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John McHale
DoD leadership embracing open standards 7
Technology Update
8
Sensor-rich “skin� under development
COTS Confidential
Military AI, SOSA hot topics at ETT
Mil Tech Trends
Recent trends in signal processing MIL-EMBEDDED.COM
16 28
Jan/Feb 2020 | Volume 16 | Number 1
RADAR/EW ISSUE
Advancing radars
for defense against missiles and hypersonic weapons P 22
P 36 Making noise power ratio measurements with real-world signals By Donald Vanderweit, Keysight Technologies
Military RF and microwave users demand innovation P 32
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Volume 16 Number 1
www.mil-embedded.com
January/February 2020
COLUMNS
COTS CONFIDENTIAL ROUNDTABLE 16
Editor’s Perspective 7 DoD leadership embracing open standards
Military AI innovation, SOSA hot topics at Embedded Tech Trends By John McHale, Editorial Director
By John McHale
SPECIAL REPORT 16
Technology Update 8 Sensor-driven “skin” possible with web of circuits, organic signal amplifiers
Radar Design Trends 22 Advancing radars for defense against missiles and hypersonic weapons By Sally Cole, Senior Editor
By Lisa Daigle
MIL TECH TRENDS
Mil Tech Insider 10 Changing landscape for rugged data storage
Signal Processing Trends in Radar, Sonar, and Electronic Warfare 28 Standard network interfaces, heterogeneous architecture, and COTS solutions: Recent trends in signal processing
By Steven Petric
DEPARTMENTS
By David Jedynak, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions
22
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT
RF and Microwave in Electronic Warfare systems 32 RF and microwave suppliers for military use face demands for innovation By Emma Helfrich, Associate Editor
36
12
Defense Tech Wire
41
Editor’s Choice Products
46
Connecting with Mil Embedded
By Emma Helfrich
By Mil-Embedded.com Editorial Staff
Making noise power ratio measurements with real-world signals By Donald Vanderweit, Keysight Technologies
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To unsubscribe, email your name, address, and subscription number as it appears on the label to: subscriptions@opensysmedia.com ON THE COVER: Top image: The SPY-6 radar from Raytheon is an integrated 360-degree system that can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hostile aircraft, and surface ships simultaneously. Photo courtesy of Raytheon. Bottom image: A radar on the aft tower of the USS Harry S Truman spins during nighttime operations in the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Department of Defense photo.
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MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
www.mil-embedded.com
EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE
DoD leadership embracing open standards By John McHale, Editorial Director Speeding up acquisition and lowering costs through adoption of open standards apparently takes a lot of time, as there are cultural roadblocks to such change not only within the Department of Defense (DoD), but also at the prime contractor level, where open architecture and commonality goes against long-standing business models. However, there is now enthusiasm behind the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium, fueled by the work of SOSA members and the successes of the open architecture initiatives it is built on – such as FACE [Future Airborne Capability Environment], CMOSS [C4ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards], and others. “The primes have a stranglehold on the services,” said Randall G. Walden, a member of the Senior Executive Service and Director and Program Executive Officer for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, during his keynote address at the Tri-Service Open Architecture Interoperability Demonstration, held at the Georgia Tech Research Institute on January 29, 2020. (See photo, right.) I asked him to elaborate more on that comment during the Q&A portion of the program and he responded, “The primes are tied to a 20th-century business model,” and they don’t want to change as they fear it will put them out of business. An example of that concern would be the F-35 and F-22 5th-generation fighter planes, both built by Lockheed Martin. Despite having a shared builder, the aircraft could not speak to each other, as they didn’t use the same data link, Walden said. That problem was in fact later resolved and they can now communicate, but that previous situation speaks to the lockdown problem. The resistance to change is not just at the prime level, as the military services have teams that prefer the 20th-century paradigm, a culture that feels more natural to them, he continued. “They are getting the message,” Walden said, noting that it is a slow process, particularly when using older systems: “New systems that are built on open standards make sense.” The second keynote of the morning, U.S. Army Col. Nickolas Kioutas, Project Manager for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PM PNT) at PEO IEW&S [Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors] spoke to the practical benefits open standards – specifically CMOSS – will bring to Army ground vehicles. “Right now, we suffer from vendor lock, [which makes it expensive and time consuming] to enable rapid integration of the latest technology to outpace the threat,” Kioutas said. The upgrade process is expensive, requiring many non-recurrent engineering costs and long testing time, which all results in longer offline periods. After CMOSS is deployed, the tech-refresh process will be much more efficient: “We want to be able to refresh one-fifth of the Army every year, over a five-year period baseline.” The end user is driving this change, as technology and capability must be deployed more quickly to the warfighter while also reducing the burden on the taxpayer. Industry cooperation, whereby companies help to create and manage standards, is necessary to break the stranglehold of the proprietary business model. This must be industry’s job, said Walden, as “the government is horrible at creating standards.” www.mil-embedded.com
Randall G. Walden
Industry is actually doing this. I’ve been covering this market for more than 20 years and have never seen such marked interest from not only industry but also government and prime contractors. A big reason for the change is that that the three services are heavily involved in the standardization process and are pushing the primes to play. These organizations include the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) C5ISR Center (formerly CERDEC), AFRL [Air Force Research Laboratory], and NAVAIR [Naval Air Systems Command]. While the tri-service leadership has really been the driving force, SOSA lead Dr. Ilya Lipkin – who is with Air Force Life Cycle Management Center – always tells me that standards groups succeed or fail based on the enthusiasm of their volunteers. Using his metric, I’d say this triservice approach will in fact succeed, as the passion of the members is real. There is work yet to do, and the standards must be monitored throughout development to ensure alignment. But in the end, it won’t matter whether your single-board computer is designed under SOSA or CMOSS or HOST – they will all work, said Lipkin, in response to a reporter’s question: “They just need a tweak” and they are all compatible.
MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
January/February 2020 7
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Sensor-driven “skin” possible with web of circuits, organic signal amplifiers By Lisa Daigle, Assistant Managing Editor Research that could be a game-changer for troops in the field is currently being undertaken by several teams attempting to replicate human skin. Imagine this scenario: A group of warfighters enters a hazardous, communications-denied area just as the weather turns ugly and the opposition remains invisible. Having no access to reliable communications with their base, the troops run the real risk of frostbite, lack of supplies, and injury. Let’s rerun this situation differently: Flexible sensors worn by the service members – imperceptible devices with multiple sensors that perceive various physical properties and transmit them via readout circuits – “read” the conditions; send the data back to a secure base; and dispatch vital gear, food, and other supplies via small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) or drone.
The study detailed that the organic fieldeffect transistors and the magnetic sensors are folded and/or bent around a thin copper wire without affecting the electric performance. The second situation is now very plausible and could happen in the near future, according to new research from scientists in Dresden and Chemnitz (Germany) and Osaka (Japan). A recent article published in Science Advances has presented what the team calls a “pioneering active matrix magnetic sensor system.” As described in the journal article, the sensor system consists of a 2 x 4 array of magnetic sensors, an organic bootstrap shift register required for controlling the sensor matrix, and organic signal amplifiers, all based on organic thin-film transistors and integrated within a single platform. The sensor system’s ability to work at low supply voltages below 4 volts plus its high-frequency operation at approximately 100 Hz make it the most imperceptible and functional design to date, the researchers say. The authors assert that their findings can pave the way for the development of a new generation of flexible electronics to be used in applications such as electronic skins (known as e-skins), soft robotics, and biometric devices. The study lays out the active magnetosensory matrix (MSM) system’s high level of magnetic sensitivity and details its tested robustness in trials of mechanical deformation such as bending, creasing, or kinking. In addition to full system integration, the researchers say that the use of organic bootstrap shift registers – a bootstrap circuit is one where part of the output of an amplifier stage is applied to the input for use at startup –
8 January/February 2020
MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
›
Figure 1 | Flexible electronic skin equipped with an array of sensors and complex electronic circuits – all designed and developed as a magnetosensory matrix. Photo courtesy Masaya Kondo, Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Japan.
marks an important step toward active-matrix electronic skin for robotic and wearable applications. The components used by the study team were fabricated on the same imperceptible platform. The researchers’ use of an ultrathin polymer substrate and encapsulation enabled testers to wear the magnetosensitive electronic membrane. The study detailed that the organic field-effect transistors and the magnetic sensors are folded and/or bent around a thin copper wire without affecting the electric performance. (Figure 1.) Prof. Dr. Oliver G. Schmidt, director at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, stated regarding the study: “Our first integrated magnetic functionalities prove that thin-film flexible magnetic sensors can be integrated within complex organic circuits. The ultracompliant and flexible nature of these devices is an indispensable feature for modern and future applications such as soft robotics, implants, and prosthetics. The next step is to increase the number of sensors per surface area as well as to expand the electronic skin to fit larger surfaces.” Other similar studies and trials of wearable flexible electronics sensors are also ongoing in the U.S., with one such study between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and government/ industry/academic consortium Nextflex that seeks to advance wearable remote human-performance monitoring technologies to benefit both the warfighter and consumer. The AFRL study is considering testing a small-scale production run of devices; if successful, says AFRL scientist and program manager Dr. Jeremy Ward, this technology will hold huge benefits for warfighters: “This approach to reliably sensing the biochemistry of a human has the potential to be transformative.” www.mil-embedded.com
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MIL TECH INSIDER
Changing landscape for rugged data storage
By Steven Petric An industry perspective from Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions
Awareness is mounting regarding the importance of protecting data-at-rest (DAR) on deployed military platforms. Every time an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is lost, it provides a stark example of the simple fact that what goes up must come down, and there’s no guarantee that what comes down won’t end up in an adversary’s hands. In 2019 alone, the media reported the loss of at least three UAVs in unfriendly territory overseas. These and other similar losses have been driving the demand for encrypted DAR recorders in unmanned vehicles, whether airborne, on land, or underwater. Designers of these types of deployed platforms continuously look to increase performance and functionality while also reducing the platforms’ size and weight, which increases the pressure on engineers to cool hotter devices in ever-smaller packages.
›
Figure 1 | The DTS1 networkattached storage device is a rugged COTS data-storage device intended to protect Top Secret DAR.
In parallel, the role of unmanned systems is widening as they host more cameras and sensors to perform new battlefield surveillance tasks, often requiring the capture, processing, and storage of an increasing amount of sensitive tactical data, which heightens data-security requirements on deployed recorders. All of this means that the space available for the DAR recording solution is already small – and getting even smaller – while performance requirements for data storage are rapidly increasing.
and reducing time to deployment by months or even years. Even better, there are now numerous trusted integrators who can help guide system designers and integrators through the CSfC certification process.
Meanwhile, applications are driving the need to support faster network speeds as the amount of data being collected continues to rise. A key goal in DAR storage solution performance is to support full line rate data capture and provide large amounts of DAR storage. Think about this: High-performance sensors can’t be slowed down; if the DAR recorder can’t keep up with the huge barrage of incoming data, then critical data can be lost. As a result, the industry is seeing increasing requirements for DAR storage systems that support 10, 40, and even 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network speeds.
