAC summary for certification purposes. Let’s put these steps into something more concrete – actually, something that’s more familiar: the DO 326A V-model.

DO-326A V-model Avionics systems and software engineers are very familiar with the V-model.

Associating the seven steps in the framework to the “V” should further clarify the activities in the steps within the development life cycle.

The image in Figure 3 is from the DO-326A standard, which puts things in the context of security. On the left side of the V are the system engineering phases, where requirements are captured. This is where Step 2 in the DO-326A process comes into play.

A look at Figure 3 shows that there are abstraction levels of security requirements analysis that must be considered. This is where requirements are identified. They also need to be decomposed and a system architecture produced. A preliminary securityrisk assessment for the asset is performed; this is where Step 3 fits in and relates to the functional hazard assessment performed for safety. The same risk assessment also must be performed at the system level. If the security risk is unacceptable (Step 4), which is determined by the security risk level assigned, verification and validation criteria are determined.

For this process, system engineers capture all the requirements in the PLM, ALM, or requirements management tool, where all the data gets decomposed, traceability is established, and test cases help verify and validate requirements.

Step 5 is where security protection is implemented in the design and code. A move over to the right side of the V to Step 6, which measures the effectiveness, which actually means that Step 6 is where verification and validation of requirements are performed. The results feed the PSecAC document and the PSecAC document fulfills Steps 1 and 7 for certification purposes.

Figure 3 | Shown is the RTCA DO-326A security risk-assessment-related activities in the development process V-model.

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Consider assets like external communication systems and the interactions that happen, including with off-board personnel. At a lower level of abstraction, the system and its internal assets must also be considered: The systems, the subsystems, the interface, the data, the file transfer, and much more must be looked at, because these assets also need to ensure security.

Airworthiness security is the sister to safety airworthiness – the same processes and principles apply. Diving deeper into the core of realizing security drives home the point that security is about protecting the data, which exists in various forms and at different levels of abstraction within the scope of the aircraft. MES Ricardo Camacho is director of Safety & Security Compliance at Parasoft. He has decades of experience in systems and software engineering of real-time, safety- and securitycritical systems for various industries. His career has spanned multiple roles, including technical product marketing, project management, solution architect/ technical sales, and embedded software and systems engineering, which he has performed at companies including IBM, Xerox, Vector, and GE Rail.

Parasoft • https://www.parasoft.com/ www.militaryembedded.com

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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Adapting FACE conformant solutions for military avionics

MOSA, certification, and security challenges driving avionics software designs

By John McHale, Group Editorial Director In this issue, Military Embedded Systems hosts an online roundtable with avionics software experts, discussing military avionics technology, design trends, and challenges.

The panelists discuss the complexities of multicore architectures, safety-certification challenges, securing of flight-control systems, and how modular open system approach (MOSA) initiatives like The Open Group’s Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard impact military manned and unmanned avionics.

Benjamin Brosgol

Our panelists are Dr. Benjamin Brosgol, member of the senior technical staff at AdaCore; Gary Gilliland, technical marketing manager, DDC-I; Will Keegan, chief technical officer, Lynx Software Technologies; and Alex Wilson, director of A&D solutions, Wind River.

MIL-EMBEDDED: What are the critical design challenges facing embedded software suppliers in defense avionics applications today?

BROSGOL: Computing technology has advanced dramatically over the years (faster and cheaper hardware, new programming languages, powerful integrated development environments), but the underlying design challenges for suppliers of embedded software have basically remained the same: how to build reliable, safe, secure, and efficient software that can be maintained/enhanced and ported to new platforms as requirements evolve. Exacerbating these challenges, requirements such as safety and security are system-level properties. You have to show not only that the individual components have the necessary assurance properties, but also that the component interactions do not create safety hazards or security vulnerabilities.

These would be daunting enough issues for any kind of software, but embedded avionics applications face an added challenge: they need to meet hard real-time deadlines (on the order of milliseconds), running on hardware that typically has severe storage constraints.

Furthermore, a technology that helps meet one quality objective might interfere with others.

