COTS Journal, November 2020 by RTC Media

November 2020, Volume 22 – Number 11 • cotsjournalonline.com

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

JOURNAL

What has doubled its speed every three years, is backward compatible and is two generations ahead of the market – PCIe Gen 6? Embedded System Market is Set to Surpass USD 160 Billion by 2026

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf. Terminology popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by SECDEF Wm. Perry’s “Perry Memo” that changed military industry purchasing and design guidelines, making Mil-Specs acceptable only by waiver. COTS is generally defined for technology, goods and services as: a) using commercial business practices and specifications, b) not developed under government funding, c) offered for sale to the general market, d) still must meet the program ORD. 2. Commercial business practices include the accepted practice of customer-paid minor modification to standard COTS products to meet the customer’s unique requirements.

JOURNAL

—Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for he U.S. Military, COTS is a procurement philosophy and does not imply commercial, office environment or any other durability grade. E.g., rad-hard components designed and offered for sale to the general market are COTS if they were developed by the company and not under government funding.

SPECIAL FEATURES 16

What has doubled its speed every three years, is backward compatible and is two generations ahead of the market – PCIe Gen 6? By John Reardon, Editorial Director – RTC Media

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT 20

DEPARTMENTS 6

Publisher’s Note How can your Source Approval Request (SAR) packages attain a 100% Acceptance Rate?

The Inside Track

Embedded System Market is Set to Surpass USD 160 Billion by 2026

COT’S PICKS 24

Editor’s Choice for November

Cover Image U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Krieter observes his surroundings from a UH-1Y Venom during a live fire range as part of Integrated Training Exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, Nov. 9, 2018. ITX is a large-scale, combined-arms training exercise intended to produce combat-ready forces capable of operating as an integrated Marine air-ground task force. COTS Journal | November 2020

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

JOURNAL EDITORIAL

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COTS Journal | November 2020

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

David Kozlowski, CEO of QuikSAR Inc.

How can your Source Approval Request (SAR) packages attain a 100% Acceptance Rate? Today’s world is fast-paced, relentlessly demanding and the complexity level is high. Not an easy task to simplify, streamline things and put them in order. This is particularly evident in the Source Approval Request (SAR) application. For those Aerospace/Aviation Industry Component Manufacturers, OEMs, Key Operators, MRO Shops,

Machine Shops, Spare Parts and PMA suppliers that must submit SAR packages to Government Agencies for approval – this is not a cake walk. Additionally, keeping pace with ever-changing, Government regulations and Compliance standards is near-impossible to keep on top of. It is common for users to realize a 90% rejection rate for submitted SAR packages. The impact this has on cost, productivity and raw frustration level required to prepare and assemble SAR packages is unsettling. There is now an off-the-shelf software product with support services that delivers a 100% acceptance rate, generates an unlimited number of SAR packages – with each package expertly assembled and fully compliant in less than 15-Minutes preparation, which reduces the cost for preparation and acceptance by 50%, as compared to conventional methods. Added-value services, which serve as a bridge between the User and the Target Government Agency assure the acceptance rate.

The General Services Administration offices or (GSA) - where all procurement is routed. 6

COTS Journal | November 2020

Joe Roop, a spokesperson that has spent 36 years in Government contracting with 17 years in managing the qualification process for an Air Logistics Center reinforced the difficulty and time consuming nature of the SAR application, which routinely has a high rejection rate. He further indicated that in order to master this

application, one must fully understand the Government Agency side, as well as, the User perspective and have deep experience with preparing, assembling and gaining approval for submitted SAR packages. Users are seeking a program that is, as simple to use as program products that do tax preparation and budget planning – no complexity and fool-proof. Key aspects of the software program include: • Removal of redundancy and common errors that contribute to SAR submission rejections • One-time upload of relevant data that supports SAR package preparation and submission • Working templates designed to fit specific Government Agency requirements • Built-In Self-Protection feature that guides users through the SAR preparation process assuring uniformity, accuracy and full-compliance • Automated real-time updates reflecting changes in Government Agency regulations, process and procedures, as it relates to the SAR application This results in developing a fully-prepared SAR package – ready for processing - within 15 minutes, with the average processing time to generate the final SAR package within 90 Seconds.

There is now an off-the-shelf software product with support services that delivers a 100% acceptance rate ... These capabilities are available, backed by Government Agency acceptance, user experience, affordable and easily justifiable. All of this is an example of technology, application and Industry expertise being combined to deliver a complete solution to the User Community.

COTS Journal | November 2020

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FAA selects Leidos for Enterprise-Information Display System Leidos was awarded a prime contract by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to design and develop a system to provide real-time access to essential weather, aeronautical, and National Airspace System (NAS) information through a common, NAS-wide Enterprise- Information Display System (E-IDS). The scalable, cloud-ready solution will replace five legacy systems as part of FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) modernization project. The single-award contract holds an approximate value of $292 million. It includes a four-year base period and 11 one-year options. Work will be performed in Gaithersburg, Md., Eagan, Minn., and Chesapeake, Va.

The E-IDS provides the FAA access to efficient configuration and data management tools to meet the current and evolving needs of the NAS stakeholders. “Our nation’s air traffic controllers keep the NAS safe, relying on the display of multiple data

sources to perform their critical mission,” said Fran Hill, senior vice president of Leidos Transportation Solutions. “Our job at Leidos is to help controllers do their work more efficiently. The new E-IDS will enable them to access standardized data, customize their displays, and operate with two clicks or less.”

Through this contract, Leidos will perform the critical activities required to deliver E-IDS, including program management, systems engineering, design and development, system test and evaluation, training, production, and site implementation. The system will be developed to run on a combination of physical resources at more than 400 FAA NAS facilities and on FAA virtualized platforms including the Integrated Enterprise Services Platform (IESP) and the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Data Platform (DP) using FAA Cloud Services (FCS).

Taking Innovation to New Depths with L3Harris’ Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Unmanned technologies continue to evolve in every domain and L3Harris remains a pioneer in unmanned underwater vehicles

(UUVs) that perform a range of commercial and defense missions. Over the past 15 years, L3Harris has built the first commercially developed family of low-cost UUVs known as the Iver, ideal for coastal applications such as sensor development, general survey work, sub-surface secu-

rity, research, and environmental monitoring. Built with leading-edge technology and a battlespace understanding, the Iver family of vehicles are capable, modular, and reliable. Our latest UUV innovations include the Iver4 900, a 9-inch diameter next-generation vehicle that can reach depths of 300 meters and offers long duration and open systems to address a wide variety of missions, including commercial and defense applications such as long-range survey, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), seabed warfare and mine warfare. Visit our Iver4 900 page to learn more. We recently unveiled the newest addition to the Iver family, the compact Iver4 580, a 5.8-inch diameter advanced UUV that has been designed to fit a full suite of sensors while maintaining a small mission footprint. Our team announced this new product in a recent webinar hosted by our Iver team.

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Defense Department Taps Texas A&M System to Lead U.S. Consortium on Advancing Hypersonic Flight Systems TEES to manage a five-year contract for DOD research among top U.S. universities.

The Department of Defense today named a state agency of The Texas A&M University System to lead a national consortium for modernizing hypersonic flight capabilities. The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) will manage a five-year, $20 million-per-year DOD initiative involving many of the nation’s top research universities. The universities will work cooperatively among themselves and with other key research institutions of government, national laboratories, federally-funded research centers, and industry. The University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics (UCAH) will work on everything from basic research to real-world capabilities in hypersonic flight systems. The concept is for researchers from all of the institutions to work in close coordination. Together, they will accelerate innovation to address the nation’s hypersonic needs and nurture the next generation of researchers in aerospace engineering and related fields. “Tell us how we can help protect this nation and we’ll be right there,” said John Sharp, Chancellor of the Texas A&M System. “We have experience managing consortiums and our hypersonic research capabilities are second to none.”

The UCAH will be managed by TEES under the leadership of one of the nation’s foremost hypersonic researchers, Dr. Rodney Bowersox, professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University. Initial operations will begin under the guidance of an impressive board of national experts from Texas A&M, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Arizona, the University of Tennessee Space Institute, Morgan State University, the California Institute of Technology, Purdue, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Texas A&M has become the hypersonics research center of the nation,” said M. Katherine Banks, Texas A&M Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Engineering. “Our researchers and partners are unmatched and our new, state-of-the-art facilities will fill critical gaps in U.S. testing capabilities.” The DOD contract comes as Texas A&M System is preparing to build the biggest enclosed hypersonic testing range in the nation as part of the George H. W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC) on the RELLIS campus in Bryan. The Ballistic Aero-Optics and Materials (BAM) will complement other cutting-edge hypersonic facilities at Texas A&M such as the National Aerothermochemistry and Hypersonics Laboratory (NAL) and the Aerospace Laboratory for Lasers, ElectroMagnetics, and Optics (ALLEMO).