An example of a certified rugged COTS data storage solution for protecting Top Secret DAR is Curtiss-Wright’s DTS1 (Figure 1) , a Common Criteria-certified network attached storage (NAS) device that is endorsed by the NSA and approved by NATO with two certified encryption layers. It also supports an optional MILSTD-1275-compliant filter that applies test conditions to the input of the vehicle’s 28 volt electrical power system to mitigate against high-voltage spikes, long voltage surges, and ripples that can reduce performance and reliability.
Higher data speeds result in increased heat and power dissipation, which competes with the desire to keep devices as small as possible. New next-level memory device technologies – such as higher speed and smaller size NVMe devices – have more demanding cooling requirements. While SATA is the standard today and will continue to be around for some time, the next generation of memory devices will require data storage solution designers to expend more time and resources on cooling the memory in ever-smaller form factors. As security requirements are on the rise for DAR, so are the awareness and understanding of encryption certification levels. Just a few years ago, many system designers and integrators needed to be educated about Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) 2-Layer encryption, an NSA-approved approach for protecting classified National Security Systems (NSS) information. Today, awareness of CSfC as a viable cost-effective approach for Top Secret and below encryption of DAR is relatively high but understanding how to implement a CSfC approved encryption solution in a development project is something designers still struggle with. More specifically, the ways in which COTS vendors implement CSfC and the roles and responsibilities of the system integrator when deploying this type of encryption must be clarified to realize successful CSfC solution development and deployment. CSfC has increased its visibility in recent years, and NSA continues to provide strong support to this program. Additionally, the time and cost required for certification has significantly decreased, in some cases saving multiple millions of dollars
10 January/February 2020
MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Going forward, we expect certification to become even more important. Simply put, the risks and vulnerabilities will only increase; network speeds will also continue to increase as the desire for more sensor data generates ever-greater amounts of data that needs to be stored. In the coming years, data storage is going to store more data at faster rates in smaller form factors. Steven Petric is Senior Product Manager, Data Storage, in the Defense Solutions Division at Curtiss-Wright. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions www.curtisswrightds.com www.mil-embedded.com
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DEFENSE TECH WIRE NEWS | TRENDS | DOD SPENDS | CONTRACTS | TECHNOLOGY UPDATES By Emma Helfrich, Associate Editor NEWS
SPY-6 radars for U.S. Navy delivered by Raytheon
Human-robot arms squads to be developed by CACI
Raytheon announced it will build two additional shipsets of SPY-6 radars under a $250 million contract with the U.S. Navy. The company is now contracted to deliver a total of nine radar shipsets to DDG-51 Flight III destroyers. According to the company, SPY-6 is a family of next generation, integrated air- and missile-defense radars that scale to meet mission requirements of a ship.
CACI Inc.-Federal won a $9.9 million contract to develop prototypes for a combined-arms squad for the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced. The contract covers design, development, and validation of prototypes for a combined arms squad, the Pentagon said. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began investing in combined-arms squads, which are military units consisting of both human and robot fighters, in 2016.
The SPY-6 is intended to provide fleets with sharable sensor data as well as defense against ballistic and cruise missiles. Now in production at Raytheon’s advanced Radar Development Facility, AN/SPY-6(V) remains on schedule for delivery to the first DDG 51 Flight III, the future USS Jack H Lucas (DDG 125). The first delivery of AN/SPY-6(V)2 to LHA-8, the America Class Amphibious Assault Ship, is on plan for 2021. [For more on SPY-6, see Special Report on page 22.]
According to DARPA, combined-arms squads enable soldiers to fight off electromagnetic and cyber threats at the same time they fight physical ones. Researchers claim that adding robot fighters to units would improve shared situational understanding of the environment, increase the time and space in which squads are able to maneuver, and enable synchronization of fire and maneuvering in all three domains.
High-energy laser task order won by Radiance Radiance Technologies won the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) Manufacturing Advancement of Components for High Energy Lasers (MACHEL) task order (TO), a four-year, $49.1 million agreement.
Figure 1 | The SPY-6 family of radars performs air and missile defense on seven classes of ships for the U.S Navy. Raytheon photo.
The primary focus of MACHEL is the research, design, implementation, and evaluation of advanced manufacturing techniques for high-energy laser (HEL) weapon system components and subsystems. Radiance will also support the effort by researching manufacturing techniques to improve development timelines for HEL technologies. The increasing complexity and flexibility of target sets require HEL systems to engage and destroy targets faster and farther away.
Hypersonic rocket motor to be developed by Aerojet Aerojet Rocketdyne is supporting a Lockheed Martin effort to develop a hypersonic conventional missile for the U.S. Air Force under a subcontract valued at $81.5 million. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the U.S. Air Force’s Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW), an air-launched, stand-off weapon that will be capable of traveling at more than five times the speed of sound. According to the company, the HCSW development program is in its early phases and will progress through design, flight testing, and initial production and deployment. Lockheed Martin’s contract ceiling through initial operational capability is $928 million. The HCWS further expands Aerojet Rocketdyne’s hypersonic technology portfolio, which includes solid-fueled and air-breathing ramjet and scramjet capabilities.
12 January/February 2020
MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
Figure 2 | U.S. sailors train with the LA9/P laser hail and warning system on the fantail of the USS Harry S Truman in the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class J.R. Pacheco.
www.mil-embedded.com
NEWS
COTS ground-to-aircraft data communications leverage LTE
Hull-mounted sonar to be fastest-growing segment over the next decade, report states
Perspecta Inc. announced that its applied research arm, Perspecta Labs, has demonstrated long-distance, high-bandwidth data streaming between a test aircraft and a fourth generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) ground network. The test was conducted at Edwards Air Force Base as part of the Department of Defense (DoD) Cellular Range Telemetry Network (CeRTN) program in collaboration with the DoD Test Resource Management Center.
The global naval sonar market – valued at $2.2 billion in 2019 – is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.76% to reach a value of $2.9 billion by 2029, according to a recent report from GlobalData. According to the report, hullmounted sonar is expected to account for 51% revenue share of the total market by 2029, up from 47% of the market in 2019. Navies across the globe are looking to equip their naval vessels with advanced sonar systems capable of effectively detecting and tracking threats, the report states, which will drive cumulative global military spending on naval sonars to a value of $29.1 billion over the forecast period.
Under the program, Perspecta Labs was tasked with developing a system that leverages commercial cellular technology for aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT) applications at DoD major range and test facility bases. Perspecta Labs’ Velocite solution enables use of low-cost commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) LTE cellular technology to deliver high-bandwidth data communications at supersonic aircraft speeds. According to the company, Velocite is vendor-agnostic, operates without the need for per-flight frequency coordination, and provides bidirectional high-speed data connectivity to aircraft.
Captain Nurettin Sevi (Rtd. Turkish Navy), defense analyst at GlobalData, comments on the report’s findings: “Naval forces have traditionally relied on seasoned sonar operators to detect the specific signals coming from a threat. With the advancement of technology in the combat systems, sonars are becoming more sophisticated and capable, so the burden on sonar operators is diminishing through the utilization of technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.”
M-40 target UAV intercepts Mistral missile Leonardo has concluded a series of flights with its Mirach-40 (M-40) target unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as part of a trials campaign in Italy. This test saw the drones simulating modern airborne threats, allowing for the realistic demon-stration of MBDA’s latest surface-to-air Mistral missile.
Figure 3 | Air Force Capt. Julian “Cosmo” Gluck, 2nd Operations Group executive officer and B-52H Stratofortress aircraft commander, pilots a B-52 to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. U.S. Air Force photo.
The M-40 is Leonardo’s latest entry in its Mirach target UAV family and is able to mimic various aircraft and missiles, including radar, infrared (IR), and visual threats. During the Mistral demonstration, the M-40 simulated enemy airborne platforms for the missile to target. Fifteen international delegations observed the trials, including a live firing of a Mis-tral missile at an M-40 drone. According to the company, the missile intercepted the target.
Automated Dual SAT terminal to service government agencies Small-satellite maker Get SAT and Inmarsat announced a demonstration and deployment of a unique Dual SAT terminal solution for U.S. government agencies. The solution employs Get SAT’s lightweight micronized Milli SAT LM terminals using Inmarsat’s worldwide Global Xpress Ka-band network. According to company officials, Dual SAT provides an antennadiversity solution for mobility platforms where obstructions would cause blockage for a single-antenna system. Dual SAT’s two terminals operate redundantly as a single system to ensure complete high-speed connectivity. The companies claim that the solution leverages Get SAT’s flat-panel antenna technologies to enable fully autonomous operation for high bandwidth data rates. Following certification, the roll-on/ roll-off solution is intended to be a one-person operation. www.mil-embedded.com
Figure 4 | Mirach-40 (M-40) is a reusable integrated aerial target system. Leonardo photo.
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NEWS | TRENDS | DOD SPENDS | CONTRACTS | TECHNOLOGY UPDATES NEWS
AI-based solution for ISR, EW shown by Curtiss-Wright at TSOA-ID
Airbus Cybersecurity and Amossys team for cyber partnership
Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division demonstrated an open standards architecture-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and electronic warfare (EW) system at the recent Tri-Service Open Architecture Interoperability Demonstration (TSOA-ID), which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. The demonstration – which showcased the benefits of OSA by integrating products from four individual companies – featured artificial intelligence (AI)-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions for signal intelligence (SIGINT) and EW situational-awareness applications.
Airbus CyberSecurity and Amossys signed a partnership agreement at the International Cybersecurity Forum (FIC). The partnership has three focus areas concerning detecting vulnerabilities, studies and innovation work with a focus on AI, and developing Airbus’ CyberRange platform. According to company details on the partnership, the first focus area highlights vulnerability detection specific to the environment of operators of essential services and will respond to cybersecurity incidents.
The system, says Curtiss-Wright, demonstrated certificationready NSA Type 1 data encryption of ISR data at a read/write throughput of 10/17 Gbps (nominal/maximum) per data channel. The four-company demo consisted of Curtiss-Wright’s 3U OpenVPX CHAMP-XD1 DSP module, VPX3-1260 Intel Xeon Coffee Lake single-board computer, VPX3-673 Assured Position, Navigation & Timing (A-PNT) module, and VPX3-687 10 GbE network switch module; these worked in concert with the 3U OpenVPX Leonardo DRS SI-9172 Vesper Tuner/Exciter, L3Harris-Camden DataCrypt XMC mezzanine module PCIe encryptor and 3U OpenVPX NVMe secure storage module, and General Dynamics Mission Systems SignalEye AI-based SIGINT automation threat-detection application.
Figure 5 | CHAMP-XD1 DSP. Image courtesy Curtiss-Wright.