A multicore architecture can improve application throughput, but demonstrating that concurrent threads of control do not incur data races, deadlocks, or other anomalous behavior requires advanced verification techniques.

Gary Gilliland

Will Keegan

And last but definitely not least, avionics software developers need to do all this while realizing management goals (minimizing costs, meeting delivery schedules) and demonstrating conformance with relevant software quality standard(s) such as MIL-STD-HDBK-516C or DO-178C. GILLILAND: Providing safety-critical avionics based on multicore platforms presents some challenges. While these new CPUs provide increased performance and high integration of I/O capabilities, they are also very complex and share resources such as cache and memory subsystems across all cores. This sharing of resources can cause applications running on different cores to contend for these resources. The interference caused by this contention can impact the application’s execution time such that timing deadlines are missed, resulting in unsafe failure conditions. The system integrator must understand these interference patterns and deploy methodologies to mitigate the interference utilizing what means are available (hardware features, RTOS [real-time operating system] features, integration techniques, etc.).

38 Apr/May 2022

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

Alex Wilson www.militaryembedded.com

Security concerns are driving avionics manufacturers to make their systems more secure. Left unchecked, cybersecurity attacks could leave the avionics infrastructure vulnerable, including systems deployed in aircraft. A generic solution to any security problem does not exist, nor would it be practical. Rather, a security solution for a given system is the product of an airworthiness and security-risk process. This process establishes the security risks and, if they are acceptable, how to mitigate the risks and [then] validation that the risks are mitigated.

KEEGAN: [The] complexity of embedded systems is increasing at rates that assurance activities cannot match. Assurance validation methods are glazing over buried hazards in COTS [commercial offthe-shelf] black boxes; quality-assurance budgets are insufficient in unpacking complexity – multicore interference in real-time systems is a good example of this crisis.

Virtualization provides a recognized path for offering strong isolation between processes, but uses a large amount of memory and can make systems more challenging to manage and update. Containers offer some benefit via more efficient memory usage and work well in IT infrastructure on (largely) homogenous platforms – the embedded industry is not comfortable with the security of containers and their use across highly heterogenous embedded platforms is challenging.

Designing for an unpredictable supply chain [is also a challenge regarding]: › Processor architecture choice (various factors going into picking between Intel/Arm/PowerPC/RISC-V and resulting hardware features, firmware certification approach, cost) › Stand-alone RTOS or mixed criticality using a hypervisor › Application language choice (C++, Ada, Rust, etc.) › 32-bit versus 64-bit (harnessing certified codebases from 32-bit world while providing a path to embracing benefits of increased memory capabilities and processing performance) www.militaryembedded.com

WILSON: There is always the challenge of how new technology and innovation can be applied to a highly regulated market, where safety is a primary concern. Some of the more challenging areas include: › Multicore processors: Although various guidance exists now regarding the path to safety certification, this is still an area of huge complexity when it comes to system level design. The flexibility of a multicore device allows for a lot of innovation, but that must be balanced with the need to meet the guidance in A(M)C 20-193, and A(M)C 20-152A. › AI/ML [artificial intelligence/machine learning] are helping to drive incredible innovation, but AI, by its nature, does not currently produce code that is deterministic, and so would be challenging to certify under current regulations.

AI makes use of cloud technology to scale both the data available and the processing power. This presents a further challenge when implementing AI on intelligent edge devices for avionics. › Many companies are going through a digital transformation process, which affects all areas of operations, including software development, deployment, operations, and lifecycle upgrades. This means that avionics software development teams are moving from older software processes to a modern agile or DevSecOps [development, security, and operations] approach. This also allows them to bring new talent into the software teams, including new graduates who have been trained on the latest processes at university. These techniques allow for greater automation and testing but will still have to fit into the regulatory requirements for safety and security.

MIL-EMBEDDED: How have modular open system approach (MOSA) initiatives like the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard and others impacted avionics applications? What challenges remain?