The UCAH approach will include a major focus on modeling and testing to facilitate earlier and more certain progress on developing hypersonic systems. The UCAH will become a collaborative hypersonic ecosystem to bridge the so-called “valley of death” between promising research possibilities and actual real-world capabilities. TEES has already identified more than 41 institutions from at least 23 states committed to participating in the UCAH. Participation is expected to increase in upcoming months to include additional institutions from across the country and from Australia and the United Kingdom. “This first-of-its-kind Consortium will be critical to advancing hypersonics research and innovation, a key priority of the Department of Defense,” said Michael Kratsios, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Importantly, through collaborative industry and academic partnerships, it will also accelerate technology transfer and strengthen workforce development to meet the nation’s future warfighting needs.” TEES currently manages a variety of consortia and brings extensive expertise in experimentation, logistics, contract management, workforce development, and protection of national security-related research. “It’s all headquartered here thanks to the support of Chancellor Sharp and the Texas A&M System,” Banks said.

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Colorado Partners Launch “Aerospace Alley” Initiative Aims to Expand and Train the Region’s Growing Aerospace Industry Workforce

Key organizational partners across Colorado, hand in hand with some of the nation’s leading aerospace and aviation companies, well-known industry personalities, and education leaders, will launch the “Aerospace Alley” initiative. This new initiative was created to celebrate the aerospace and aviation innovation underway across the State of Colorado and will focus on recruiting ambassadors and industry champions to support the growing demand for industry talent in the state. Surpassing the states of Florida and Texas, Colorado has become the nation’s second-largest aerospace economy, behind only California, according to the U.S. Department of Labor & Statistics. Given the vast population difference between Colorado and California, this means that Colorado now has the highest per-capita aerospace industry in the nation. The total aerospace industry contributes more than $15 billion to Colorado’s econo-

my on an annual basis and is rich with opportunities for new jobs amidst the nation’s now struggling economy. “For nearly 70 years, the combination of Air Force presence, open space, high altitude, and space-related science has made Colorado an increasing hub for the nation’s aerospace economy. But because of a long history of developing rocket engines, space defense tools, and GPS satellites, and because we have not served as a physical rocket launch site due to our inland geography, little is spoken about aerospace here in Colorado,” said Major General John Barry, co-founder of the Aerospace Alley initiative and President and CEO of Wings Over the Rockies. “That is all about to change, though, thanks to the increasing commercialization of space and the sheer amount of training and talent our state brings to the aerospace industry.” Much in the same way that Silicon Valley earned its title as a result of a remarkably large concentration of small tech companies clustering in the greater San Francisco area, Aerospace Alley in Colorado is already home to more than 500 aerospace companies today. Of those 500 companies, 64% currently employ less than 10 people. “Our robust and dynamic aerospace ecosystem deserves an identity to protect it and nurture it,” said Dianne Primavera, Colorado’s Lieutenant Governor and the current Chair of the Colorado Space Coalition. “This week’s formal launch of America’s ‘Aerospace Alley’ will do just that; by capturing the unique collection of industry, educational, and cultural partnerships that

COTS Journal | November 2020

allow Colorado’s Aerospace industry to thrive. ‘Aerospace Alley’ will ensure that Colorado continues to lead, to innovate, and to grow in the crucial aerospace industry.” Today, Colorado’s aerospace companies are leading the next generation of GPS and military space operations, creating innovation in solar and electric-powered aviation engines, and studying the science of black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars. The state is also home to numerous military space commands, federal agencies, and specialized educational institutions all fostering breakthrough research in the field. The Colorado Space Coalition has helped recruit some of the nation’s top aerospace companies to the state, so Colorado is well-positioned to provide the hands-on training the workforce needs today. As the industry continues to expand into an increasingly commercialized sector, it will also need more manufacturers, people with entrepreneurial and business skills, legal expertise, communications, and problem-solving abilities as well. Major educational partners are now also providing formal classroom education, across all ages, to help fill the critical and high-paying roles that aerospace offers. “From K-12 STEM programs to post-secondary aerospace programs, state educational institutions such as the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Colorado SKIES Academy in Denver, and Spartan College in Broomfield, a technical college focused on this industry, we are readying more astronauts, aviation technicians, pilots, engineers and scientists here in our state to feed the industry’s ongoing drive for innovation,” said Nicholas Brown, Campus President at Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology.

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Alion Awarded $896M Navy Integrated Training Environment Contract

Alion Science and Technology announces today that it has been awarded an $896M task order under the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) SeaPort-NxG multiple-award contract for the development, integration, management, and support of the Navy Integrated Training Environment (NITE). “For more than 20 years, Alion has been dedicated to the Navy’s training missions supporting the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE) and designing, developing, and operating the Navy Enterprise Tactical Training Network (NETTN). We understand the critical role training has in continuing to ready the Navy for multi-domain and all domain warfare. Alion is committed to seamless integration, management, and enhancement of the Navy’s training environment to ensure battle readiness,” said Steve Schorer, chairman and CEO of Alion. “This most recent contract award highlights the tremendous momentum the company has towards providing the best innovative technical solutions to support our customer’s missions.” The primary purpose of this effort is to provide an integrated program that will enable

a continuous, multi-domain, Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) training platform across multiple physical locations throughout the Navy Training Enterprise. Alion will integrate the Navy Combined Tactical Training Range (CTTR) and the Southern California Offshore Range (SCORE) into the NCTE environment which includes more than 1,200 secure interconnected nodes throughout the United States and coalition nations. Additionally, Alion and its teammates will provide comprehensive Operations and Maintenance support to the Naval Training Enterprise throughout the duration of the contracting activity. “The Alion team’s combined expertise in modeling and simulation, engineering, and systems integration, along with its long history of event and experimentation support to the Navy, ensures the latest, most advanced technology and innovations are applied to the Navy’s LVC training environment,” said Glenn Goodman, Operations Vice President of Alion. “It is imperative that training environments and solutions excel at providing real-world training for our warfighters, and Alion is dedicated to that mission.” This contract has a 12-month base year, plus four one-year option periods.

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Vantage Announces $7 Million in New DoD Contracts

Vantage was selected for four different Department of Defense (DoD) contracts in the last five months. These new wins allow Vantage to expand our investments in the core technology pushing limits on sensor performance, flight performance, autonomy, communications, and ruggedization for our customers in both the DoD as well as first responders, security, search and rescue, and inspections. These new contract wins include an award for the second tranche of the U.S. Army Soldier Borne Sensor Program through the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit for the Blue unmanned aerial system (UAS) effort; an SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) with the U.S. Air Force; and a contract extension with the Army’s SRR (Short Range Reconnaissance) program. Army SBS Vantage was the only company selected

for a $2.5 million prototype development contract to design the micro drone and ground control station for the second tranche of the Army’s Soldier Borne Sensor program. “Vantage is beyond honored to have the opportunity to work on the continuation of the same program that produced FLIR’s Black Hornet,” says Tobin Fisher, Vantage CEO, and co-founder. “The first tranche of the SBS program demonstrated strong demand for drone technology and capabilities that can offer soldiers greater situational awareness. We look forward to continuing to push the limits of what is possible at this small scale and to make our soldiers safer and more capable.” The SBS UAS is intended to offer “…a very small unmanned aerial system and Situational Awareness (SA) tool, providing the squad/platoon with an organic, ‘quick look’ capability for near real-time video feeds of larger, complex and restrictive environments during day, night and reduced visibility conditions.” This capabil-

ity is intended to be deployed at the level of the Army’s 7,000 squads. This is a major milestone for Vantage, being the only company to be awarded the OTA contract amongst a competitive group of UAS providers. This firmly positions Vantage for a large-scale unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployment and potentially a $100 million production contract win for SBS. Blue UAS Framework In July, Vantage won a $2 million contract from the DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to help create a family of modular drone sensor payloads for the Blue UAS Framework, an ecosystem of trusted small drone components. Vantage’s advanced small drone payload and gimbal technology were one of its key differentiators for inclusion in the program. Currently, there are an urgent need for COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) modular payloads for type 1 UAS as very few companies are capable of developing these challenging devices. Vantage is uniquely positioned to address this need and created a family of modular payloads that plugs into the Blue UAS ecosystem as well as end-to-end complementary products. Vantage’s involvement with DIU’s Blue UAS Framework is exemplary of our efforts, along with other UAS providers, to help create a more collaborative and effective American drone industry with support from the federal government. The Air Force via AFWERX awarded Vantage a $1 million SBIR contract to bring a new form of low-cost sensory-augmented aerial telepresence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) UAS to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the Air Force Security Forces Center (AFSFC) and the Air Force Civil Engineering Center (AFCEC). In this program, Vantage will extend the capabilities of Vesper, our flagship UAS, to both meet the Air Force’s stringent security requirements and enable it to be operated remotely from anywhere in the world. With Vesper’s remote operational proficiencies, Vantage is helping enhance the Air Force’s effectiveness for situational awareness, improve team inspections and monitoring of assets, and reduce the need for travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Northrop Grumman Rocket Boosters Help Successfully Launch United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V