Neutron radiography to simplify Army munitions inspection Nuclear technology company Phoenix has won a $10 million (ceiling) indefinite-quantity/indefinite-delivery contract with the U.S. Army to demonstrate improved neutron radiography and x-ray techniques applicable to the quality assurance of ammunition, armaments, or components of weapons and defense systems. Phoenix will also develop and run training programs which will introduce Army personnel to the fundamentals and practical applications of neutron radiography. Phoenix will work with Army officials and American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) committees to develop standards for computed neutron radiography. Neutron radiography, or N-ray, is an industrial nondestructive testing technique that can reveal flaws and defects in objects such as munitions, missile payloads, ejection mechanisms, and other critical components with high costs of failure without dismantling or damaging them, according to the company.
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The second focus area under the accord will leverage teams of AI architects, researchers, and data-scientists from the two companies to develop AI models capable of analyzing behavior, predict security events, simulate the adversary, and assess information systems with embedded AI. The third aspect will further develop Airbus’s CyberRange platform. The aim is to enhance the functional capabilities of CyberRange by integrating Amossys software modules simulating cyberattacks.
New generation of mixed-signal electronics for EW, ISR the goal of DARPA, BAE Systems project BAE Systems has won a contract worth $8 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the next generation of mixed-signal electronics that could enable new Department of Defense (DoD) applications and enable solutions that enhance situational awareness and survivability for the warfighter. DARPA previously created the Technologies for Mixed mode Ultra Scaled Integrated Circuits (T-MUSIC) program, aimed at enabling disruptive radio frequency (RF) mixed-mode technologies by developing highperformance RF analog electronics integrated with advanced digital electronics on the same wafer. BAE Systems officials state that the next-generation capabilities that could be made possible with this program include a combination of wide spectral coverage, high resolution, large dynamic range, and high information processing bandwidth; these developments would then be integrated into electronic warfare, communications, precision munitions, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms. Work under the contract is expected to be performed in Merrimack, New Hampshire; Lexington, Massachusetts; and Manassas, Virginia.
Figure 6 | Image courtesy DARPA.
www.mil-embedded.com
NEWS
Autonomous flight programs advanced by Kaman Kaman Air Vehicles, a division of Kaman Corporation, announced the advancement of its military and commercial K-MAX unmanned aerial systems (UAS) programs to support U.S. Marine Corps future operating concepts. According to the company, these logistics systems add flexibility and speed of distribution to all sizes of ground formations. The K-MAX is capable of carrying up to 6,000 pounds of cargo at a time, making it a logistics workhorse. The first unmanned K-MAX served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom from 2011 to 2013. The two Marine Corps K-MAX air vehicles are being upgraded through a contract with the U.S. Navy and will include enhanced autonomous capabilities including a new unmanned system, ground control station, and sensor-based autonomy. In parallel with the military K-MAX project, Kaman is developing a new K-MAX UAS kit for commercial applications with first flight scheduled in Q3 2020. The new unmanned kit will be installed on existing aircraft as well as on new production K-MAX helicopters.
Lockheed to build SEWIP systems for U.S. Navy Lockheed Martin won a $185 million contract for production of Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Programs (SEWIP) that defend the Navy’s aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers from missiles, the Pentagon recently announced. The contract funds a one-year period but includes options that could extend the contract four additional years, for a potential cumulative value of $812 million. SEWIP is an upgrade to the existing AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system, which provides Navy ships with protection from anti-ship missiles by upgrading early detection, analysis, and threat warning capabilities. The systems entered full-rate production in September 2016 and in March 2017 Lockheed received a $98 million contract modification to continue producing SEWIP systems for the Navy.
Quantum technology to get a golden touch at NRL Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) discovered a new platform for quantum technologies by suspending 2-D crystals over pores in a slab of gold. Researchers claim this new approach may help develop new materials for secure communication and sensing technologies based on the atomiclevel physics. According to the NRL, the process was assumed to result in dewetting, which results from interaction between surfaces of two solids. Instead of droplets forming on the glass base underneath the gold, heating caused a reorientation of the underlying metal slab.
Figure 7 | Kaman K-MAX UAS. Courtesy Kaman Corp.
The gold became porous throughout and this physical change led researchers to test for other side effects of the merger. Researchers then verified light emanating from the 2-D semiconductors, coming out as single light particles, or photons. These emitters can transfer energy to each other through the gold layer, which makes it an ideal system for quantum technology. Sensor capabilities could benefit from these technologies, according to the NRL.
Radar-, comms-jamming pod test contract awarded to Raytheon by U.S. Navy Raytheon has won a $403 million System Demonstration Test Articles contract with the U.S. Navy for Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB), which will be delivered to the fleet once developmental and operational testing is complete. According to information from Raytheon, the NGJ-MB pod – the first of which was delivered to the U.S. Navy for testing in July of 2019 – will enable EA-18G Growler crews to deny, degrade, and deceive the enemy’s use of the electromagnetic spectrum through advanced jamming techniques. Dan Theisen, director at Raytheon Electronic Warfare Systems, says that the testing program is on target to meet Initial Operating Capability goals in 2022. www.mil-embedded.com
Figure 8 | Image from Naval Research Laboratory.
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COTS Confidential Roundtable
Military AI innovation, SOSA hot topics at Embedded Tech Trends By John McHale, Editorial Director Embedded Tech Trends 2020 covered embedded computing trends such as AI, military open architecture initiatives, and more. Shown is VITA Executive Director Jerry Gipper opening the event.
The COTS Confidential Roundtable gathers experts from the defense electronics industry – from major prime contractors to defense component suppliers. Each Roundtable will explore topics important to the military embedded electronics market. This issue, we discuss how embedded computing suppliers are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for military applications, the impact of the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium and other open architecture initiatives, and the outlook for the future of embedded technologies in the defense and aerospace markets with sponsors of the Embedded Tech Trends (ETT) conference, held during late January in Atlanta, Georgia. This time, our panelists are Rodger Hosking, Vice President and Co-founder, Pentek; David Jedynak, Chief Technology Officer, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions; John Bratton, Director of Product Marketing, Mercury Systems; and Doug Patterson, Vice President, Global Marketing, Aitech Defense Systems. MIL-EMBEDDED: Artificial intelligence, or AI, was the topic of many presentations at ETT this year. How is AI making an impact in military electronics? Which applications are benefitting from the technology now? Electronic warfare? Radar? Other? HOSKING: Virtually all military electronics are benefiting from AI, and the technology is moving quickly. The first applications are “expert systems” that deliver relatively quick decisions and actions for a relatively narrow task. These include classification and identification of all objects in the operating theater of war, and even determining the most effective countermeasures or attack strategies. Another very important application is extracting critical intelligence from the glut of electromagnetic spectrum signals and internet traffic of all types, and then detecting patterns or relationships among those signals for further action. With continued expansion of deployed unmanned military vehicles, autonomous AI systems can help boost their survival rate and mission effectiveness. AI is
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not just developing smart engines, neural networks, or algorithms. It requires engineering of hundreds of specialized systems, each evolving over time to exploit a broader scope of sensor inputs, and more complex decision-making elements and principles to deliver increasingly accurate, targeted results. JEDYNAK: Machine learning, deep learning, and AI are revolutionizing applications that help warfighters identify threats and objects from afar, detect unseen www.mil-embedded.com
have increased autonomy, and make sense of and fuse together ever-wider streams of sensor data Many of these applications are requiring processing hardware with headroom so quickly evolving machine learning, cognitive decision-making and AI processing capability can be deployed without an immediate tech refresh (AI capability doubles every three to six months). Today, AI applications usually reside within the data center. We are seeing a trend towards creating the same processing architecture closer to the data source, often on mobile, remote platforms. The ability to scale, make secure, miniaturize, and deploy the processing power and scalability of the composable data center and its extensive software ecosystem is being packaged as high-performance embedded edge computing (HPEEC) solutions that are enabling next-generation defense systems to be deployed faster and with all the capabilities found in the most contemporary commercially developed technology.
dangers, and locate and resolve equipment issues before failures occur. AI is key to the DoD’s Third Offset Strategy [which seeks to outmaneuver advantages made by top adversaries primarily through technology]. The specific examples almost don’t matter – we can take it as a given that it provides a significant leap forward. Think of the automobile versus horse and buggy: While so much remains extremely familiar, and on a spec sheet may not look all that different (i.e., four wheels, room for passengers, leather seats, room for luggage, luxury styling, etc.), the performance/capability difference is immense. In electronic warfare (EW), for example, AI enables machines to identify objects and take appropriate actions in a faster and more accurate way than humans can on their own. In signals intelligence (SIGINT) applications, machine learning and deep learning can be used to automate signal classification, which otherwise typically requires extensive expertise and is prone to human error. Another key area where machine learning capabilities can be applied to increase the safety of warfighters and equipment is health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS). It enables computers to be trained to intelligently predict when equipment failures are most likely to occur and allows issues to be addressed before a mission is affected. For example, if a HUMS application detects that extra power is being applied to a wheel on a Humvee, it could mean the pressure in that tire has dropped and the tire could collapse. The same technology can also be used to inspect the physical integrity of air and ground vehicles before and after field operations. Ultimately, AI is enabling faster, more accurate identification of threats to today’s military platforms and helping deliver a competitive edge by accelerating and strengthening functions traditionally performed by humans. BRATTON: From an embedded standpoint, our customers are seeking greater processing power and density to enable their defense systems to execute smarter missions, www.mil-embedded.com
PATTERSON: AI is impacting nearly every area of the military, including some that weren’t even discussed at Embedded Tech Trends (ETT). GPGPU technology is critical to these advancements. Truly, AI is now today only scratching the surface of the potential applications, defense included. The analogy of the “tip of the iceberg” is perfectly applicable here – less than 10% of AI applications are visible; the rest has yet to surface. As AI technology continues to advance and line geometries shrink, even more raw horsepower will be at the applications developers’ fingertips. One major area is cybersecurity. Adaptive heuristics (and deep learning) have been developed and are being refined to monitor cloud traffic, looking for key words and phrases that can then be placed in context to help thwart and mitigate cyber hacks that threaten military platforms and reduce the level of harm our troops are exposed to, mitigating collateral damage and ultimately saving lives. Another key area is surveillance and reconnaissance. This is where AI implemented in GPGPUs really shines, as it’s the perfect mix of parallel processing on
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COTS Confidential Roundtable literally hundreds of cores, tied to video capture and image processing and display (if/when needed), all in the highest-definition video standards. Another application area is neural networks, where tens to hundreds of cores can be networked together to potentially hundreds of similar subsystems, each with hundreds of cores all addressing one or multiple strategic or tactical situations in parallel. Today, through the technical hardware and software tool innovations brought to the market by companies like NVIDIA, Intel, and others – and adapting these for true defense and rugged applications – teraflops of processing power can be applied at 15 to 30 per node instead of kilowatts per node. This has been a dream of systems designers and engineers for decades, and is now within reach. Imagine the raw compute power of systems containing 500 to 1,000 parallel cores, each with from 1 to 30 TOPS [Tera Operations per Second], all networked and freely communicating to other nodes in the system. AI and GPGPUs specifically are essentially hugely parallel DSP engines all interconnected by crossbar matrices to memory and I/O resources with Gb/sec pipes. The applications are truly endless, limited only by the imagination. MIL-EMBEDDED: Immediately following ETT, the Army, Navy, and Air Force held the Tri-Services Open Architecture Interoperability Demonstration at the Georgia Tech Research Institute showcasing the advantages of SOSA and other open architecture efforts. Why does this effort seem to be so different in terms of momentum than past initiatives? Military participation? Passion among the industry players? Economics? HOSKING: All of the above, for sure! Over the years, we all have seen standards and initiatives come and go. Solidly founded upon sound objectives, the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) initiative goes well beyond a hardware or software specification. All three services demonstrate commitment to aggregate their own standards into a single standard to benefit from scale, availability, and life cycle support of products. Vendors finally see a way to protect their costly IP development efforts, by competing on innovation and technology instead of simply hardware costs. Primes see more sources of new technology products to enhance systems performance. DoD is already issuing request for proposals for systems, with vendor selection based heavily on open standard architecture content. JEDYNAK: The main difference is cultural – there’s a very different culture in DoD now, one that is much more focused on doing and deploying fast rather than “silo”-ed thinking – and again, that cultural change is also driven by the Third Offset Strategy. The new culture is driving the fast transition of technology to the field, and helping to overcome what some – only half-jokingly – call the Chinese military’s greatest asset, the DoD’s famously cumbersome acquisition process. Last month, for example, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, speaking about U.S. competition with China, said, “Our success is contingent upon a cohesive approach across public and private sectors. For the department, this means overhauling our policies and reshaping the culture within the department; between the department and industry; and among our allies and partners around the world.”