BROSGOL: The FACE effort is focused on reducing the costs for new avionics systems through reuse of software components and avoidance of vendor lock-in. Conforming with the FACE Technical Standard affects a project in various ways: › The software needs to fit in with the reference architecture defined by the FACE Technical Standard, which partitions the system into layers (“segments”) that separate the portable components from the platform-specific components. › The software needs to use open standard APIs or standard programming language syntax (for C, C++, Ada, and Java) to access operating system services. › The software needs to use FACE defined interfaces for intersegment communication, I/O, and related functionality. › The software needs to supply a data model for data interchanged with other components, to ensure that both sides of the communication share a consistent view. › The software needs to pass a conformance verification test suite, to show that it does not use APIs or language features outside the targeted subset (General Purpose, Safety Extended, Safety Base, Security).

Some challenges: › The portability that is demonstrated by FACE conformance comes from the use of standard APIs or language features. However, full source-code portability requires additional care (for example, not using language features that have implementation dependencies). › An organization intending to achieve FACE conformance for an existing software component may need to do significant refactoring, depending on the original design.

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Apr/May 2022

39

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Adapting FACE conformant solutions for military avionics

› Defining a data model involves a variety of standards, including Open Universal Domain Description Language (Open UDDL), Object Constraint Language (OCL), and others. Avionics software developers are not necessarily familiar with these standards, which are more generally used for enterprise applications. › The FACE conformance verification procedures are oriented around software written in C or C++ and are not easily used for Ada or Java.

“The core tenet of MOSA – which is to allow designers to coalesce loosely coupled modules from various vendors – all sounds great.

These challenges can be addressed through source-code analysis tools; training resources are available for the FACE data-modeling requirements. Work is [also] in progress to extend the FACE conformance procedures to better support Ada and Java.

The challenges are in the

GILLILAND: I believe that these initiatives have forced competitors, partners, and customers in our industry to work more closely together to come up with common solutions that benefit everyone. Ultimately, the customers will benefit the most from having a common framework to use to develop new products.

solutions for this.”

From a software perspective, in order to get everyone to work together and try to provide common interfaces, abstraction layers have been created. These abstractions are new to many of the system integrators, which cause learning curves which increase cost, when trying to adopt this new approach. These should be short-term and over time the value of these initiatives should reduce the cost to field new technology.

KEEGAN: [They’ve] standardized system config specifications, separate BSP [board-support package] dependencies for RTOSs, and standardized low-level stack component integration.

The main benefits of FACE are in the abstraction of apps and decoupling it from a specific RTOS (as intended). As to how much it has actually influenced vendor lock-in, [that] is still in play.

The core tenet of MOSA – which is to allow designers to coalesce loosely coupled modules from various vendors – all sounds great. The challenges are in the hardware/ OS interface as there are no canned solutions for this.

Certification cost is still an issue.

WILSON: The open architecture approach will always give benefits to the end user over a proprietary approach, by opening the design to competitive solutions while allowing for updates, upgrades, and lowering cost of ownership. These allow primes to choose best-in-class suppliers and be assured of relatively easy integration. Interoperability demonstrations, such as the FACE TIM [Technical Interchange Meeting], allow for industry to integrate and demonstrate capability for their customers.

Most of these standards solve the problem by having an architecture framework and defined APIs for interoperability between architecture layers. While this does enable interoperability, it does not address the challenges of performance, safety, and security certification. This means there is still a burden on the systems integrator to analyze and tune performance, and make sure that the relevant safety and security requirements are met.

In many ways, initiatives like MOSA and standards such as FACE promote collaboration across the industry and enhance the ability of the aerospace and defense ecosystem to tackle increasingly complex technical challenges and deliver more capable solutions.

40 Apr/May 2022

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

hardware/OS interface as there are no canned

– Will Keegan MIL-EMBEDDED: What technology or standard will have the most impact on the avionics world in the next five to 10 years and why?

BROSGOL: No one standard or technology stands out; rather it is likely to be a combination. › Model-based engineering will play an increasing role, since it allows expressing flight-control algorithms through an applicationoriented graphical representation.