Three of Northrop Grumman Corporation’s 63-inch-diameter Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM 63) rocket boosters were used for the first time today to help successfully launch and deploy the National Reconnaissance Office launch 101 (NROL-101) on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle. The GEM 63 strap-on boosters were developed under a cooperative agreement with ULA to provide additional lift capability for the Atlas V launch vehicle. Each motor contributes 371,500 pounds of additional maximum thrust, and up to five GEM 63 motors can support a single Atlas V launch. “The GEM 63 rocket motors were developed to enhance the performance of the exist-

Viasat Wins UK Ministry of Defence Contract to Supply Ultra High-Frequency Satellite Communications Equipment on the Royal Navy Type 31 Frigate Viasat UK Ltd. announced it was awarded a contract to provide Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications (SATCOM) for the new Type 31 frigates, to be delivered by Babcock Team 31, for the Royal Navy. UHF SATCOM is a mission-critical capability that will provide the Type 31 frigates with secure integrated voice and data services for communications between Royal Navy maritime vessels and headquarters. It allows commanders to remain informed and aware of the fleet disposition. It is also a vital component to enable maritime task group operations, extensively providing secure beyond line of sight (BLOS) communications between ships and mobile units such as sea boats, boarding teams, and helicopters, which are all key elements of tactical combat and constabulary maritime operations.

ing Atlas V launch vehicle while incorporating our flight-proven, heritage designs that provide a significantly lower cost for boost propulsion,” said Charlie Precourt, vice president, propulsion systems, Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman has been supplying

supported 132 Delta II launches with 1,003 motors. The company followed with the GEM 46, which flew 63 motors on seven successful missions on the Delta II Heavy launches, and the GEM 60, which retired in August 2019 with 86 motors flown over 26 Delta IV launches. The GEM family has recently expanded with the development of the GEM 63XL variation to support ULA’s Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle. The company also manufactured the Atlas V rocket’s Reaction Control System propellant tanks at its Commerce, California, facility, and eight retro motors at its Elkton, Maryland, facility that will assist the first and second stage separation.

rocket propulsion to ULA and its heritage companies for a variety of launch vehicles since 1964. The GEM family of strap-on motors started in the early 1980s with the GEM 40, which “This UHF SATCOM capability will ensure the Royal Navy Type 31 frigates will have the robust, secure, world-wide UHF voice and data services it needs for modern warfare operations in the current information advantage environment,” said Steve Beeching, managing director, Government Systems, Viasat UK. “We are very proud to be able to supply our world-class technology to the UK Ministry of Defence. The importance of the UHF SATCOM capability in enabling defense to co-ordinate limited assets, at its disposal, while effectively

Northrop Grumman solves the toughest problems in space, aeronautics, defense, and cyberspace to meet the ever evolving needs of our customers worldwide. Our 90,000 employees define possible every day using science, technology, and engineering to create and deliver advanced systems, products, and services.

supporting Allies globally cannot be understated.” The Type 31 frigate program is designed to deliver to the Royal Navy five flexible and affordable frigates that, alongside the BAE Systems-built Type 26 frigate, will replace the UK’s current Type 23 frigates. The Viasat UHF SATCOM solution will provide reliable, dependable BLOS communications for the Royal Navy’s Type 31 vessels, when introduced into service.

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Curtiss-Wright’s PacStar Business Awarded U.S. Army Contract to Deliver IQ-Core® Software for Enhanced Battlefield NetOps

Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division today announced that its recently acquired business, PacStar, a leading developer and supplier of advanced communications solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), was awarded a five-year contract to support U.S. Army network modernization efforts being executed by Project Manager Tactical Network (PM TN). The contract will deliver more than 9,000 licenses of its flagship IQ-Core Software to enable secure, tactical, and distributed network management. As a result, the U.S. Army will gain unprecedented network operations visibility and control that extends across many programs including at-thehalt and on-the-move networking within the Army’s brigade combat teams, network management and monitoring conducted at worldwide Regional Hub Node centers, and Expeditionary Signal Battalion (ESB) modernization efforts. “We remain committed to delivering

Belgium Contracts 322 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) from Oshkosh Defense Oshkosh Defense, LLC announced that the Belgium Ministry of Defence has awarded Oshkosh Defense a contract for 322 Oshkosh Defense Command and Liaison Vehicles (CLV) for Belgium Defence Forces. The Belgian CLV is the proven Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) platform from Oshkosh equipped with Belgian communication systems. The JLTV is currently used by the U.S. military. “Oshkosh Defense is honored that Belgium has chosen to equip its armed forces with the Oshkosh CLV,” said John Bryant, Executive Vice President, Oshkosh Corporation, and President, Oshkosh Defense. “The Oshkosh CLV offers Belgian soldiers the world’s most advanced light military vehicle, delivering next-generation levels of protection, off-road mobility, speed, transportability, and seamless operational and logistical interoperability with North Atlantic Treaty Orga14

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best-in-class battlefield NetOps solutions, and we are thrilled to continue our work with the U.S. Army for the deployment of IQ-Core Software across PM Tactical Networks,” said Lynn Bamford, President, Defense, and Power Segments, Curtiss-Wright Corporation. “IQ-Core Software will help integrate NetOps with cyber and mission operations, equipping the Army with a unified approach for unmatched visibility, control, and situational awareness of tactical networks.” “PacStar is proud to continue to support the U.S. Army with this deployment to deliver enhanced communications capabilities for the PM TN,” said Peggy J. Miller, Senior General Manager, PacStar. “IQ-Core Software’s ability to increase network visibility and deliver simplified network management at a low cost will help the Army with invaluable communications modernization.” IQ-Core Software is a comprehensive management software application comprised nization (NATO) allies,” Bryant continued. “The Belgian Defence opted for a worldwide competition in which “money for value” was the only criterion,” said Director Land Systems Colonel Filip De Varé. “The CLV will be integrated into the CaMo program, an international partnership between the French and Belgian land forces.” Traditionally procured via foreign military sales, the Belgian procurement marks Oshkosh Defense’s first large direct commercial sale of a JLTVbased vehicle. Belgium joins the United

of three major editions: IQ-Core Remote Operations and Management (ROAM) for distributed management; IQ-Core Crypto Manager (CM) for Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) management; and IQ-Core Network Communications Manager (NCM) for nodal management -- delivering unprecedented Network Operations Center (NOC)to-node management capabilities for enhanced battlefield NetOps. Under this contract, IQ-Core Software will also integrate with on-the-move communications capabilities enabling network management for an expanded range of tactical devices, including Harris’ Highband Network Radio, General Dynamics’ Vertex Antenna, and L3 Daytron full-motion antennas for satellite communications. States, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Montenegro in choosing this vehicle. As a globally recognized leader in the design and production of military vehicle systems, Oshkosh Defense can support both domestic and international customer demand.

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Fourth Lockheed Martin-Built GPS III Satellite’s On-Board Engine Now Propelling It To Orbit GPS III SV04 will be the 23rd M-Code enabled satellite in the GPS Constellation

The fourth Lockheed Martin-built GPS III space vehicle (GPS III SV04) is now headed to orbit under its propulsion. The fourth Lockheed Martin built Global Positioning System III (GPS III) satellite is now headed to orbit under its propulsion. Following a successful launch earlier this evening, GPS III Space Vehicle 04 (GPS III SV04) separated from its rocket and is now using onboard power to climb to its operational orbit, approximately 12,550 miles above the Earth. About 89 minutes after a 6:24 p.m. EST liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, U.S. Space Force, and Lockheed Martin engineers at the company’s Denver Launch & Checkout Operations Center declared GPS III SV04 “separated” from its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and “flying” under their control. In the coming days, GPS III SV04’s onboard liquid apogee engine will continue to propel the satellite towards its operational orbit. Once it arrives, the engineers will send the satellite commands to deploy its solar arrays and antennas and prepare GPS III SV04 for handover to Space Operations Command. GPS III SV04 is the latest next-generation GPS III satellite Lockheed Martin designed and built to help the U.S. Space Force modernize today’s GPS satellite constellation with new technology and capabilities. GPS III satellites will provide significant capability improvements over previous GPS satellites, including: Three times better accuracy; Up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities; and A new L1C civil signal, which is compatible with international global navigation satellite systems, like Europe’s Galileo, to improve civilian user connectivity. GPS III SV04 will also be the 23rd Military Code (M-Code) signal-enabled GPS space vehicle on-orbit, continuing the Space Force’s plan to fully field the more-secure, harder-to-jam and spoof GPS signal for military forces. “With GPS III we are focused on rapidly

fielding the best capabilities to the Space Force’s Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Mission,” said Tonya Ladwig, Lockheed Martin’s Acting Vice President for Navigation Systems. “We are proud of our industry-government team on the launch of GPS III SV04. GPS III SV05 is already ‘available for launch’ and just waiting to be called up.” GPS is part of the U.S.’s critical national infrastructure, driving an estimated $300 billion in annual economic benefits and responsible for $1.4 trillion since its inception. Globally, more than four billion military, civil, and commercial users depend on GPS’ positioning, navigation, and timing signals. Lockheed Martin is part of the GPS III team led by the Space Production Corps Medium Earth Orbit Division, at the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base. The GPS Operational Control Segment sustainment is managed by the Enterprise Corps, GPS Sustainment Division at Peterson Air Force Base. The 2nd Space Operations Squadron, at Schriever Air Force Base, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users. COTS Journal | November 2020