of upgrading systems and minimizes the SWaP [size, weight, and power] ramifications of adding new functionality to a platform. What’s more, it creates a more fair and competitive marketplace for COTS components – a benefit for vendors and customers alike. BRATTON: The Tri-Service demonstration illustrated how the SOSA approach is influencing the development and deployment of low-risk, high-performance defense computing systems. SOSA builds in multiple key differentiators that deliver the capabilities required to maintain a technological separation between our defense systems and those of our competitors. SOSA has: › Tri-Service support and increasing alignment from industry and prime contractors for scalability and affordability › Security that is built-in and not bolted on and uses a single (12 V) power distribution rail › Leverages a commercial business model enabling all stakeholders to achieve what they require for success › Common OpenVPX profiles and console ports for greater interoperability › Ubiquitous common system manager and off-the-shelf software compatibility › Compatibility with VICTORY [Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability], MORA [Modular OpenRF Architecture], CMOSS [C4ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards], and other major embedded modular open system architectures for program velocity
Military participation in the open architecture and interoperability effort has certainly impacted the momentum. Developers of defense and aerospace solutions have been leveraging open standards to improve interoperability for a number of years now; however, 2019’s Tri-Service “Memorandum for Service Acquisition Executives and Program Executive Officers” drove home the point that these initiatives are no longer optional – they are vital and they are mandatory.
The Tri-Service compatibility demonstration showed how these commercial and technical attributes are driving the SOSA-aligned ecosystem, efficiently putting the best commercially developed technology into the hands of our service members faster.
Support from industry players that have long endured the challenges of limited interoperability is likely playing a critical role as well. A true open standards approach offers systems integrators increased flexibility to choose the solution that makes the most sense for their needs, regardless of vendor. It reduces the costs and complexity
PATTERSON: The key is the attraction of the Tri-Service adoption, which today is truly reaching across the aisles and breaking down the old, once stovepiped,
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www.mil-embedded.com
THE TRI-SERVICE COMPATIBILITY DEMONSTRATION SHOWED HOW THESE COMMERCIAL AND TECHNICAL ATTRIBUTES ARE DRIVING THE SOSA-ALIGNED ECOSYSTEM, EFFICIENTLY PUTTING THE BEST COMMERCIALLY DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGY INTO THE HANDS OF OUR SERVICE MEMBERS FASTER.
JEDYNAK: On the hardware front, future roadmaps will be smaller and more ubiquitous, more like Lego bricks than cellphones. A good goal concept, recently briefed by the U.S. Army, is the Iron Man/J.A.R.V.I.S. model, to provide seamless integration of intelligent systems with warfighters via always-on/resilient networks. This approach will enable situational awareness across multiple battle domains (physical, electromagnetic, cyber) and leverage AI to appropriately triage, decimate, route, fuse, and present actionable data to the warfighter in real time. It will also provide the warfighter with the ability to easily control their unmanned assets in a natural manner (e.g., natural language commands, gestures, biofeedback). And once again, all of this is part of the Third Offset Strategy emphasis on “man-machine teaming.” From the hardware perspective, it means an emphasis on mixed-signal intelligent systems – physical sensors plus RF sensors plus network communications plus AI, all cyber hardened with easy scalability and extensibility from the smallest of systems (little drones) to big HPEC (armored supercomputers), and everything in between.
separation of the military services, moving towards some form of commonality and potential unity. It’s now gained passion and momentum in the industry itself and is being thoroughly reinforced in the press as becoming the next motherhood and apple pie idiom, dare I say, achieving nirvana. Whether or not it will actually reach nirvana is another thing; it could be also be a groupthink mentality, all nodding and chanting that SOSA is great. So, at the moment, the jury is still out, but hope springs eternal in the current market. In terms of military participation, it is being mandated by conformance (compliance) to the standards and, once published by the program offices, there will literally be no other option – your products either conform or not. MIL-EMBEDDED: What will be the next big thing for military embedded technology five or ten years down the road? Predict the future. HOSKING: Maintaining military superiority will require special attention to cybersecurity, space-based weapons, hypersonic weapons, surface fleet protection, and autonomous systems. Funding for all has certainly gained traction in the last several years. Essential capabilities in imaging, recognition, detection, classification, and identification will continue to be refined through advances in sensors, AI, and machine learning. The greatest leverage against government and military adversaries is our ability to deter aggression though overwhelming advantages in these critical capabilities. www.mil-embedded.com
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COTS Confidential Roundtable AI will continue to automate and improve defense applications, evolving the intelligent and connected battlefield. The increase in unmanned platforms will have a positive impact in protecting human lives from danger. Even better, the proliferation of autonomous vehicles and unmanned air taxis in the commercial space will likely accelerate technology advancements in unmanned defense platforms. BRATTON: The rate of technological advancement has never been higher. With initiatives like SOSA, the conditions are set where defense system development and deployment can also progress at the speed of technology itself. Consider the commercial digital convergence that created converged media, information systems, smartphones, and autonomous vehicles. This commercial digital convergence is seen all facets of our lives, has a proven roadmap, and is enabling new technology breakthroughs in processing domains everywhere. This
capability will drive the military digital transformation enabling platforms to shrink and become more capable and adaptable for mission autonomy. Early adoption is underway within unmanned land, sea, and air platforms, including unmanned aerial vehicles. The latter is where the military digital convergence is accelerating the fastest, as extreme-SWaP performance, proven system integrity, and processing power, among other requirements, are the prerequisite to success. If trends continue, then the commercial domain will deliver autonomous smart ground and air taxis; within the defense and aerospace domains, equally capable smart platforms will be deployed that maintain a capability gap between our systems and those of other great powers and competitors. PATTERSON: The future, it seems, is limited only now by our imaginations. As newer semiconductor technologies continue to advance and lithographies continue to shrink, power and performance mount while memory capacities continue to grow. Add to the mix the advances in AI software and advanced programming tools and languages, and the future is, indeed, limitless. I do, however, hope we keep the “Terminator” movies in mind and stay far away from a “Skynet” that becomes self-aware. Isaac Asimov’s three rules of robotics are as valid today and into the future as when he penned “I, Robot” in 1950: › A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. › A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. › A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. MES
OpenSystems Media works with industry leaders to develop and publish content that educates our readers. Creating Flexible Hardware Systems with FPGA Partial Reconfiguration By Nicholas Morin, Abaco Systems Partial Reconfiguration (PR) – which allows FPGAs to dynamically change modules without disrupting other parts of the design – is a feature that allows for increased flexibility and functionality in digital systems. PR proves beneficial in systems that communicate through PCIe and enables protection of intellectual property, as it removes the need to store sensitive data in nonvolatile memory on the FPGA carrier. In this white paper, read some use cases of partial reconfiguration and the considerations when designing partial reconfiguration firmware using the Xilinx Vivado design tool targeting the RFSoC.
Read this paper at https://bit.ly/3807Mlp 20 January/February 2020
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Read more white papers: http://mil-embedded.com/white-papers/ www.mil-embedded.com
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Special Report RADAR DESIGN TRENDS
Advancing radars for defense against missiles and hypersonic weapons By Sally Cole, Senior Editor Ground-based radars are currently undergoing modernization, and a space-based layer of sensors is under development to help defend against ongoing threats posed by ballistic missiles and a newer one in the form of hypersonic weapons. The SPY-6 radar from Raytheon is an integrated 360-degree system that can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hostile aircraft, and surface ships simultaneously. Photo courtesy of Raytheon.
Hypersonic weapons fly at least Mach 5: Five times the speed of sound, or about 3,800 mph. Unlike ballistic missiles, which can reach similar speeds but tend to have a relatively fixed flight path, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that hypersonic weapons will be able to fly at lower altitudes and may even be able to change targets during flight. These capabilities make these weapons extremely difficult to defend against. To address this, defense suppliers are stepping up their radar research and development efforts. For example, Raytheon (Waltham, Massachusetts) is evolving its ground-based ballistic missile sensors and effectors – the interceptors that shoot missiles down – every day within this ever-changing threat landscape. “Our adversaries are developing and launching missiles that can maneuver,” says Erin Kocourek, director of business development for Raytheon’s ground-based missile defense radars. “It’s important to
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note that radars – our current radars today as well as the next generation – are able to track these things.” A big concern is that coverage gaps exist in ground-based sensors: “We simply don’t have enough ships and islands to put a ground-based radar to track everything, so there are coverage gaps around the globe,” she adds. “And maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicles can outfly current radars and go around them to avoid the search senses of existing radars today.” That’s part of the reason why there’s a lot of advocacy for adding a space layer. “Left-of-launch” capabilities are also being explored to address hypersonic threats; this approach essentially involves taking missiles out in boost phase or even before they launch. And it’s important to note that the ballistic threat isn’t going away. “Our adversaries have it and we need to develop next-generation sensing to address multidimension threats,” Kocourek says. “We have a very good missile defense infrastructure and are aware of the evolving threat, but we’re even getting out in front of it now.” Raytheon’s ground-based radars are being upgraded to primarily provide more range, improve processing speed, and perform 360-degree sensing. Distributed sensing and integration of systems are also being explored. Shift to GaN = More energy Raytheon is upgrading its ground-based sensors to gallium nitride (GaN), which is a shift away from gallium arsenide (GaAs) sensors.