Using a trusted code generator (for example, one that has been qualified under DO-178C) in a model-based engineering tool can save considerable effort, since verification performed at the model level can replace or reduce verification work needed for the generated source code. › Static analysis tools will become more important in avionics development, since they are essential in helping to verify critical software properties (absence of references to uninitialized data, adherence to code standards, etc.). Tools based on formal analysis show particular promise, especially when security properties need to be verified.

With the maturation of proof engine technology and the availability of programming languages such as SPARK, formal methods-based approaches are moving into the mainstream for critical software development and verification. www.militaryembedded.com

› Dynamic analysis tools (code coverage analysis, test case generation, fuzzing) will likewise see increasing usage, since they complement static analysis for verification of high-assurance software. Fuzzing in particular is becoming a method of choice for detecting security vulnerabilities. › The FACE approach will become more widespread, as defense procurements are more frequently requiring FACE conformance.

Evidence of successful component reuse will encourage increased adoption.

GILLILAND: I believe that the UAS will have the biggest impact on our future.

Currently, [they] are used extensively in the military arena, but are not highly used in the civilian airspace except by special permission. As a result, they are not typically developed to the rigor required by certification authorities.

Although development to high design

assurance is a significant increase in cost, it also protects the aircraft and anything that it flies over. In the long run, replacing crewed aircraft with UAS for jobs like border patrol, traffic control, surveillance, or even air taxis will be a lower cost to operate and safer.

KEEGAN: AADL [Architecture Analysis & Design Language]. The AADL software architecture standard with the behavior and error model annexes can serve as a common model to support various important development and assurance activities.

Examples include code and parameter generation, requirements traceability, verification of security policy, verification of timing properties, [and] hazard analysis.

We are in the nascent stages of hypervisor-related consolidation, so that has the runway to significantly influence avionics designs in the next five to 10 years. [Lastly,] the adoption of open source technology into some elements of mission-critical systems.

WILSON: AI/ML are technologies that work effectively using the scalable compute resources of the cloud. High-performance computing allows these to operate closer to the edge, such as onboard an unmanned vehicle or within manned aircraft. As these compute resources become more powerful, AI/ML software improves, and the regulatory guidance is put in place for safety and security, this will enable even greater functionality to be deployed on avionics systems.

At its heart, AI requires three elements: data, a model for generating predictions, and an inference engine to apply the model to the data and reach conclusions. In an increasingly intelligent world, it is key to work with the right foundation, so that customers who have the data and the model can begin building their AI solutions. MES

TSOA-ID 2022 TIM & Expo Big MOSA Success for Representative Commands from Branches of the U.S. Armed Services

Open Standards being developed by Navy, Army and Air Force have dramatically decreased integration time from several months or even years to a few weeks!

The Tri-Service Open Architecture Interoperability Demonstration in March showcased cohesive collaboration between the NAVAIR Air Combat Electronics program office (PMA-209), U.S. Army PEO Aviation, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command C5ISR Center, and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), as well as many Industry and Academia Partners. Each contributor successfully demonstrated the integration and use of Open Standards on a variety of platforms across the Services, while keynote speakers highlighted the recent successes and critical importance of MOSA to our future warfighting capability. #modularopensystemsapproach #defensetechnology #openstandards Open Access Now All TSOA-ID 2022 TIM Leadership Presentations are available for viewing or download at www.tsoa-id.net/resources With thanks…

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MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Apr/May 2022

41

EDITOR’S CHOICE PRODUCTS Graphics-processor module aims at image, video applications Interface Concept offers the IC-GRA-VPX3a 3U VPX graphics-processor module, intended to enable a high-performance and low-power image-processing and video-capture/frame-grabber solution used in current compute-intensive applications. The IC-GRA-VPX3a graphics card features an AMD embedded Radeon E9171 graphics processor unit (GPU) coupled to a programmable Xilinx UltraScale field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The combination of the onboard FPGA, GPU, and capture module enables the tool to be flexibly scalable so that it can offer multiple solutions in terms of video capture (for example, ARINC818, STANAG 3350, 3G-SDI) and conversion configurations.