SPECIAL FEATURE

What has doubled its speed every three years, is backward compatible and is two generations ahead of the market – PCIe Gen 6? By John Reardon, Editorial Director – RTC Media The increased tempo of the PCI Special Interest Group has left many wondering if there will be enough time to capitalize on the Gen 4 product releases before they are obsoleted by the Gen 5 and 6 releases. As only months have passed since we were entertaining releases from AMD and others that featured solutions

COTS Journal | November 2020

in and around Gen 4, it is hard not to imagine that the economics of hardware will mandate that we skip 5 and move directly to solutions using Gen 6. PCI-SIG has not only increased the tempo that we witnessed between Gen 3 products and Gen 4, but they have done so by maintaining backward compatibility and reaching an im-

pressive speed of 128GB/sec. As the need for increased speeds is always of paramount concern and is at the center of building systems that meet the demands of today’s applications, these advancements will continue this more than a decade march of PCIe. The multiple form factors address power, size, and a compendium of applications. Moving from NRZ (Non-return-to-zero) binary signal encoding to the more complex PAM 4 (Pulse amplitude modulation) plays a significant part in PCI-SIG in accomplishing the performance of Gen 6. Effectively doubling the speed, the PAM 4 encoding is easily de-tuned to support the backward compatibility that has sustained PCIe as the predominant interconnect. Although the expense of support of PAM 4 is significant, it was felt by PCI-SIG that the leap was warranted by the demands of today’s applications.

Figure 1: The PCI Express roadmap, demonstrating the doubling per-pin bandwidth for every generation.

Although PAM4 is not a new technology it has been mainly focused at the very highest network standards such as 200G ethernet where the economy of space for physical channels is highly limited. The scales of economy

will hopefully come into play to lower implementation costs to a comfortable level. By making this leap, the PCI-SIG is confident that they can meet their goals of being backward compatible. Also, they have address er-

ror correction in ways that will reduce overhead to levels that has nearly an unimpeded 2 times performance increase. Moving towards Forward Error Correction (FEC), signaling is required in using PAM4. This method of er-

Figure 2: NRZ vs. PAM4 signal transitions and eye openings COTS Journal | November 2020

This is witnessed by the fact that the military is only receiving Gen 4 from a modest number of system providers with many more mil qualified vendors choosing to wait for the window of opportunity to offer ample time for return.

ror correction will require a constant stream of error correction data. Something that has been used when a re-transmission isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t practical for throughput and latency concerns. This will be one more thing for designers to contend with and should not significantly contribute to performance overhead. The ability to be backward compatible supporting an array of data rates with multiple lanes is one of the contributing factors for its longevity. The number of profiles also allows

COTS Journal | November 2020

for it to be used in an application across the board. But this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t completely explain its broad appeal. The attention to details surrounding power and error correction has made PCIe a solution that meets the needs of applications that are driven by unique application requirements. This has enabled silicon manufacturers along with platform developers to settle on the continued use of PCIe as the IP has a broad appeal. Now supported by nearly 1000 member

companies, PCIe continues to be an open standard that is managed by a broad affiliation of companies. The challenges that are faced by the member companies is the investment required to keep up the pace of new releases. When the window of opportunity for a product being on the cutting edge is reduced to less than a year, many board rooms are shuttering at the inability to find a return on their NRE. Of course, at each level, the investment varies, but as the window for silicon developers dovetails into the systems manu-

facturers and being first with the fastest is a big driver; the challenges are not for the faint of heart. As we are focused on the military market, the application requirements significantly contribute to the narrowing window of opportunity. Although this is not unfamiliar territory, by the time silicone is released, architectures are designed, and military environmental issues are met â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the next generation of PCIe is released. This is witnessed by the fact that the military is only receiving Gen 4 from a modest number of system providers with many more mil qualified vendors choosing to wait for the window of opportunity to offer ample time for return. The safety zone for those racing to be on the bleeding edge of speed is that they will be able to address the installed base with the confidence of backward compatibility. That means that addressing applications between 8GB/sec to 128 GB/sec can be achieved to further extend the window of opportunity. Although time will tell if the investments are warranted, or whether NRE dollars can suffi-

PCIe Bandwidth (Full Duplex)

Slot Width PCIe 1.0 -2003

PCIe 2.0 -2007

PCIe 3.0 -2010

PCIe 4.0 -2017

PCIe 5.0 -2019

PCIe 6.0 -2021

0.25GB/sec 0.5GB/sec ~1GB/sec ~2GB/sec ~4GB/sec

0.5GB/sec 1GB/sec ~2GB/sec ~4GB/sec ~8GB/sec ~16GB/sec

1GB/sec 2GB/sec ~4GB/sec ~8GB/sec ~16GB/sec ~32GB/sec

2GB/sec 4GB/sec ~8GB/sec ~16GB/sec ~32GB/sec ~64GB/sec

x16

4GB/sec 8GB/sec ~16GB/sec ~32GB/sec ~64GB/sec ~128GB/sec

ciently amortize â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or the performance gains leave down rev. products obsolete. It should be acknowledged that defense is unique in itself. That vision for Space Force, an integrated connected field of operations and cloud-based senor arrays has increased the thirst for performance and is only tempered by security and environmental concerns. That the specification is designed to

~8GB/sec

accommodate those 1000 manufactures and the application spaces they address. That the environmental burdens that are faced in the military space have always caused a lag. The rub is that the military will greatly benefit from the increased performance of Gen 6 and will have to be patient as they recognize the performance increases that are just around the next corner.

COTS Journal | November 2020

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

Embedded System Market is set to surpass USD 160 billion by 2026 According to a recent study from market research firm Global Market Insights, Embedded system market has emerged as one of the most profitable industry verticals in recent years. The market is anticipated to experience remunerative growth trends in the forthcoming timeframe due to its applications across numerous fields such as automotive, telecommunication, healthcare, industrial, consumer electronics, and aerospace & defense among others.

COTS Journal | November 2020

Embedded systems that provide real-time functioning have also been some of the most prominent factors that have helped augment the market gain significant traction across a number of industries. With reference to the healthcare segment, increasing implementation of embedded systems for rugged operating conditions that have high-temperature fluctuations as well as greater exposure to shocks and vibrations

is a major factor driving their demand in the sector. Along with this, other applications of embedded systems include amplifying sound in an electronic stethoscope, to monitor patient vitals, and help run several imaging systems like MRI and CT scanners. In addition, extensive usage of embedded systems in the biomedical sector enables doc-

tors to manage patient health as well as enable decision making via telemedicine. Moreover, several biomedical sensors majorly rely on embedded systems like CPAP machines, glucose monitors, and pacemakers, which makes them extremely integral in the day-to-day operations of the industry. According to reports, in 2019, the network Embedded System Market segment held over 5% of total market share. Network embedded systems are compatible to several networks, such as WAN, LAN, and internet to access resources. These connections can be wireless or wired. Embedded systems linked to a web server permits control and accede by the web browser. For instance, the home security system connected to the Local Area Network (LAN) allows access to every sensor connected to the protocol TCP/IP.

Based on these aspects, studies suggest that network embedded systems segment is expected to record modest growth by 2026.

processes, which coupled with the incorporation of robotics, is boosting the need for embedded systems.

Speaking of the component segment, the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) segment is anticipated to lead the market share over the forecast timeframe. This segmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rapid growth is attributed to the growing transformation across industrial infrastructures. FPGAs will witness a growing demand over the coming years owing to various initiatives introduced by the government to enhance and increase the use of automated machinery across various industries.

Meanwhile, the network embedded system sector represented a market share of more than 5% in 2019 and is set to witness significant growth through 2026. Embedded systems are linked to several networks, like WAN, LAN, and the internet, in order to access resources. All these connections can be wireless or wired.