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www.mil-embedded.com
Raytheon is also upgrading the processors in its existing radars as well as its next-gen radars by “moving toward an x86 processor, which is faster,” Kocourek notes. “It goes along with the GaN upgrade – using a different power source for our radars.” Radar size Radars can be absolute monsters in size, particularly the legacy ones. “The mission drives the radar size,” Kocourek says. “Beyond scalability, the larger the aperture, the larger the radar size. But there’s only so much deck space on a ship, so we’re very focused on next-generation radars – especially in a distributed approach, with the ability to have both fixed and transportable or mobile radars. So reducing the footprint makes a lot of sense, but ultimately the mission is what drives the size of that radar.” Homeland-defense radars require a big aperture, since there’s a considerable distance between some of our adversaries and the U.S. “There are some lower-tiered sensors, which are inside the atmosphere and generally track air-breathing threats,” she explains. “Counter-UASs [unmanned aircraft systems] generally have smaller apertures and footprints. Upper-tier sensors are going to have a larger aperture, but it really depends on the mission and what you need to see that drives radar size.” Availability is also a concern in radar: “You don’t want to build a radar that’s so big that it far exceeds need or range requirements,” Kocourek points out. “So when we think of radars, we develop a radar architecture that allows for scalability – enabling efficiency, risk reduction, and cost considerations.” Radar solutions must be uniquely scaled to the threat and the range for the defended area, geographic location, and mission. “These are critical considerations when you think about the size of your radar,” she says. “So we’re developing and architecting our next-generation radars with that in mind so that they’re almost like building blocks you can size up according to mission need.”
“The GaN-powered radars we’re building will have more energy or range, which extends the battlespace,” Kocourek explains. “We also want to take radars to 360 degrees. Some are already 360facing, which means that you can see threats coming from multiple different locations. This reduces chances of targets or incoming missiles flying around your radars, so 360 degrees is very important to defeating next-generation threats.” One example of a 360-degree radar built by Raytheon is its integrated air and missile defense radar, and it really starts with their SPY-6 radar baseline: “This is an integrated air and missile defense radar in production today, which will be on Flight III destroyers,” Kocourek says. “They’re completing tests this year, and there are several variants that can be designed as a rotator or fixed radar. From the ground side, we’re exploring the ashore versions of those – meaning taking them off a ship deck and putting them on the land.” www.mil-embedded.com
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Special Report
RADAR DESIGN TRENDS
Distributed sensing Distributed sensing is another key concept Raytheon is working on to improve missiledefense sensing capabilities. This concept involves combining different sensors to essentially work as a team. “When sensors in different locations all form their beams toward one object, it acts like a flashlight,” Kocourek says. “With multiple flashlights on one object, you’re going to be able to discriminate and see what that object is, take a better look at it, and get a better description of it.” Raytheon is currently exploring “netting together sensors with a distributed sensing approach because not only does it allow you to see and track an object better, it also provides for more resilience and survivability of the system,” she adds. “If one
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Are sensors likely to be targeted and taken out? “It’s definitely a concern if we go to war. Big assets like sensors and critical infrastructure are always going to be targeted by adversaries, so we do our best to build them to withstand attacks,” Kocourek says. “But it’s not any more of a threat than it’s ever been. Certainly, our adversaries are continuing to develop their technologies and capabilities. So our primary goal is to deter through uncertainty and to have the capability to defend and protect our assets and our homeland, as well as those of our allies.” Integration also key Integration is another key role radars will be playing. “More than ever, we need systems that work together to increase the battlespace and defended area,” Kocourek says. “One of Raytheon’s radars, the AN-TPY, operates in two modes: forward-based mode – which means that it’s out there on its own tracking – and cueing other sensors to look.”
No Boundaries!
24 January/February 2020
of your sensors gets taken out or isn’t operational for some reason, the rest of the architecture is still there and you’re still getting a picture of your target and can feed that information to the effector to shoot it down.”
Raytheon has successfully demonstrated “engage on remote,” which can be explained this way: When an SM-3 missile gets launched off an Aegis cruiser, if it has its own organic sensor on it (a SPY-1), it can successfully track and cue a SPY-1 on the Aegis ship to launch a missile interceptor. “An off-board sensor, the AN/TPY-2, was able to track first and then send that cue through a data link, to a satellite communications network, and then back to that ship to do what we call ‘engage on remote,’” Kocourek explains. Another example is the integration of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot missile defense systems. “Proven systems can work together to increase the defended area,” Kocourek says. “U.S. Forces-Korea had an urgent operational need and used AN/TPY-2, which is part of the THAAD system comprised of a radar, launcher, and a command and control capability. www.mil-embedded.com
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RADAR DESIGN TRENDS
The Patriot system, which is similar, has a sensor launcher. We combined those two to integrate for increased battlespace in U.S. Forces-Korea to meet this need. The AN/TPY-2, as part of that THAAD system, was able to see and give the Patriot a cue, which gave the regional commander a better defense picture and increased battlespace – providing more time to determine which asset to use to shoot down the incoming threat.” (Figure 1.) Space-based sensors to augment ground-based radar systems Along with ground-based radars, spacebased sensors are being developed for a proposed satellite constellation to help track hypersonic and ballistic missiles. A space-based sensing layer would ideally augment the existing missile defense architecture. From space what’s being done is persistent sensing, as opposed to ground-based sensing that’s often limited by the horizon.
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Figure 1 | U.S. Forces-Korea had an urgent operational need and used Raytheon’s AN/TPY-2, which is part of the THAAD system comprised of a radar, launcher, and commandand-control capability.
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Figure 2 | Northrop Grumman’s concept of space-based sensing solution for hypersonic and ballistic missile defense advances under the HBTSS Phase IIa Program. Image courtesy of Northrop Grumman.
Northrop Grumman (Falls Church, Virginia) was recently selected as one of four defense contractors to work on the Missile Defense Agency’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) Phase IIa Program. (Figure 2.) As part of this program, Northrop Grumman is developing a highly capable, survivable, affordable, and extensible space-based sensing solution for hypersonic and ballistic missile defense. “HBTSS is an important undertaking that allows us to see advanced threats like hypersonic missiles in ways we haven’t been able to before,” says Kenneth Todorov, vice president of Missile Defense Solutions for Northrop Grumman. “If you can see the threats, you can take them out.” Northrop Grumman’s end-to-end, multidomain approach to hypersonic and ballistic missile defense spans technologies within multiple warfighting domains from sea and space to the electromagnetic and cyber environment. Future of hypersonic weapons The U.S. Department of Defense has many programs underway by DARPA www.mil-embedded.com
[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency], the Air Force, the Navy, and the Army to develop hypersonic weapons for a wide variety of applications and launch methods, according to the GAO. Tracking these hypersonic weapons is highlighted by the GAO as one of the key challenges the weapons pose, so research and development within this realm will be critically important for national security. As far as a timeline goes, a U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board report says that domestically, the core technologies necessary for the development of a tactical hypersonic glide vehicle have reached a technical readiness level (TRL) of 5 out of 9. The board expects the remaining subsystems for such weapons to reach a TRL of 6 or higher in 2020. According to GAO best practices, a TRL of 7 is the level of maturity that constitutes a low risk for starting system development – indicating that a technology has achieved form, fit, and function, and has been demonstrated within an operational environment. MES
MILITARY EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
January/February 2020 27
Mil Tech Trends SIGNAL-PROCESSING TRENDS IN RADAR, SONAR, AND ELECTRONIC WARFARE
Standard network interfaces, heterogeneous architecture, and COTS solutions: Recent trends in signal processing By David Jedynak
As the amount of signal-processing data used in defense applications continues to grow, the challenge for system architects becomes less about hardware design and more about what to do with all that data, and how to do it. As commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions can now be used to move the data, the system designer can better focus on what they are going to do with that data and concentrate on solving their higher-level problems. One of the most impactful trends in ISR/ EW [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance/electronic warfare] signal processing technology that’s emerged in recent years has been the move toward low-latency open standard network inter-
28 January/February 2020
faces and their replacement of legacy analog interfaces and some proprietary interfaces. This trend has great significance because the more that signal processing takes advantage of network based packetized Ethernet-style interfaces, the more modern the overall system architecture can become. For signal-processing applications, the goal is to move incoming analog data from the sensor element(s) to the processing elements as quickly as possible so that the data can be worked on as closely to real time with the lowest latency possible. Rapidly getting that incoming sensor data onto an open standards-based network to the user can powerfully leverage today’s modern high-speed networking standards, whether optical or copper, to move or record it. On the processing side, the use of standard network interfaces liberates the system designer from spending time considering which parts of the system require what different types of interfaces. Until recently, signal-processing application designers had to deal with a plethora of interface types. Today, it’s now possible and practical to reduce the number of different interface “flavors” down to a mere handful. That winnowing makes it much easier to leverage sophisticated, proven technologies from adjacent markets that also use those standard network interfaces, such as the highspeed data fabrics used in data and financial trading centers. Different types of silicon bring various strengths Another major trend in ISR/EW signal processing is the growth of heterogeneous processing. Designers now better understand how different types of silicon – for
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hardware. Combining standard network interfaces and heterogeneous compute architectures makes it easier for the system designer to select the right sort of processing technology (while still standards-based), optimized for their particular application and all communicating in an open standard way, to apply new exotic types of algorithms – such as machine learning – to the incoming signals. Even better, this approach means that all of the processing elements can reside either in a single chassis or distributed throughout the platform, which can be hugely beneficial in size, weight, and power (SWaP)-constrained platform environments. Once the data is available on the network, the widest variety of processing technology can be more effectively leveraged in an extensible, modular way. Instead of being a signaltransmission path problem, the signal-processing chain becomes a more typical data center-style information technology challenge, which is much easier to manage. For example, incoming networked data can readily be sent first to two different boxes, and then after that sent from one box to another.