The AMD E9171 is aimed at embedded systems with strict thermal constraints, enabling passive cooling for many designs.

Its “Polaris“ architecture brings a range of improvements in the 14 nm technology microchip compared to previous GPU generations, with 1.2 TFLOPS computing capabilities, 4 GB video memory, as many as five video outputs, and a customizable mezzanine FMC card (VITA57.1-compliant) specifically designed for the IC-GRA-VPX3a card. This FMC card provides differential, loosely singleended, multigigabit signals that that can change due to customer needs. The 3U VPX graphics module supports Microsoft DirectX 12 technology, OpenGL 4.5, and OpenCL 2.0 (open standard programming software) to provide a higher graphic rendering and can transfer ultra-high definition over 8 Gb/s via eight PCIe Gen4 lanes.

Interface Concept | https://www.interfaceconcept.com/

Avionics upgrade program for UASs grants credits toward certified parts An avionics upgrade program from uAvionix – dubbed “Trade-up to Certified” – enables users of uncertified Mode A/C/S and ADS-B transponders models to trade up to the uAvionix ping200X, which is TSO-certified (a minimum certification from the Federal Aviation Administration). The program is aimed helping designers and operators both accelerate their designs and upgrade their operational capabilities by granting a credit towards uncertified Mode A/C/S and ADS-B transponders from Sagetech or older uAvionix ping200Si and ping200SR transponders when returned to uAvionix in working condition after purchasing a ping200X-certified transponder. The program includes an option for higher rebates when combined with other TSO products such as the certified truFYX WAAS GPS or a pingRX-pro ADS-B receiver.

Designing a certified transponder into a unmanned aerial system (UAS) will simplify any type of certification process that an operator or OEM might be pursuing, and it will simplify obtaining regulatory approvals to operate in transponder airspace or beyond visual line of sight. The 200X can help designers meet stringent size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements, as it weighs just 50 grams and has a power draw of only 1.5 watts continuous on/alternating 4 watts peak (8 ms maximum). The ping200X transponder can be integrated and operated on any unmanned airframe, regardless of its size and mission.

uAvionix | https://uavionix.com/

Software-defined lab tool enhances testing and instruments Sotware-defined instrument company Liquid Instruments announced several enhancements for its Moku:Go PC- or Mac-based portable lab solution platform designed for engineers and students to actively test designs and projects. The initially introduced instrument suite for Moku:Go – designed as a cross-curriculum software-defined instrumentation tool for electrical engineering and computer engineering students – focuses on circuits courses, power electronics, and automation control. The enhanced release expands Moku:Go’s capabilities with the Digital Filter Box and FIR Filter Builder, tools aimed at teaching real-time digital signal processing.

Another new tool in the suite is a lock-in amplifier, which is a specialized type of amplifier that can extract a signal with a known carrier wave from an extremely noisy environment. This tool has gained popularity in recent years in physics labs but is rarely seen in teaching tools. The updated Moku:Go also features LabVIEW API [application programming interface] integration, a standard API for many industrial-engineering environments. The enhanced Moku:Go – which now sports a total of 11 instruments in a platform that can fit in a backpack – features a full range of connectivity, optional programmable power supplies, and an intuitive user interface.

Liquid Instruments | https://www.liquidinstruments.com/ 42 Apr/May 2022

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

www.militaryembedded.com

TECHNOLOGY MAKING YOUR HEAD SPIN? WE CAN HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL

Military Embedded Systems focuses on embedded electronics – hardware and software – for military applications through technical coverage of all parts of the design process. The website, Resource Guide, e-mags, newsletters, podcasts, webcasts, and print editions provide insight on embedded tools and strategies including technology insertion, obsolescence management, standards adoption, and many other military-specific technical subjects.