This would create business conditions where the demand for FPGAs would increase sharply, which would subsequently augment the Embedded System Market growth. Additionally, companies are actively implementing automation in their manufacturing, assembly, and supply chain

Europe embedded system market is anticipated to hold greater dominance in the global regional landscape. The Europe market is expected to record 5% CAGR from 2020 to 2026, primarily given to increasing demand for advanced technologies integrated in newer vehicles. Moreover, burgeoning demand for telemedicine in Germany along with increasing number

COTS Journal | November 2020

of intensive care residents may propel the embedded system market of Europe. Industry participants are leveraging numerous organic and inorganic strategies such as new alliances, product launches to strengthen their presence in developing economies. In Feb. 2019, Infineon Technologies AG introduced a new series of embedded power ICs for automotive consumers, aiding automotive applications like window lift & sunroof with cutting-edge motor control solutions. Key Companies covered in Embedded Systems Market are Analog Devices, Inc, ARM Holdings, Atmel Corporation, Broadcom Limited, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Fujitsu Limited, Infineon Technologies, Intel Corporation, Lattice Semiconductor, Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Microchip Technology Inc., NXP Semiconductor N.V., Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Re-

COTS Journal | November 2020

nesas Electronics Corporation, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Inc., Toshiba Corporation, ENEA Software AB, Express logic, Graphene Semiconductor Services Private Limited, Green Hills Software, HCL Technologies Limited, IBM Corporation, Mentor Graphics Corporation, Microsoft Corp., National Instru-

ment, Qualitat Systems, Qualcomm Inc., SEGGER Microcontroller GmbH, VIA Technologies, Inc. Source: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/ embedded-system-market

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November 2020

COT’S PICKS Industry’s First Highly Integrated Radiation-Hardened Motor Controller Consolidates Essential Functions for the Motor Control and Position Sensing Circuitry of Satellite Elements into a Single Chip

Microchip’s LX7720 device increases reliability while reducing weight and board area. The need to reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP) on satellites and other space systems continue to challenge the aerospace market. Combining more than 20 commonly used functions into a single chip, Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) today announced the LX7720 radiation-hardened mixed-signal motor controller, the latest addition to its Space System Manager (SSM) product family. As the industry’s first highly integrated radiation-hardened by design (RHBD) motor control integrated circuit (IC), the LX7720 significantly reduces weight and board space relative to conventional discrete motor control circuits. By reducing the number of components on a system, developers can inspect and test fewer parts, while also minimizing the physical points of potential failure due to a smaller number of connections and solder joints. The LX7720 controller offers a unique solution for satellite manufacturers sensitive to board area and weight reduction by consolidating essential functions for the motor control and position sensing circuitry required for robotics, multi-axis pointing mechanisms, and precise motion control of optical elements. Microchip’s controller combines four half-bridge N-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) drivers, four floating differential current sensors, a pulse modulated resolver transformer driver, three differential resolver sense inputs, six bi-level logic inputs, power drivers via external Field Effect Transistors (FETs),

loop control electronics for voltage or current control, position read-back (resolver, potentiometer, limit switches, etc.), fault detection and more into a single device. “As the reduction of weight and board space on satellites continues to challenge the aerospace market, we are pleased to reinforce our commitment to developing innovative solutions with this highly reliable and highly integrated radiation-hardened motor controller,” said Bryan J. Liddiard, vice president of Microchip’s mixed-signal linear business unit. “The LX7720 enhances our ever-growing space product portfolio as we continue to expand a total system solution for our customers building these sophisticated satellites.” The LX7720 serves as a mixed-signal companion IC to the selected digital IC used in the application. Microchip’s Radiation Tolerant (RT) PolarFire® and RTG4™ Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) products and recently announced SAMRH71 radiation-hardened microcontroller (MCU) are ideal companion chips, from a single supplier. The LX7720 is MIL-PRF-38535 Class V and Class Q qualified and has already been adopted by customers to enable various motor control applications in space robotics and human-rated space programs. It is the ideal solution for spacecraft applications involving motor driver servo control, linear actuator servo control, and for driving stepper, brushless direct current (BLDC), and permanent-magnet synchronous (PMSM) motors. The LX7720 offers radiation tolerance to 100 krad Total Ionization Dose (TID), 50 krad to Enhanced-Low-Dose-Rate-Sensitivity (ELDRS) exposure, and is single event immune. Microchip www.microchip.com

AdvancedMC Processor Board with fabric options Concurrent Technologies is now shipping a full-size AdvancedMC processor board that is based on a 6-core Intel® Xeon® E-2276ME processor with a 2.8GHz base frequency for high-performance applications. Compared to previous product generations that had a fixed fabric interface, AM C8x/msd is available with either a PCI Express® or RapidIO® fabric interface enabling the product to be used in a variety of user configurations. AM C8x/msd is ideally suited for wireless applications such as 4G/5G test instruments that require multi-processor high bandwidth solutions. By default, AM C8x/msd comes with 16 Gbytes soldered DDR4 Error Correcting Code DRAM with a single bit error correction and dual-channel architecture. It has front panel connections for easy development and network uplink, alongside an array of backward-compatible backplane connectivity. Unique to AM C8x/ msd, the Gigabit Ethernet backplane connections can be configured for 10 Gigabit operation to significantly improve Ethernet throughput. Jane Annear, Managing Director of Concurrent Technologies commented: “Our AdvancedMC modules are suitable for a wide range of different applications and markets. This new module is the latest in a series of flexible products and boasts a significant increase in performance compared to our existing offerings. By utilizing AM C8x/msd, our customers can run more intensive applications with faster responses.” Concurrent Technologies, Corporation www.ctc.com

COTS Journal | November 2020

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Chelsio Advances Flash Storage Access, Empowering Cost-Effective, Rapid Data Analysis

Chelsio Communications, Inc. announced a set of storage demonstrations and performance benchmark results which showcase how customers can speed up applications enable fast time-to-decision, and reduce costs using iSCSI, iWARP RDMA/TCP, and TCP Offload Engine (TOE) technologies to share solid-state storage.

Pentek Announces Design Win from Telemus for ELINT UAV Applications Pentek, Inc. announced that Telemus, Inc. has included a Pentek Talon RTX 2589 rugged IF recorder for operational use onboard Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) as part of their ALR-510 ELINT/ESM system. The Electronics Intelligence (ELINT) system incorporates a Pentek Talon RTX series IF Recorder for digitizing and capturing wideband IF analog signals and retrieving them for analysis. “Telemus chose this recorder not only for its wide instantaneous bandwidth and environmental performance, but also for its rugged, compact design,” said James Rose, director, and general manager, Telemus. He added, “The Pentek IF Recorder was added to the system to meet the end user’s requirement for continuous data capture.” Pentek’s RTX 2589 represents the latest IF recorder that satisfies the operational needs of Telemus ELINT UAV systems. Talon RTX Small Form Factor (SFF) recorders provide the performance of large rackmount recorders in the smallest footprint available in Pentek’s Talon product line. Optimized for SWaP (size, weight, and power), Talon RTX SFF recorders are packaged in a 1/2 ATR chassis, measuring 7.7” H x 4.9” W x 14.2” D and weighing only 18 pounds.

“The elevated performance of solid-state storage necessitates superior performance from the networking technology for customers to achieve the true potential of their data centers and the data they retain,” stated Kianoosh Naghshineh, CEO at Chelsio Communications. “Enterprises have been unambiguous that they want to deploy flash storage across hundreds to thousands of servers using the most cost-effective and efficient networking available to maximize their return on investment. We are excited to demonstrate how T6 Unified Wire Adapters provide such access.”

Chelsio Communications, Inc. www.chelsio.com

Pentek SystemFlow Software Telemus took advantage of Pentek’s SystemFlow® API high-level software function calls to control and monitor all operational functions of the IF recorder. By integrating these API commands within their ELINT system software, Telemus provided a unified user interface that seamlessly coordinates for both ELINT and IF Recorder operations.

Pentek’s SFF Talon MIL-STD recorder used with ELINT software from Telemus. To view the video of the Pentek Talon RTX 2589 rugged IF recorder for operational use with the Telemus ALR-510 ELINT/ESM, please visit https://www.pentek.com/go/5903syncvideo.

Talon Family Pentek offers several Talon product series, each addressing specific application needs: • RTV Value Series: Low-cost rackmount systems for laboratory environments • RTS Commercial Series: Rackmount systems for laboratory environments • RTR Portable Series: Rugged portable systems for field use • RTR Rackmount Series: Rugged rackmount systems for deployed applications • RTX Extreme Series: Rugged systems for extreme environments

About Telemus Telemus, Inc. is a Canadian EW Company that can trace its roots back to 1984. Telemus has a range of ELINT and Radar Electronic Support (ES) systems and technologies including Phase Interferometer DF, Automatic Polarization Measurement, Single Station, and Multi-station Geolocation, and Automatic IMOP recognition algorithms. Telemus has a range of ground and airborne ELINT and ESM systems in operation around the world, providing leading-edge surveillance capabilities. Pentek, Inc. www.pentek.com

The ALR-510 ELINT/ESM system has been deployed on operational missions to detect, identify, and geolocate radar systems for a military organization within a NATO country. The system supports both ELINT and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) facilities for radar surveillance in the country’s border regions. The system harnesses Linear Phase Interferometer Direction Finding (DF) technology and an ESM system based on an Instantaneous Frequency Measurement (IFM) receiver and an omnidirectional antenna. COTS Journal | November 2020