INTERFACE “FLAVORS” DOWN TO A MERE HANDFUL.
example, a CPU, FPGA, or GPU – each bring different strengths to signal processing applications. Heterogeneous devices can be clustered together and communicate via modern standard interconnects – such as network interfaces or PCI Express (PCIe)-based interfaces, for example – making it easier to mix, match, and balance the signal processing system architecture; or to make the system more extensible, based on the application’s own unique design requirements. In the past, without the use of open standard network interfaces, the signal-processing system designer was often saddled with a system architecture that compromised performance and flexibility because of the need to deal with a variety of arcane interfaces. Today, thanks to the combination of heterogeneous system architectures and low-latency open standard network interfaces, signal-processing system integrators are also better able to develop commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions that enable unique ways of computing. Previously, signal-processing customers, not unreasonably, assumed that complex processing requirements would demand a fully custom design approach, often a costly one-off, built only to address a specific task and interfaces at hand. Today, complex signal-processing systems can be quickly and cost-effectively addressed with off-the-shelf VITA standard-based www.mil-embedded.com
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January/February 2020 29
Mil Tech Trends
SIGNAL-PROCESSING TRENDS IN RADAR, SONAR, AND ELECTRONIC WARFARE
By making it easier and more effective to leverage different types of processing technologies, it also becomes less difficult to use different types of algorithms and computing at a higher level to extract useful and actionable information. A result of the use of highspeed modern network interfaces and heterogeneous architectures is that the ultimate architecture and design of application-specific processing becomes significantly easier, more cost-effective, and more quickly deployable. Put the signal data on the network Placing all of the signal data over the network makes it practical, efficient, and cost-effective to deploy heterogeneous processing. This setup enables the system itself to be decomposed and recomposed in certain ways so that capabilities can be added or changed later without having to rearchitect the entire physical system. For example, if it is necessary to move a huge amount of data to a different part of the network, a machine learning program can be applied at the front end that removes all extraneous signal data and breaks an otherwise fat pipe of data down into a significantly smaller data stream before it is sent on to the next processing stage. This scenario represents a real breakthrough that promises to drive a whole new realm of possibilities for COTSbased signal processing. An example of applying machine learning to signal processing: The collaboration between Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions and General Dynamics Mission Systems to deliver deployable open architecturebased artificial intelligence (AI) COTS solutions for signal intelligence (SIGINT) and EW situational-awareness applications. The two companies have combined an Intel Xeon D processor-based CHAMP-XD1 module and SignalEye threat-detection software to deliver RF spectrum situational awareness that automatically classifies signals through the use of machine learning. (Figure 1.) The combination of high-speed modern network interfaces and heterogeneous architectures has helped make it possible to solve compute-intensive signalprocessing applications such as EO/IR,
30 January/February 2020
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Figure 1 | The SignalEye/CHAMP-XD1 solution is aimed at SIGINT and EW situationalawareness applications. Image courtesy Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions.
radar, or various phased signal architectures using COTS building blocks. The debate now moves beyond Infiniband versus Ethernet or whether to use four 10 Gigabyte data pipes or one 40 GB pipe: When analyzed properly, signal-processing applications are simply a matter of moving bits around a system. Today, using COTS, it’s possible to accommodate even very high-end cryogenically cooled A/D modules that support output data streams with sampling rates of many tens of Gigabits per second per quantized bit. With a parallel architecture, 8- or even 16-bit wide A/D data can be extracted, decimated, and sent on for additional processing by another cluster. By using COTS building blocks to build these modern low-latency heterogeneous signal-processing architectures, system integrators are better able to focus their resources on the harder, higher-level software problems at which they excel. As the amount of signal-processing data continues to grow, the challenge for system architects becomes less about hardware design and more about what to do with all that data, and how. Because COTS solutions can now be used to move the data, the system designer can better focus on what they are going to do with that data and concentrate on solving their higher-level problems. Simply put, the message to signal-processing system designers is: If you’re not using modern network-based systems today, rethink your approach because you’re focusing on the wrong problem. The real issue: What to do with the wealth of data and heterogeneous processing technologies now available from COTS building blocks and network interfaces. MES David Jedynak is Program Director, A-PNT Program Office, for Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. David joined Curtiss-Wright in 2008 and has focused his expertise in network centric systems and COTS solutions. David actively participates in the VICTORY Standards Organization and has presented a number of vehicle electronics architecture papers to GVSETS. Prior to joining Curtiss-Wright, David worked in automotive consumer electronics industry, designing, ruggedizing, and integrating new technologies into vehicles. David has a BS in electrical engineering, a certificate in astronautical engineering, and a certificate in project management from UCLA. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions • www.curtisswrightds.com
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Industry Spotlight RF AND MICROWAVE IN ELECTRONIC WARFARE SYSTEMS
RF and microwave suppliers for military use face demands for innovation By Emma Helfrich, Associate Editor The U.S. military is quickly realizing that modernization efforts for RF [radio frequency] and microwave components are necessary in order to keep pace with advancing adversaries – and major component suppliers are ready for the challenge. A radar on the aft tower of the USS Harry S Truman spins during nighttime operations in the Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Department of Defense photo.
Even at its stealthiest moments, war is loud. Not always in the vein of cacophonous, artillery-heavy combat, but think instead of the constant radio frequency (RF) and microwave communications warfighters and their electronic warfare (EW) solutions emit. Size, weight, and power (SWaP) limitations; the introduction of gallium nitride (GaN); and the need for wider bandwidths have all driven the demand for specific RF and microwave capabilities that military customers are asking for. To better understand the engineering challenges manufacturers face, let’s examine the fact that while RF and microwave components do have similarities, radar and EW requirements differ in a significant way. At a surface level, radar is primarily used in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) settings as well as in
32 January/February 2020
communications. In these instances, the radar is highly pulsed; quick transmission and efficient analysis of the data received prevents adversaries from locating positions. As a result, radar’s existence on the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is far more limited than most EW solutions. Jamming, intercepting, and counterattacks are a few of the capabilities expected of EW but not always of pure radar. These capabilities require low latency to reduce the time between when a signal hits, when it’s converted in a processor, and when it’s sent back out – an area in which adversaries have made recognized strides, according to industry professionals. Thermal management is also crucial for EW, since EW transmits continuous waves rather than the pulsed RF of radar. These operational differences provide warfighters with electronic reinforcement on the battlefield, but they also create incredibly specific and challenging design requirements for suppliers. SWaP innovations have already begun to change the military RF and microwave game in notable ways and will arguably act as the first step toward the complete modernization of EW components, according to leading industry suppliers. SWaP’s persistent influence With reduced SWaP limitations remaining a constant factor in the design of military capabilities spanning beyond just RF and microwave components, engineers have been tasked with designing innovative ways to shrink, cool, and speed up EW operating systems. One method that has gained traction in the industry has been die-level packaging.
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“With certain reduction of size and weight, a lot of that comes down to how we package these devices,” says Dean White, senior director for HPS market strategy high-performance solutions at Qorvo (Greensboro, North Carolina). “We’re always looking for ways to take the device and put it into a package that is just a little bit bigger than the die itself. There’s a lot of different trends in terms of packaging even down to the point of doing wafer-level packaging.” The question has now become: Does the U.S. have the packaging know-how to integrate revolutionary new technologies? The Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Navy, needing answer to just this question, established the State-of-the-art Heterogenous Integrated Packaging (SHIP) prototype project, of which Qorvo is an awardee. The motivation behind the program is onshore, SWaP-defined integration intended to lower supply-chain risk and protect the DoD’s intellectual property, all while achieving lower power consumption, reducing physical size, and improving performance. Regardless of participation in the SHIP project, microelectronics companies seem to be in agreement that integration will play a key role in overcoming SWaP challenges in military RF and microwave technology.
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“We have developed multiple strategies to reduce SWaP requirements of our RF and microwave products,” says Mario LaMarche, senior product marketing manager for RF, microwave, and mixed-signal product lines for Mercury Systems (Andover, www.mil-embedded.com
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January/February 2020 33
Industry Spotlight
RF AND MICROWAVE IN ELECTRONIC WARFARE SYSTEMS
Massachusetts). “Two that I’ll highlight are utilizing advanced modeling in the design phase and RF and digital integration. Through accurate nonlinear models we are able to significantly increase the circuit density while minimizing the performance effects.” (Figure 1.) Mastering the packaging side gives companies a notable advantage in the industry. However, while having the skill set to manufacture these smaller and smaller form factors is important, making use of resources like foundries and semiconductor fabrication plants (fabs) can make all the difference. The role of foundries and fabs Fabs are where microelectronics, such as the chips and wafers used in RF and microwave capabilities, are manufactured and then sold to third-party companies that aren’t equipped with the foundry to build it themselves. When attempting to achieve the most cost-efficient, customizable, SWaP-optimized product for the customer, this can present a challenge for the company.
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Figure 1 | The Mercury Systems RFM3101 compact 3U OpenVPX transceiver – operating from 6 GHz to 18 GHz – has been designed to support demanding EW applications.
“Having the ability to actually make, manufacture, and have all of those components is pretty key,” says Sean D’Arcy, director of aerospace and defense at Analog Devices (Norwood, Massachusetts). “That’s the kind of solution you’re going to have to have to be able to get there. It’s putting a lot of pressure on some of the larger guys who don’t have a foundry or fab and those core products because they’re buying them.” With integration becoming a prominent trend in the industry, the existence of a company-owned fab can be the final arbiter in whether or not a specific design can be engineered (Figure 2). Integration means that these companies are either custom making monolithic solutions or taking dies and putting them on a package with complex interposes. According to industry professionals, the abilities that a fab provides are almost the only way a microelectronics company can keep up with the cutting-edge design trends in military RF and microwave electronics. “The primes are looking inward again,” says Damian McCann, associate director of development engineering at Microchip (Chandler, Arizona). “What we’re seeing is a push for the primes to reestablish their internal capability.” Fabs and foundries contribute to the ever-present goal of cutting costs and increasing efficiency that define much of the radar and EW market, and so does the utilization of new materials. GaN has been a revolutionary addition to the industry, pushing RF and microwave electronics one step closer to achieving higher voltage and more proficient power dissipation. GaN continues to impress Transformation within the military RF and microwave market has resulted in the introduction of several new, cost-efficient, and more easily packaged materials. Silicon carbide (SiC), laterally diffused metal-oxide semiconductors (LDMOS), and GaN are three of the top players that manufacturers seem to be reaching for when the goal is to enable higher voltages in an all-around more affordable product. As a leader in LDMOS technology, NXP has seen firsthand the industry’s gradual lean toward to the use of GaN in RF power solutions. According to company officials, the military is adamantly pushing for it because of its attractive price point. However, this doesn’t mean that the materials can’t work together in powering critical RF solutions. “In the past, we used to call it LDMOS v. GaN, now we call it LDMOS and GaN because they can be complimentary,” says Gavin Smith, RF product marketing manager
34 January/February 2020
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Figure 2 | Analog Devices’ ADAR1000 is a 4-channel, X-and Ku-frequency band, beamforming core chip for phased arrays with both an integrated temperature sensor and an 8-bit ADC.
at NXP (Chandler, Arizona). “We can use LDMOS in certain ranges, and GaN in others. Maybe potentially using LDMOS as a driver with GaN.” (Figure 3.) Internal research and development for phased array, specifically analog phased array, has also benefited from the use of GaN. As the accepted design implementation that’s been in favor for years gets shrunk down and pushed higher in the spectrum, power levels need to be managed accordingly. That’s where GaN comes into play. “GaN technology is what enables the next generation, so you will see a lot of that. As far as its ability to put out a significant amount of power, less of the energy is converted to heat,” D’Arcy says. “But you always have to think about what is beyond GaN. Our industry tends to get a little caught up on the process or the material, but if you think about our end customer, they don’t care if it’s made of diamond as long as it works.” www.mil-embedded.com
challenge that has influenced funding, along with ships and sea-skimming missiles on the naval side. Adversaries are getting better at hiding in the noise, and the U.S. is experimenting with ways to get better at finding them. Some other up-and-coming concepts floating around the military RF and microwave industry include radar-guided rounds and kinetic weapons. What kind of accommodations these will need, however, is not yet clear, but they are enticing to the DoD, and these new technologies are driving change and spending for research and development.
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Figure 3 | NXP’s MMRF5021HS uses 50 V GaN and is designed for wideband applications.