Coverage areas include the latest innovative products, technology, and market trends driving military embedded applications such as radar, electronic warfare, unmanned systems, cybersecurity, AI and machine learning, avionics, and more. Each issue is full of the information readers need to stay connected to the pulse of embedded technology in the military and aerospace industries.

militaryembedded.com

GUEST BLOG

Rationalizing the Army’s “Need for Speed”

By Matt Donovan For most of the last decade, both the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Congress have bemoaned the slow pace of weapons-systems acquisition for equipping the country’s warfighters. A 2020 study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found the average cycle time for a major defense acquisition program (MDAP) – defined as the time it takes from Milestone B (the official start of a program) to the declaration of Initial Operational Capability (IOC) – to be nearly seven years.

There are myriad justifiable reasons for this lengthy development timeline – complexity, shifting requirements, and the simple fact that doing new things is fundamentally hard, to name just a few. Regardless of the reasons, it does not change the reality that the DoD and the defense industry must move faster to field relevant solutions to counter the growing threat our adversaries pose.

To realize the imminence of these everadvancing threats, one needs to look no further than current headlines.

Both DoD and industry are taking necessary steps to speed acquisition, and together have made significant progress. However, if we are to truly accelerate fielded capabilities that can provide a meaningful advantage for the warfighter, then we must re-examine our perspective on innovation.

We often too quickly assume innovation must involve the development of a new platform, sensor, or some other widget. In fact, innovation could simply be finding new ways of using what we already have and recalibrating it to a higher order of effect. As former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy testified during March 2022 to the Senate Armed Services Committee, there is a need for “a near-term effort to strengthen deterrence in the next two to four years using the capabilities we already have in hand in new ways.”

44 Apr/May 2022

This approach would enable the U.S. to maximize the aggregated potential of existing assets and gain advantages without the burden of lengthy development timelines.

One instance where this method may prove particularly promising is in enabling multidomain operations for the U.S. Army.

Today’s Army has access to more battlespace data than at any point in its history. A wide array of intelligence systems and sensors generate an unimaginable volume of data. In a wartime scenario, an Army commander must comb through, analyze, and combine that data to nominate targets. Before the current evolution in the character of warfare, the Army had the luxury of time in making those selections. However, with our adversaries extending the speed, range, and sophistication of their weapons, speed to decision is now at a premium. Couple that “need for speed” with an overwhelming mass of data and the challenge becomes clear: How do we use existing data sources in new ways to prosecute targets and perform battle damage assessment in exponentially less time with greater confidence?

The key is to take existing technologies and combine them in new ways. There are three ready-now technologies that can be used today to field a solution that will address the Army’s targeting challenge: open systems architecture, automated targeting algorithms (ATAs), and automation.

Employing open systems architecture is essential to ensuring that a reimagined targeting system is fielded quickly and remains relevant. By starting with a truly open design, the Army makes room for traditional and nontraditional partners alike. This approach breaks the dependency on a single vendor, puts greater emphasis on speed, and creates continuous cycles of competition for future upgrades.

Another critical capability is the use of automated targeting algorithms (ATA), which automatically identify an object in question while simultaneously pinpointing its location. When coupled with the use of 3D cloud point technology – the creation of a 3D representation of Earth using 2D images – ATAs enable long-range precision targeting for every pixel of an image within seconds. This approach dramatically speeds up targeting nominations without sacrificing decision quality.

The last critical element for enabling multi-domain targeting is widespread automation. Many of the processes used today for targeting solutions are manual; the capability exists today to use automation to rapidly task sensors, receive and process data, and exploit multiple intelligence data to seamlessly disseminate targeting information to operators, enabling operators to focus on making decisions rather than completing laborious manual tasks. Automated tools can monitor events in real time, alerting users to potential threats, detecting anomalies, and tracking behaviors of interest.

While these capabilities may sound futuristic and far-off, the reality is they predominantly exist today. To quickly address the serious threats facing the U.S., we would be wise to remember and act on these words from Teddy Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

Matt Donovan is vice president of Requirements & Capabilities, Raytheon Intelligence & Space.

Raytheon Intelligence & Space • www.raytheonintelligenceandspace.com/

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

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NAVIGATE ...