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Aitech’s C530 Meets Growing Market Demand for NVIDIA GPU-accelerated Compute in AI Applications Enhanced 3U VPX GPGPU board incorporates NVIDIA Turing architecture Aitech Systems offers its C530 GPGPU board with powerful NVIDIA® GPUs, based on NVIDIA’s Turing™ architecture. The rugged, high-performance board helps designers overcome major hurdles in the rugged AI landscape by providing accelerated data processing of multiple streams simultaneously while withstanding extreme environmental conditions. The enhanced 3U VPX board blends best-inclass NVIDIA technology with Aitech’s powerful ruggedization and SWaP capabilities. Because it is based on COTS, open-standard architectures, the C530 can be easily utilized in several platforms and applications. The use of multi-layered artificial neural networks and the NVIDIA Turing architecture-based GPUs’ ability to concurrently execute floating-point and integer operations give the board a distinct

performance advantage over non-GPGPU accelerated architectures. When equipped with the NVIDIA RTX 3000 GPU, the C530 houses 1920 CUDA® cores for parallel processing, 240 Tensor Cores for AI inference, 30 RT Ray-Tracing Cores for real-time rendering, and 6 GB DDR6 for processing of up to 5.3 TFLOPS (FP32). The T1000 GPU’s 896 CUDA cores and 4 GB DDR5 enable 2.6 TFLOPS (FP32) of data processing. Dan Mor, GPGPU product line manager for Aitech, noted, “There’s a growing need for more advanced platforms that enable higher computation power and relatively low power consumption while handling many independent video outputs and providing a large throughput back out to the network. Our enhanced C530 uses the power of NVIDIA to provide these performance needs for compute-intensive applications like AI delivery, video analytics, and image processing.” The C530 delivers state-of-the-art accuracy in complex tasks such as object detection, classification, segmentation, and motion detection. It is used widely throughout rugged HPEC applica-

EIZO Releases 3U VPX Graphics/GPGPU Card Based on NVIDIA Turing (TU104) for AI Applications in the Defense Market

Cores for deep learning training and AI inferencing. With 3072 CUDA cores for parallel processing, this GPGPU card also supports advanced shading technologies such as Mesh, Texture, and Variable Rate Shading.

EIZO Rugged Solutions Inc. has introduced the Condor GR5-RTX5000 – a fully ruggedized 3U VPX form factor graphics & GPGPU card that hosts the NVIDIA® Quadro RTX™ 5000 GPU (TU104) directly on the board (chip-down).

Selwyn L. Henriques, president and CEO of EIZO Rugged Solutions, said: “Our NVIDIA Turing TU104 based Condor GR5-RTX5000 card is one of the most powerful computing platforms in the rugged market today and delivers unparalleled performance to defense developers wanting to harness artificial intelligence in their next-generation designs. “Our extremely SWaP-efficient electrical, mechanical, and thermal designs offer customers the opportunity to achieve maximum possible performance from the GPGPU, even under ex-

Powered by NVIDIA Turing™ architecture, the Condor GR5-RTX5000 delivers exceptional power and performance to a defense market hungry to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). The new board is designed for latency-sensitive applications supporting ISR, Degraded Visual Environments (DVE), Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Electronic Warfare (EW), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), and Data Science projects. The Condor GR5-RTX5000 offers up to 9.4 TFLOPs of FP32 floating-point performance, 16 GB GDDR6 memory, 48 RT Ray-Tracing Cores for real-time rendering of photorealistic objects, and 384 Tensor 26

COTS Journal | November 2020

tions, including unmanned and autonomous vehicles—both ground and aerial—and in surveillance, targeting, and advanced weapons systems found in naval, avionics, and industrial environments. Via an MXM site, the C530 currently supports the NVIDIA RTX 3000 GPU, consuming only 80 W, and the NVIDIA T1000 GPU, consuming only 50 W, with new configurations released as higher-performance MXMs become available. The C530 operates as a peripheral board with a compatible x86 VPX host SBC, connected to the host SBC over the VPX backplane, via a high-speed PCIe Gen3 link of up to 16 lanes. Four independent HDMI video ports each support resolutions of up to 1600x1200 at 60 Hz. Aitech Systems https://aitechsystems.com

treme conditions. Our novel chip-down implementation of the NVIDIA Turing TU104 technology serves to improve the card’s thermal dissipation profile too.” The rugged Condor GR5-RTX5000 delivers real-time throughput for encoding applications with a dedicated H.264 and H.265 encode engine (NVENC) and a dedicated decoding core for playback (NVDEC), supporting an unrestricted number of encoding sessions with a performance throughput verified in-house of 24x concurrent 1080p30 sessions at default power settings. This product meets strict data integrity requirements for mission-critical applications with uncompromised computing accuracy and reliability. The Condor GR5-RTX5000 has three customizable output configurations and is offered in air-cooled or conduction-cooled variations. Like all of EIZO Rugged Solutions’ VPX cards, the Condor GR5-RTX5000 is MILSTD-810 compliant and is designed to meet military and aerospace specifications for temperature, shock, vibration, and power. EIZO Rugged Solutions Inc. www.eizorugged.com

November 2020

COT’S PICKS New ASIL-D certificate boost safety and security credentials of Winbond’s W75F Secure Memory Element

Winbond Electronics Corporation announced that its W75F, the industry’s first Secure Flash memory device with Common Criteria EAL5+ certificate, has now achieved the ISO26262 ASIL Grade D safety certification. For the automotive market, the W75F Secure Memory is compliant with the AEC-Q100 and is now officially certified ASIL-D. The W75F device provides fault detection capabilities covering more than 99.9% of failures ranging from flash array cells, through the physical interface, and all the way to the host. The safety rating for the W75F surpasses that of internal embedded Flash memories while offering much more storage capacity that can potentially be scaled up to even higher densities. Winbond said: ‘The W75F is the ideal ex-

MilSource Announces New Techaya Rugged 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch/ Router That Delivers Both Copper and Fiber Ports for Increased Data Speed Needs MilSource announced the availability of Techaya’s MILTECH 9116 rugged 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch/router. Addressing the cost and roll-out constraints of fiber optics in mobile military networks requiring 10 GbE connections, the compact MILTECH 9116 provides a unique design that supports 12 x 10 GbE copper ports bound in three connectors and 4 x 10 GbE fiber ports through two rugged, MIL-DTL 83526/20 & /21 TacBeam connectors. Applications such as video, LiDAR, and sensors

ternal secure memory companion, offering a high level of security assurance at Common Criteria EAL5+. Now with the addition of ASIL Grade D certification, the W75F is even more beneficial for automotive platforms, which have to meet stringent requirements for security and functional safety. Winbond is the only flash vendor with the proven capability of designing devices that can bridge the gap between high safety and high-security levels without compromising either.’

and data storage. It offers a dependable solution for manufacturers of connected systems, which want to defend their products against threats such as replay, rollback, man-in-the-middle, sniffing, side-channel, and fault injection attacks.

The W75F has also been certified with the Security Evaluation Scheme for IoT Platforms (SESIP) scheme for IoT and smart connected devices up to Level 3 with a physical attacker.

It is available in densities of 4Mb, 16Mb, and 32Mb and is available in industry-standard SOP16, QFN32, and WLCSP packages.

The W75F Secure Memory is the industry’s proven secure external Flash device for code

Winbond Electronics Corporation www.winbond.com

have created a demand for data speeds that have exceeded the traditional 1-gigabit network standard capability. 10 Gb Ethernet network infrastructure addresses these new speed requirements by enabling multiple gigabit ports into a single 10GbE connection in a non-e blocking architecture. It is an ideal solution to overcome traditional bandwidth limitations. While shorter-distance connections of devices, such as cameras, servers, and other hardware can get maximum speeds out of copper connections, longer-distance runs will require fiber-optic connections to deliver 10 GbE speeds, end-to-end.

manager of MilSource. “Traditional fiber-based 10 GbE tends to be fragile and requires a lot of resources for in-field repairs. TacBeam connectors protect the fragile fibers and allow field personnel to wash and clean the connectors themselves, providing simpler maintenance and greater MTBF figures than traditional fiber connectors.”

“To ease those cost and implementation burdens, the MILTECH 9116 delivers a unique combination of both 10 GbE copper ports for shorter-distanced connections and 10 GbE fiber ports via tactical expanded beam connectors,” said Ronen Isaac, general

The MILTECH 9116 supports Layer 2 and 3 network capabilities including VLANS, QoS, multicast routing (PIM), and dynamic routing (OSPF). Compact in size, it measures 16.8” x 8” x 2.8” and weighs just 8.8 lbs. Standard power input is 28Vdc (18-32V), 87W maximum and it is designed to meet MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-1275, MIL-STD-704, IP67 standards. MilSource https://militaryethernet.com/

COTS Journal | November 2020

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Industry’s Highest RF Channel Density 3U VPX Solution Featuring New Xilinx Gen3 RFSoC Technology and Alignment to SOSA™ Technical Standard

Abaco Systems announces the VP431, the next generation of our industry-leading VP430 3U VPX commercial off-the-shelf direct RF processing system, now featuring the all-new 3rd-generation Xilinx Radio Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) Technology. The VP431 maximizes I/O channel density, reduces the radio frequency signal chain complexity, and was developed in alignment with the Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA) technical standard to help reduce development and integration time and reduce acquisition and lifetime costs. Built for rapid migration from the lab to deployment, this product is available in either an air-cooled version or a fully conduction-cooled and rugged configuration. This innovative solution demonstrates our ongoing commitment to delivering state of the art Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) products to our customers. Utilizing Xilinx’s latest Zynq® Ultrascale+™ RFSoC Gen3 Technology, the VP431 leverages heterogeneous processing capabilities allowing for streaming signal processing within an FPGA fabric and general-purpose processing in a single module. This solution empowers customers to meet the increasing signal 28