“If you put enough hours and money behind it, you come up with these fantastic results,” White says. “The military just continues to challenge us. They’re always asking us to be a little better than we were last year.” (Figure 4.) MES
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Military RF and microwave customers may have their specific customizations, cost parameters, and radar and EW needs, but warfighters are just as eager to start using the next best thing as the engineers are to fabricate them. The DoD just needs to back it first. Advancements drive military funding A general push toward higher frequencies and voltages has influenced the direction of military spending as it requires reliable power dissipation, efficient thermal management, and creative methods of integration. “Our adversaries are becoming increasingly more complex, and RF and microwave is where we need to be advancing the fastest,” D’Arcy says. “Another factor that drives military funding, whether this be perception or reality, is spectral dominance where we need to not just be able to jam and protect, but we also need to be able to function and have our GPS and our systems work as well, and a lot of that is RF and microwave.”
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January/February 2020 35
Industry Spotlight RF AND MICROWAVE IN ELECTRONIC WARFARE SYSTEMS
Making noise power ratio measurements with real-world signals By Donald Vanderweit A newly developed method to test satellite signals based on spectral correlation can produce better test results, as the traditional noise power ratio (NPR) test can overstate distortion during actual operation.
Noise power ratio (NPR) is one of the most common distortion measurements for active components like amplifiers. It has its origins back in the 1930s in testing frequency division multiplexed (FDM) analog telephone trunks. The measurement is still in use today because it isolates the intermodulation distortion products generated by a nonlinear component. The distortion measured by the NPR test is in-band distortion, so it cannot be filtered away. Because it is nonlinear, it resists correction via predistortion. The traditional NPR measurement uses as a stimulus a noise pedestal, which has a roughly Gaussian power profile. However, most signals sent over satellite links have a much more conservative power profile, with lower crest factors and narrower complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) curves. As a result, the traditional NPR test (Figure 1) can overstate the distortion that would
36 January/February 2020
be present during operation. To avoid this discrepancy, a test method based on spectral correlation measures NPR using real-world signals. In a satellite link, designers are always looking for ways to get more power from the amplifiers. More power means a better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the ground station, making it possible to increase the data rate of the link. Because these amplifiers already operate at or near their nonlinear regions, however, more power also means more distortion. The NPR value at a given power level is used as a relative measure of quality for power amplifiers. Traditional NPR As shown in Figure 1, the traditional NPR test signal consists of a wideband noise signal with a notch in the middle with little to no power in it. This signal is generated either by a wideband noise generator with filters to shape the pedestal and
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Figure 1 | NPR test signal.
the notch or by an arbitrary waveform generator using multitones. The idea for the test is simple: Under nonlinear operation, the different frequency components of the wideband pedestal will mix and create intermodulation distortion. This process will send energy to different frequencies and create spectral regrowth both inside and outside of the pedestal bandwidth. Some of this energy will land inside the notch; because there was little or no energy in the notch to begin with, the distortion contribution of the amplifier can be isolated and measured. www.mil-embedded.com
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Figure 3 | CCDF curves for a traditional NPR signal (green) and a 64 QAM [quadrature amplitude modulation] signal (red).
Figure 2 shows an example of such a test. The yellow trace is the signal at the input to the DUT [device under test], while the green trace is the output. The pedestal is clearly defined and the test stimulus (the yellow trace) shows very little energy in the notch. After passing through the amplifier (blue trace), energy is clearly evident within the notch. The ratio of this energy to the pedestal energy is the NPR. (Figure 2.)
wideband signal and therefore the power of the signal varies over time. There are many ways to relate this variance to the average signal power, such as crest factor or peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). The most useful for this discussion is the CCDF curve (Figure 3), which shows the percentage of time that a given signal exceeds a given power level. For the green trace in Figure 3, for example, the signal clearly has a power level that is at least 6 dB higher than the average signal power for 2% of the time.
The amount of distortion is highly dependent on the power of the signal, leading to an important characteristic of the test signal: the power profile. The test signal is a
Remember that distortion is largely determined by the power of the input signal.
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Figure 2 | Input and output traces from an NPR test.
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Industry Spotlight As a result, understanding the power profile of the test signal is important to understanding the result. The traditional NPR signal is generated by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and its power profile has a Gaussian shape. The green trace in Figure 3 shows how this looks on the CCDF plot. But is this the right signal to use as a test stimulus? The signal that is sent through the satellite may or may not have a similar power curve. The traditional NPR test signal was originally designed to model the FDM analog channels found in 20th-century telephone networks. These channels, as a group, have a Gaussian power profile. Many orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals have a similar profile because – like the old networks – the signals comprise many individual carriers. However, singlecarrier channels have very different power profiles. In many cases, these signals are chosen specifically because their more conservative CCDF curves require less power to transmit and create less distortion. This certainly applies to single-carrier signals like QPSK, QAM, and APSK. It also applies to multicarrier signals. Recently, new modulation schemes have been proposed (e.g., DFT-spread OFDM) that modify OFDM to reduce the peak power needed. These methods hope to combine the high data rates and spectral efficiencies of OFDM with the lower peak power and distortion of singlecarrier channels. How different are these power profiles? Remember, it is the power profile that impacts the distortion measurements of the system. The red curve in Figure 3 shows the CCDF curve for a typical 64 QAM single-carrier signal. This signal appears to have a much narrower range of power levels, never going higher than 6 dB above the average power level. The NPR measurement would very likely be much different if tested with this signal instead of the noise-based signal. The spectral correlation method Can an NPR test be performed using a test stimulus that looks like a real-world
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RF AND MICROWAVE IN ELECTRONIC WARFARE SYSTEMS
Figure 4a
Figure 4b
›
Figure 4a and 4b | NPR tests using the spectral correlation method.
signal? This was one of the goals in the development of the spectral correlation method. The key to this method lies in measuring the input and output signals to and from the DUT at the same time and comparing the power at each frequency across the wideband signal. For a linear system, this comparison would give us the frequency response of the DUT. For a nonlinear system, there are two additional factors: compression and intermodulation. The compression is the change in the frequency response at a given frequency due to energy being lost to harmonics. This would be present even if the signal were made of a single tone. The other factor is the intermodulation distortion, which is the energy present due to the intermodulation products. This term is the source of the noise power ratio. How can the two be separated? There is a critical distinction between the compression and distortion terms: the compression term is correlated to the input signal, and the distortion is not. By applying a correlation test between the input and output signals, the compression and distortion can be separated. This approach is called the spectral correlation method.
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The measurement This method has been implemented as the modulation distortion application for the Keysight PNA-X Vector Network Analyzer. This application is used to measure the distortion trace for a traditional NPR test stimulus and for a singlecarrier 64 QAM test signal as the test stimulus. Figure 4 shows the two tests, with traditional NPR on the left and the 64 QAM signal on the right. In both cases, an arbitrary waveform generator was used as the test stimulus. There are two important observations to be made here: On the left side of Figure 4, three traces are displayed. The yellow trace is the input to the DUT, and the blue trace is the output (as in Figure 2). The third (purple) trace is the distortion trace, as calculated by the spectral correlation method. As shown in the figure, this floor lines up with the notch floor in the output signal. The two measurements are interchangeable. Even in parts of the signal where there is no notch, this method shows where the notch floor would be. A notch in the test signal is no longer needed to measure NPR. A much wider variety of wideband signals can therefore be used as test signals – specifically, test signals that more closely match the operational signals in the system under test. The right side of Figure 4 shows the same test on the same amplifier, but using the 64 QAM signal as the stimulus. Because the 64 QAM signal has a more conservative CCDF curve, the distortion is lower. In fact, the NPR measurement using this signal is 4 dB lower than for the traditional NPR test. In actual use, this amplifier would be much “cleaner” than the traditional NPR test would show. With the spectral correlation method, the difference is obvious. Using the spectral correlation method, developers now have the flexibility to use real-world signals for distortion testing. This new method gives more information about the nature of the distortion and the performance of the DUT in real-world conditions. Traditional NPR is still useful as an apples-to-apples comparison between components, but realworld signals are better for modeling the link as it will be used. MES www.mil-embedded.com
References Keysight Application Note: Characterizing Digitally Modulated Signals with CCDF Curves: 5968-6875EN J. Verspecht, A. Stav, J. Teyssier, and S. Kusano, “Characterizing Amplifier Modulation Distortion Using a Vector Network Analyzer,” 2019 93rd ARFTG Microwave Measurement Conference (ARFTG), Boston, MA, 2019, pp. 1-4.
Donald Vanderweit joined Keysight Technologies in 2006 as an application engineer. He supports Keysight RF and microwave test solutions across the space industry, with a focus on link and component testing. He received his MSEE from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1988.