THROUGH ALL PARTS OF THE DESIGN PROCESS

TECHNOLOGY, TRENDS, AND PRODUCTS DRIVING THE DESIGN PROCESS Military Embedded Systems focuses on embedded electronics – hardware and software – for military applications through technical coverage of all parts of the design process. The website, Resource Guide, e-mags, newsletters, podcasts, webcasts, and print editions provide insight on embedded tools and strategies including technology insertion, obsolescence management, standards adoption, and many other military-specific technical subjects.

Coverage areas include the latest innovative products, technology, and market trends driving military embedded applications such as radar, electronic warfare, unmanned systems, cybersecurity, AI and machine learning, avionics, and more. Each issue is full of the information readers need to stay connected to the pulse of embedded militaryembedded.com technology in the military and aerospace industries.

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CONNECTING WITH MIL EMBEDDED

By Editorial Staff

GIVING BACK | PODCAST | WHITE PAPER | BLOG | VIDEO | SOCIAL MEDIA | WEBCAST GIVING BACK Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

This issue, we are revisiting an organization we first covered back in 2015, Hire Heroes USA, which has continued its mission to empower U.S. military members, veterans, and military spouses to succeed in the civilian workforce. Hire Heroes USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit group headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia that was originally founded in 2005 by John A. Bardis – then the president and CEO of health care company MedAssets – as a way to address his concern for the plight of unemployed U.S. veterans. Several statistics that the organization cites: Each year the military discharges 270,000 service members, and 80% of these will not have a job lined up upon exit from the service; moreover, the unemployment rate of military spouses is four times greater than the national average.

Job-seeking veterans and spouses are able to work directly with more than 75 full-time transition specialists, employment opportunity team members, and coordinators – augmented by more than 600 volunteers – on coaching, mentoring, job sourcing, and interviewing. All of these services are free to the veteran and family members.

One of the major initiatives run by the organization is a series of regular employment workshops, single-day events during which participants create a resume that conveys their military experience to employers, learn how to conduct an effective job search, discover best practices from panels of industry experts, and practice interview techniques with mock-interview volunteers.

The organization says that since its founding, it has helped more than 65,000 veterans and military spouses find employment.

Although it is headquartered in Georgia, Hire Heroes USA also has offices in San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Boise, Idaho; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

For additional information, please visit https://www.hireheroesusa.org/.

PODCAST

WHITE PAPER

McHale Report podcast: With guest Rajeev Gopal

RTCA-DO-160 preparation for test

In the latest episode of the McHale Report podcast, Military Embedded Systems editorial director John McHale chats with Rajeev Gopal, vice president, Advanced Systems for Hughes Defense Intelligence Systems Division, about military 5G designs, satellite communications (SATCOM) on the move, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) networks.

Defense and aerospace equipment including fighter jets and attack helicopters require that electronic systems meet stringent MIL-STD-461 and RTCA DO-160 requirements for electromagnetic interference (EMI), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and other environmental conditions. The design and preparation to test these military electronic systems for compliance to these standards is a complicated process.

During the conversation, McHale and Gopal delve into the subject of 5G solutions used in the military arena.

They also discuss SATCOM trends seen at the recent Satellite 2022 show, jamming technology, and the ways in which companies are leveraging security tools that comply with the Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSFC) standard. The pair also consider how artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) is making its mark on SATCOM networks.

Listen to this podcast: https://bit.ly/3r8LMQY Listen to more podcasts: https://militaryembedded.com/podcasts

46 Apr/May 2022

MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

By Quell, a Heico company

This white paper guides readers through a comprehensive set of questions and considerations, using an actual checklist of points.

Reviewing this checklist – which encompasses such steps as selecting a test laboratory, choosing proper power cables, and establishing necessary design precautions – can enable users to chart an easier path to compliance. Although the focus of the guide is MIL-STD-461 and RTCA-DO-160, the preparation discussion can be applied to virtually any test program.

Read this white paper: https://bit.ly/3NXb6mM Read more white papers: https://militaryembedded.com/whitepapers www.militaryembedded.com

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