COTS Journal | November 2020

processing requirements of radar and electronic warfare systems. Battlefield demands of radar and electronic warfare technologies continue to require increases in channels and bandwidth. The VP431 rises to the challenge by providing a leap forward in processing and data offloading abilities. The VP431 serves as an economical solution to radiofrequency systems with multiple channels by delivering a solution that increases the channel density and reduces size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements through eight channel inputs and eight-channel outputs. By reducing the RF signal chain complexity and delivering better performance while using fewer system slots, the VP431 provides a leap forward in capability for customers developing systems for MIMO, beamforming, communications, sensor processing, radar signal processing, and electronic warfare. According to Pete Thompson, VP of product management for Abaco Systems, Inc., “Abaco demonstrates a commitment to our customers’ success with the VP431 by delivering a board with revolutionary RFSoC technology on the powerful 3U VPX standard form factor. This product expands our line of SOSA standard aligned portfolio products while providing a cost-effective solution that will enable our customers to be the first to deployment with effective solutions found in the VP431.” Abaco Systems www.abaco.com

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Conformance Tool Product from Lead Dog Technologies

LDT has developed an automated-test capability that quickly and inexpensively tests and validates VPX cards that conform to certain open system standards, such as SOSA™, HOST, MORA, CMOSS, and others. Originally developed in a standard 19” server rack, this Conformance Tool (CT) is now in its second generation and is modularized in smaller, portable equipment racks. The CT is designed to connect a variety of OpenVPX card profiles and to run a series of automated tests on a particular ‘Unit Under Test’ (UUT) to determine if it meets all of the rules asserted by these open standards, as well as the key ‘referenced’ rules called out in other standards. The ability to swap out different VPX profiles allows a quick conformance check for Payload, SBC, Switch, Power Supply, and other types of VPX cards. Once connected to the VPX backplane, the profile is identified by the technician performing the test and the test is initiated. Within minutes, the automated test sequences analyze the component to determine if each of the sub-components and buses conform to the standards specified. The details and tolerances of each test are recorded and provided by the CT to assist with the analysis and correction of any faults or failures. Interoperability

ware connections for both 6U and 3U VPX modules, as well as fiber optical connections, supporting VITA 65 and VITA 66 standards. We are currently adding high-speed RF testing capabilities (VITA 67 and VITA 49.2 message set), and expect to have that capability completed by Q1 2021. Our test software can now test for HOST (3.0 and 4.2) and SOSA™ (Snapshot 3) conformance. This will include MORA and CMOSS, as well as SOSA™ 1.0 conformance capabilities, also by Q1 2021. The CT currently supports testing of all buses called out within SOSA™ and HOST standards. RF Test (currently working) Where the CT is Heading LDT plans to continue developing CT capabilities that can assure conformance to open standards. Ultimately, we intend for the CT to be used by a Verification Authority (VA) for standards that require such. We will also provide a variety of conformance test capabilities for card vendors to use in rapid prototyping and in-production testing of the module types, they are focused on, as well as for integrators and Program Offices to use for interoperability and fitness testing. Lead Dog Technologies leaddog.tech

These rapidly advancing and converging open standards are intended, among other things, to assure interoperability of components that will be assembled into new and upgrading integrated systems such as weapons systems, communications satellites, and sensor systems. By demonstrating (and eventually certifying) that component modules conform to these standards, integrators will be able to begin with some assurance that a tested component will be interoperable and compatible with other standardized components and chasses. Newer, upgraded components that meet these standards will be backward-compatible and interoperable within these same systems, avoiding complete system re-designs to support limited tech-refresh. The CT architecture is designed from the ground-up to be highly flexible and upgradable: to add any type of testing and any type of instrumentation needed as these open standards evolve. Among other things, this flexibility is provided through the purposeful development of abstraction layers withing the CT software, which allows for simple addition or change-out of test types and hardware types. In this way, the capabilities of the CT can expand rapidly over time without affecting the overall architecture, functionality, and performance of the CT. CT Capabilities The initial CT capabilities included hardCOTS Journal | November 2020

November 2020

COT’S PICKS

Hot stuff for extreme temperatures

congatec introduces six new Computer-on-Modules with 11th Gen Intel Core processors for the extended temperature range. Built with high-quality components designed to withstand extreme temperatures from -40 to +85°C, the new COM-HPC and COM Express Type 6 Computer-on-Modules provide all features and services required for reliable operation in the most challenging environments. The value package includes rugged passive cooling options, optional conformal coating for protection against corrosion due to moisture or condensation, a list of recommended carrier board schematics, and suitable components for the extended temperature range for highest reliability. This impressive technical feature set is complemented by a comprehensive service offering that includes temperature screening, high-speed signal compliance testing along with design-in services, and all training sessions required to simplify the use of congatec’s embedded computer technologies. Typical use cases for the new industrial-grade COM-HPC and COM Express modules can be found in any kind of rugged applications, outdoor edge devices, and in-vehicle installa-

COTS Journal | November 2020

tions, which increasingly leverage embedded vision and artificial intelligence (AI) functions for which congatec provides extensive support as well. Typical verticals are industrial automation, railway, and transportation, smart infrastructure including mission-critical applications such as the energy, oil and gas sector, mobile ambulance equipment, telecommunication, or security, and video surveillance, to name just a few. Based on the new low-power high-density Tiger Lake SoCs, the new modules for wide temperature environments offer significantly greater CPU performance and nearly 3x higher GPU performance [1], along with state-of-the-art PCIe Gen4 and USB4 support. The most demanding graphics and compute workloads benefit from up to 4 cores, 8 threads, and up to 96 graphics execution units for massively parallel processing throughput in an ultra-rugged shape. The integrated graphics can be used as a parallel processing unit for convolutional neural networks (CNN) or as an AI and deep learning accelerator. Using the Intel OpenVINO software toolkit that includes optimized calls for OpenCV, OpenCL kernels, and other industry tools and libraries, workloads can be extended across CPU, GPU, and FPGA compute units to accelerate AI workloads, including computer vision, audio, speech, language, and recommendation systems.

The TDP is scalable from 12W to 28W, enabling truly immersive 4k UHD system designs with passive cooling only. The impressive performance of the ultra-rugged conga-HPC/cTLU COM-HPC module and the conga-TC570 COM Express Type 6 module has been made available in a real-time capable design and also includes real-time hypervisor support from Real-Time Systems for virtual machine deployments and workload consolidation in edge computing scenarios. “Services and support are key for standard-based products. That’s why we complement our rugged product offering for all the new edge applications in challenging environments with a comprehensive ecosystem for each product. This includes optimization for real-time computing – including support for Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) and RTS Realtime Systems Hypervisor, remote management support, and finally, all required signal compliance services as high-speed signaling with PCIe Gen 4 and USB4 is a serious challenge these days, making carrier board design tasks increasingly complex,” explains Andreas Bergbauer, Product Line Manager at congatec. congatec www.congatec.com

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Aitech’s Rugged GPGPU AI Supercomputer Now Offers Quicker Processing of Critical Functions

Enhanced NVIDIA AGX Xavier-based A178 offers double RAM, new high-speed interfaces Aitech Systems has released an upgraded, qualified version of its high performance, compact A178. Designed for intense data processing in extreme environments, the rugged GPGPU AI supercomputer reliably operates in the harsh conditions found throughout mobile, remote, military, and autonomous platforms. The A178 system is ideal for applications such as training simulation, situational awareness, AI computing, image, and video processing, moving maps, and much more. Dan Mor, GPGPU product line manager for Aitech, noted, “High-speed interfaces that can quickly capture and process data, then deliver it to the next decision point, are critical to avoid bottlenecks typical of the high processing demands in today’s rugged AI applications. The new A178 includes not only the needed interfaces, like 10GbE and USB 3 but up to 32

DDC-I’s Safety-Critical Deos Avionics RTOS First to Offer DAL-A DO-178C Certifiable Encryption wolfCrypt brings secure, lightweight, encrypted FIPS 140-2-certified communications to DO-178 avionics applications running Deos DDC-I and wolfSSL announced the availability of the wolfCrypt cryptography library and certification kit, certifiable to DO-178C Level A, for DDC-I’s Deos DO-178C safety-critical real-time operating system. Avionics developers now have a flexible, compact, and high-performance COTS solution for quickly delivering secure, FIPS 140-2 validated, communications. Deos has always provided a robust foundation for secure systems. Its modularity, hard partitioning, denial of dynamic operations, integrity checks, and controlled interprocess communications all make it the preferred environment for high assurance systems. The addition of wolfCrypt provides the proper cryptographic underpinnings for secure data transport, boot, and firmware upgrades. Together, Deos and wolfCrypt provide trusted, military-grade security to connected avionics systems, making it ideal for not only military systems but also Urban Air Mobility and next-generation commercial avionics systems. “DDC-I and wolfSSL provide best in class RTOS 32