Keysight Technologies www.keysight.com
SOSA-READY DEVELOPMENT ENCLOSURES & OPENVPX CHASSIS MANAGER
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TECHNICAL COVERAGE OF ALL PARTS OF THE DESIGN PROCESS Military Embedded Systems focuses on “whole life COTS” and the total military program life cycle, providing technical coverage that applies to every stage of a program, from front-end design to deployment. The website, Resource Guide, Internet editions, e-newsletters, and print editions provide insight on embedded tools and strategies such as hardware, software, systems, technology insertion, endof-life mitigation, component storage, and many other military-specific technical subjects. Coverage areas include the latest, most innovative products and technology shifts that drive today’s military embedded applications, such as SDR, avionics, AI, radar, cybersecurity, C4ISR, standards, and more. Each issue provides readers with the information they need to stay up to date on the embedded technology used by the military and aerospace industries and the newest, most exciting technologies in the pipeline. mil-embedded.com
Editor’s Choice Products LDO regulator targets digital loads for spaceflight payloads The Renesas Electronics ISL70005SEH is a single-chip synchronous buck and low dropout (LDO) regulator targeting low-power FPGAs, DDR memory, and other digital loads for spaceflight payload applications. The point-of-load (POL) power solution reduces size, weight, and power (SWaP) by integrating a synch buck and LDO in a single monolithic IC. The device, says the company, enables satellite manufacturers to reduce bill of materials (BOM) and power-supply footprint for their medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) long-duration mission profiles. The ISL70005SEH – featuring rad-hard dual output POL regulator that combines 95% high efficiency with the synch buck regulator and a low 75mV dropout on the LDO regulator – enables easier thermal management for systems with 3.3 V or 5 V power buses and can support 3 A continuous output load current for the buck regulator and ±1A for the LDO. The device is wafer acceptance tested to 100 krad(Si) over high dose rate (HDR) and tested for ELDRS up to 75 krad(Si) over low dose rate (LDR). Single-event effects (SEE) testing shows no single event latch-up (SEL) and single event burnout (SEB) at a linear energy transfer (LET) up to 86MeV*cm2/mg. Single event transients (SETs) have been characterized at a LET range of 8.5 to 86MeV*cm2/mg. Renesas Electronics | www.renesas.com
Graphics XMC can minimize latency for mission-critical applications The NVP2102A XMC graphics and GPGPU card from Abaco Systems is intended to work together with its recently announced NVP2102, enabling additional support for legacy interfaces and peripherals. Target applications for the new board – which is based on the NVIDIA Quadro Pascal (GP107) P2000 GPU architecture and provides as much as 2.3 teraflops of peak performance – include those calling for very high-end graphics capabilities or CUDA [Compute Unified Device Architecture] support when performing general-purpose processing and those requiring raw video capture and display. The NVP2102A has four 3G-SDI inputs, two NTSC/PAL video inputs, and two audio inputs, while video output is done via two 3G-SDI and two DVI or DisplayPort interfaces. The card also supports direct video capture to GPU memory, which the company says reduces latency significantly, minimizing glass-to-glass time and enabling the delivery of actionable information closer to real time. The input resolution of incoming video is automatically detected and raw video frames are transferred directly to GPU memory (or host memory); in GPU memory, processing such as image analysis, image enhancement, 360-degree video stitching, sensor fusion, and target detection and so on uses the fast nature of the NVIDIA GPGPU to quickly deliver output to the user. Windows or Linux drivers and API are available for x86 systems. Abaco Systems | www.abaco.com
AI accelerator board is based on Intel Altera FPGA Experts at Concurrent Technologies developed a high-performance 3U VPX accelerator engine – based on an Intel Altera FPGA. The TR AEx/3sd-RCx is focused on “inference at the edge” applications such as real-time object recognition and behavior monitoring. The engine was designed to work in parallel with Concurrent Technologies processor boards like TR H4x/3sd-RCx and TR J4x/6sd-RCx that are in alignment with a proposed SOSA Technical Standard. The AI Accelerator Engine enables the user to receive and process real-time actionable intelligence from vision, RF, or other sensors. The inferencing hardware used on the TR AEx/3sd-RCx is supported by Intel’s OpenVINO Toolkit, a comprehensive toolkit for deploying inferencing solutions on Intel-based products. OpenVINO supports deep learning, the OpenCV open source library for computer vision applications, and the OpenVX API for heterogeneous compute use across Intel devices. The TR AEx/3sd-RCx supports popular AI frameworks including Caffe, TensorFlow, and MXNet along with neural network models like AlexNet and Resnet for ease of use and compatibility. The engine comes with approximately 25 pretrained models but also has a model downloader function for those customers that have their own data model. Concurrent Technologies | www.gocct.com www.mil-embedded.com
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January/February 2020 41
Editor’s Choice Products Audio capture added to data recorder for training and incident analysis Pasternack has introduced a new series of high-power, Class AB broadband amplifier modules that use GaN [gallium nitride], LDMOS [laterally diffused metaloxide semiconductor], or VDMOS [vertically diffused metal-oxide semiconductor] technology. The combination of high linearity and efficiency with low distortion over a wide dynamic range make them a fit for such applications as communications systems, military radio, radar, signal jamming, test and measurement, and base stations. The company’s selection of 18 high-power, Class AB amplifiers cover frequency bands from 20 MHz to 18 GHz, feature saturated output power levels ranging from 10 watts to 200 watts, and handle power gain up to 53 dB. The parts operate in a 50-ohm environment and are unconditionally stable. The compact coaxial packages use SMA or N-Type connectors and have integrated D-Sub control connectors for DC bias and carry TTL logic control, current sense, and temperature sense functions. The ruggedized parts operate over a wide temperature range from -20 °C to +60 °C and can withstand relative humidity exposure up to 95% of the maximum. Optimum baseplate temperature can be achieved by using the company’s two new heatsink modules with DC-controlled cooling fans that are specifically designed for these power amplifiers. Pasternack | www.pasternack.com
GaN transistor aimed at high-reliability applications The TDG650E60 ruggedized 650 volt/60 A GaN [gallium nitride] power HEMT [high electron mobility transistor] from Teledyne e2v – based on technology from GaN Systems – is aimed at high-reliability military and space power applications. The product leverages the patented Island Technology from GaN Systems, which is a scalable, vertical charge dissipating system that lends the power transistor ultra-low thermal losses, high power density, no-charge storage, and very high switching speeds. The part, available in either top- or bottom-side cooled options, is now available in radiationtolerant plastic encapsulated packaging that has undergone stringent reliability and electrical testing. Testing done on these small-form-factor transistors, according to the company, includes sulfuric test, high altitude simulation, dynamic burn-in, step stress up to 175 °C ambient, 9-volt gate voltage, and full temperature testing. The GaN-based TDG650E60 parts can be implemented in parallel to increase the load current or lower the effective RDSon. The transistor’s GaNpx packaging enables very high frequency switching and excellent thermal characteristics, which can lead to significant reductions in the overall size and weight of power electronics. Teledyne e2v | https://www.teledyne-e2v.com/
Flight-safety certification module for manned, unmanned vehicles The EnsembleSeries CIOE-1390 module from Mercury Systems, featuring the Intel Atom multicore processor and embedded BuiltSAFE technology, is aimed at applications that need high onboard processing power for smart, integrated avionics, including rotary-wing platforms and urban air mobility vehicles. The rugged small-form-factor COM Express Type 10 Mini processor modules sport either a dual- or quad-core E3900 Atom Apollo Lake processor. They are also available initially with DO-254 DAL-C flight-safety certification evidence for the circuit card assembly and DO-178C evidence for the optimized custom BIOS and bootloader software. These features, say the company, enable system safety certification to occur faster, at lower cost, and with lower risk. Certain Atom processors come with extended factory availability; Mercury adds additional sustainment and end-of-life protection, which enables as many as 15+ years of useful life. Mercury Systems | www.mrcy.com
42 January/February 2020
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Editor’s Choice Products Optical interconnect products aligned with SOSA, VITA standards The LightCONEX active optical blind mate interconnects from Reflex Photonics is, the company says, compatible with the VITA 66.5 standard and aligned with standards to come from the Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA) consortium. The low-profile plug-in module connector is screwed on the board edge through an interposer, saving board space and eliminating fiber cable handling. The backplane connector is spring-loaded to ensure a secure mechanical transfer (MT)-to-MT connection, even under extreme shock and vibration conditions. The optical interconnect features a linear array of 12 or 24 parallel multimode fibers; a spring within the backplane optical cable; support for two-level maintenance; and robustness testing to military specification in the areas of humidity, salt fog, sand, and dust. The LightCONEX style style B and style C are both compatible with VITA 67.3 type C, D, and E standard apertures, which can be populated with modules that are either single active, dual active/passive, or a combination of optical and RF coaxial connectors. This flexibility of connector is aimed at integrators that need to combine multiple I/O interfaces while minimizing size, weight, and power (SWaP). Reflex Photonics | www.reflexphotonics.com
Drive intended for data storage at the tactical edge Crystal Group now offers its PASS SAS solid-state drives (SSDs), which it says are the first ruggedized and accredited data-encrypted drives for secure data storage at the tactical edge. Under a partnership with Seagate Government Solutions (SGS), Crystal Group is the sole provider of this data-at-rest solution that meets strict U.S. government computer security standards, including FIPS 140-2 and NIAP accreditation. The combination of SGS’s commercial, high-capacity 2.5-inch SAS SSDs and Crystal Group’s proprietary ruggedization processes is aimed at the most critical military data-protection applications, even in extreme and unpredictable conditions. The PASS SAS drives feature ultrafast performance up to 2,200 MB/sec, a scalable dual-port 12 Gb/sec SAS interface; a FIPS/NIAP (Common Criteria) tamper-resistant drive; a decreased footprint due to high storage density; compliance with U.S. Dept. of Defense quality and security requirements; a rugged conformal coating; and optional high-capacity versions. The drives are also TAA [Trade Agreements Act] approved. Crystal Group | www.crystalrugged.com
PDU offers SWaP-C benefits in military form factor The RP-2A0000000X power distribution unit (PDU) from Data Device Corp. (DDC) is an AC/DC solid-state PDU that the company says enables significant size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) savings by combining both 115 VAC and 28 VDC functionality, along with high power density, into a single ruggedized, military-grade form factor. The PDU brings a total power capability of 55 KVA (115 VAC) and 31 KW (28 VDC). The PDU’s I2T overload protection avoids nuisance trips, while the controlled rise/fall time reduces electromagnetic interference. The unit also features reduced inrush currents, lower inductive transients during turn-off, the ability to capture prognostics/diagnostics data, ease of preventive and automated maintenance, and the ability to perform power profiling and analysis. Data Device Corporation | www.ddc-web.com www.mil-embedded.com
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January/February 2020 45
CONNECTING WITH MIL EMBEDDED By Mil-Embedded.com Editorial Staff
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GIVING BACK | PODCAST | WHITE PAPER | BLOG | VIDEO | SOCIAL MEDIA | WEBCAST GIVING BACK
Duskin & Stephens Foundation 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. To back that up, our parent company – OpenSystems Media – will make a donation to every group we showcase on this page. This issue we are highlighting the Duskin & Stephens Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization run by active-duty Green Berets that supports active Special Operations soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and their families. The organization was formed in 2013 when members of 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, came together to honor and remember two of their former teammates, Mike Duskin and Riley Stephens, both of whom had been killed in action in Afghanistan. With no start-up capital and little guidance on how to create such a venture, the members relied heavily on the efforts of family members and teammates to plan, organize, and execute the benefit. Following the benefit, volunteers pledged that their newly formed organization would continue to provide direct support to families of fallen special forces operators; grant educational scholarships to children of active-duty members; run community-outreach events, interactive recreational programs, and related activities for members and families; enable access to healing programs designed to combat the effects of post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, or loss of a loved one; and conduct events honoring active-duty and former special forces members. For more information on the Duskin & Stephens Foundation, please visit www.duskinandstephens.org.
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Air Force, Army, Navy Convergence on Military Open Architectures Sponsored by Annapolis Micro Systems, Elma Electronic, Kontron, and Pentek The defense acquisition community, in a drive to reduce costs and development time, is adopting open-architecture principles in a practical and consensus-driven way. All three services – the Air Force, Army, and Navy – have committed to work together on this undertaking. This tri-service convergence is driven by end users in the acquisition community and is tied to specific programs. Open architecture initiatives such as the Hardware Open Systems Technologies (HOST) and Modular Open Radio Frequency (RF) Architecture (MORA) are all feeding into the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA). In this webcast, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) representative Dr. Ilya Lipkin covers how the tri-service convergence on open architectures will reduce life cycle costs and enable reuse. Register for the webcast: https://bit.ly/2UvuOwi View archived webcasts: https://opensysmedia.com/solutions/webcasts/archive
46 January/February 2020
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Adding RF & Optical Capability Via VITA 65 and SOSA for Radar, Electronic Warfare, and Other Mission Critical Military Applications By Elma Electronic The addition of apertures to the VITA 65 slot profiles has created a revolution in the types of available products, in that they have enabled a simpler chassis configuration and improved reliability. The flexible arrangements of contacts enabled by VITA 65 will help defense system integrators reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) and improve interoperability. In this white paper, learn how the strong ecosystem behind VITA 65 and the part it plays in the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) environment will also make technology refreshes more efficient, helping lower long-term life cycle costs for warfighter systems such as radar and electronic warfare. Read the white paper: https://bit.ly/2SkkhkT Read more white papers: http://mil-embedded.com/ white-papers/ www.mil-embedded.com
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