COTS Journal | November 2020

GB of RAM for even better performance in these high throughput scenarios.” Already one of the smallest of Aitech’s extensive AI SFF systems, the new A178 packs even more performance into a compact, rugged form factor. It uses the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier System-on-Module that features the Volta GPU with 512 CUDA cores and 64 Tensor cores to reach 32 TOPS INT8 and 11 TFLOPS FP16. The upgrades to the A178 were designed to help meet the demand for standalone, compact, GPGPU-based small form factor (SFF) systems that are both rugged and SWaP-C-optimized. The low power unit offers a high level of energy efficiency while providing all the power necessary for AI-based local processing right where it’s needed, next to the sensors. The advanced computation abilities of the new system include two dedicated NVDLA (NVIDIA Deep-Learning Accelerator) engines that provide an interface for deep learning applications, making it ideally suited for distributed systems. The system can accommodate up to three expansion modules, such as

and crypto technology for DO-178C high design assurance applications that are not offered elsewhere,” said Greg Rose, vice president of marketing and product management at DDC-I. “Contrasting with the closed and restrictive approach most RTOS suppliers have taken with security, DDC-I has stayed firm to an open model leveraging third-party solutions so customers can use the vendor and solution that works best for them. As a result, Deos users are empowered to incorporate the best-in-class technology available in the market, such as the products from wolfSSL, to solve their unique system requirements.” “The integration of Deos and wolfCrypt should prove very attractive to avionics developers who require a secure, out-of-the-box, safety-critical solution that comes ready to certify, complete with DAL A evidence,” said Larry Stefonic, CEO and Founder at wolfSSL. “We have a very strong working relationship with DDC-I and find Deos to be quite straightforward to work with. Together, I believe we offer our joint customers a world-class platform that features best-inclass RTOS and security.” The wolfSSL embedded SSL library is a lightweight, portable, C language-based SSL/TLS library that targets embedded and RTOS environments for connected applications such as avionics. Featuring FIPS 140-2 certified cryptography, the compact library supports industry standards up to TLS 1.3 and DTLS

an HD-SDI frame grabber, composite frame grabber, or NVMe SSD. A variety of expansion modules are available upon request. Four high definition HD-SDI inputs and eight composite inputs handle multiple streams of video and data simultaneously at full frame rates. Interfaces include Gigabit and 10GB Ethernet, DisplayPort output handling 4K resolution, USB 3.0 & 2.0 as well as DVI/HDMI output, UART serial, and CANbus, among others. Aitech Systems https://aitechsystems.com/

1.2, is up to 20 times smaller than OpenSSL, offers a simple API, provides an OpenSSL compatibility layer, and includes OCSP and CRL support. To facilitate DO-178C level A certification, the wolfCrypt certification kit provides traceable artifacts for the following encryption algorithms: SHA-256 message digest; AES encryption and decryption; RSA for signing and verifying messages; and chacha20_ poly1305 for authenticated encryption and decryption. Any of the FIPS 140-2 validated crypto algorithms can be used in DO-178 mode for combined FIPS 140-2/DO 178 consumption. DDC-I’s Deos is a field-proven, safety-critical, avionics RTOS that is used to host a multitude of flight-critical functions, such as air data computers, air data inertial reference units, cockpit video, displays and flight instrumentation, flight management systems, engine management, and many more. Built from the ground up for safety-critical applications, Deos is the only certifiable time- and space-partitioned COTS RTOS that has been created using RTCA DO-178, Level A processes from the very first day of its product development. Deos’ unique modular design and verification evidence provide the easiest, lowest cost path to DO-178C DAL A certification, the highest level of safety criticality. www.elma.com DDC-I www.ddci.com

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Compact Managed 28-Port Rugged 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Enables Rapid Development of Custom Switch Solutions

Diamond Systems has unveiled the latest model in its popular line of compact gigabit Ethernet switch modules. The EPSM-10GX4 managed switch offers 24 10/100/1000Mbps copper ports + 4 10Gbps SFI ports and Layer 2+ switching and Layer 3 routing/switching software in the ultra-compact size of 2.2 x 3.3” (55 x 84mm). The module is intended to be used on a carrier board, such as Diamond’s EPS-24G4X, to implement a complete Ethernet switching solution. The core Ethernet switching technology is almost fully encapsulated on the module; for many applications, only the “last inch” of magnetics and I/O connectors is required to complete the circuit, enabling easy development of custom form factor compact, rugged Ethernet switch solutions. EPSM-10GX4 is designed to meet the challenges of vehicle environments with its 50% thicker PCB, - 40/+85°C operating temperature range, and MIL-STD-202G shock/vibration resistance. Customers seeking a full-turnkey solution can also subscribe to Diamond’s custom carrier board and system design and manufacturing services, taking advantage of the company’s extensive Ethernet

Tough Stump Technologies Releases ATOS Tracking System GPS-enabled Tracking System Provides Increased Safety and Situational Awareness for Military, First Responders Tough Stump Technologies of Southern Pines, North Carolina is proud to announce the

switch design experience and manufacturing supply chain to reduce risk and time to market even further. The small size, based on the industry-standard COM Express Mini form factor, makes EPSM-10GX a perfect choice for use as a building block for creating custom Ethernet switch solutions in a variety of space-demanding applications, such as drones,

ground and underwater vehicles, and robots. A complete development kit is also available including the technical design package (schematics, PCB layout, and BOM) of our EPS-24G4X carrier board, along with a complete EPS-24G4X switch and cable kit.

official release of the ATOS tracking system. “ATOS is a GPS-enabled tracking system that allows you to Track What Matters,” said Jarrett Heavenston, co-founder of Tough Stump. “That could be military working dogs and first responders to vehicles and containers, or anything in between.”

line of sight GPS tracking system that runs inside of ATAK. It provides the operator with the ability to track and monitor the real-time location of 100+ tags. Additionally, the user can assign unique attributes to each tag. ATOS consists of 3 components: an ATAK End-User Device, the ATOS Tag powered by a CR 123 battery, and a Command Link UHF Receiver.

Diamond Systems www.diamondsystems.com

The ATOS Tracking System is an organic ATOS operates in the UHF spectrum, independent of cellular, WiFi, or satellite networks. The Command Link connects via Blue Tooth to an ATAK EUD and can communicate via UHF with tags at a range of 1 to 4 miles, increasing to 30+ miles in the air. The user can choose to broadcast the location of tags over their ATAK network using mesh network radios or the internet. The ATOS Tracking System is named in honor of ATOS, a military working dog that was KIA on Christmas Eve 2007 in Iraq and is the inspiration for the product. “Atos was a teammate,” said Heavenston. “If we had this on him that night, the outcome would have been a lot different.” Tough Stump Technologies www.toughstump.comw Compa

COTS Journal | November 2020

November 2020

COT’S PICKS Rugged ATR Chassis for VITA 48.4 Liquid Flow-Through (LFT) Cooling from Elma The new platform provides reliable operation for intense, power-drive systems Recognizing the increasing power demands of high-performance embedded systems, Elma Electronic Inc. has released a new rugged ATR chassis compliant with VITA 48.4 for liquid flow-through (LFT) cooling. The new backplane in the chassis is designed for data rates up to 10 Gbps and can handle 300 Watts per slot. This enables the system to accommodate the intense thermal management needed in high density embedded computing systems. The new chassis offers several other design benefits including configurable front I/O connectors on a removable panel and a filtered power input connector. It is 1 ATR tall short with a rugged, bolted construction. Individual card coolant flow

COTS Journal | November 2020

rates are adjustable with selectable orifices. The backplane features eight 6U slots on a 1.2” pitch, including two VITA 62-compliant power supply slots, four 6U slots (three Payload slots with VITA 67.3c apertures in J3 & J6, and one Switch slot with VITA 67.3d aperture in J6b) as well as two 6U Payload slots populated with all J1-J6 connectors. “Clockable” guide pins are included at each slot to allow for easier key-

ing (angle rotation), without having to deal with the removal of the backplane from the chassis. Ram Rajan, senior vice president of engineering for Elma Electronic, noted, “Power-hungry OpenVPX modules require a thermal management solution guaranteed to keep the mission on course. This rugged ATR chassis accommodates boards that mandate VITA 48.4 LFT cooling, so our customers know their intense power requirements can be handled effectively.”The VITA 48.4 standard establishes the mechanical design, interface control, outline, and mounting requirements to ensure the mechanical intermateability of 6U VPX liquid-flow-through cooled plug-in modules within associated sub-racks. The standard enables more efficient cooling of circuit boards and electronic components via an integral heatsink with liquid flowing through it. The connector layout remains common with VITA 46 and quick disconnect coupling assemblies allow the fluidic coupling to the chassis manifold. Elma www.elma.com

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COTS Journal (ISSN#1526-4653) is published monthly at; 3180 Sitio Sendero, Carlsbad, CA. 92009.

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