COTS Journal, July 2023

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.

—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.

By Justin Moll, Vice President, Pixus Technologies

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing JOURNAL

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INSIDE TRACK

U.S. Army Awards NanoGraf and South 8 Technologies

$550,000 to Increase Battery Safety for Soldiers

Funding will provide soldiers with more reliable and durable cells while significantly reducing load by eliminating the need for backup batteries.

NanoGraf, an advanced battery materials company and enabler of the world’s most energy-dense lithium-ion 18650 cells, and South 8 Technologies, developers of a novel liquefied gas electrolyte (LiGas®) for the next generation of safe and high-performance lithium-ion batteries, today announced a joint $550,000 award from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) to pair NanoGraf’s 3.8 Ah 18650 cell with South 8’s electrolyte for cold temperature and safety testing.

Soldiers carry over 25 pounds of batteries during missions and sometimes need backups as some batteries perform poorly in harsh weather conditions or after being physically damaged.

The DoD award will fund a six-month project to ensure batteries with NanoGraf and

South 8’s technology reduce or eliminate catastrophic failure when exposed to extreme temperatures or nail penetration, per MILPRF-32383 4.7.4.4 (Military Performance Specification). Successful completion of the testing will validate the extreme cold temperature performance of the cell and maintain existing capacity and cycle life, allowing the cell to operate down to -60 degrees and up to +60 Celsius and pass the safety test. NanoGraf’s M38 18650 cell can currently operate down to -30 Celsius.

Li-ion cells are plagued by poor low-temperature capacity and experience thermal runaway at high temperatures or when crushed/ punctured. Combining NanoGraf and South8 technologies has the potential to alleviate both conditions, yielding a cell with few drawbacks in terms of performance or safety.

“We’re thrilled about this recent grant, as it provides even more performance differentiation for our Department of Defense customer,” said Dr. Francis Wang, CEO of NanoGraf. “Adding the safety and cold temperature test

with South 8 further extends NanoGraf’s performance profile from other commercial cells.”

This funding comes on the heels of some significant milestones for both NanoGraf and South 8. In March of 2023, NanoGraf announced an oversubscribed Series B funding round of $65 million. In November of 2022, the Company was awarded a $10 million contract from the U.S. Government to develop the first advanced silicon anode manufacturing facility in the Midwest. In January of 2023, South 8 was awarded $3.15 million by the Department of Energy to participate in its American Low-Carbon Living (EVs4ALL) program.

“We are excited for the opportunity to work with NanoGraf towards a commercial cell that combines our two differentiating technologies into one powerful product,” said Cyrus Rustomji, CEO and co-founder of South 8 Technologies. “The Department of Defense and NanoGraf are incredible partners, and we’re thrilled to be working towards enhancing soldier capabilities across critical missions in increasingly more challenging climates.

The INSIDE TRACK

First In-Space Laser Power Beaming Experiment Surpasses 100 Days of Successful On-Orbit Operations

SWELL is sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (OUSD (A&S)) Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund

less power demonstration in orbit launched in 2019 and operated in 2020 called LEctenna.To NRL’s knowledge, the 2020 LEctenna demonstration was the first instance of wireless power transmission in orbit. OECIF supported all of these efforts.

“SWELL continues to operate nominally, showing so far that power-beaming links can operate for sustained periods to support mission operations,” said Elias Wilcoski, SWELL Flight Operations Lead. “After running continuously for weeks, the telemetry remains rock solid.”

“It’s exciting to see not only our success but that of teams across the country and worldwide in advancing power-beaming technology,” said Paul Jaffe, SWELL Principal Investigator. “It appears to be only a matter of time before power beaming is used to move energy to address critical challenges facing our world and beyond.”

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Space Wireless Energy Laser Link (SWELL) surpassed 100 days of successful on-orbit laser operations on June 29, 2023, coinciding with the NRL’s 100th birthday celebration. Launched on March 14, 2023, this experiment represents the first successful instance of laser power beaming in space. It resides on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program (STP) H9 mission.

SWELL has continuously provided about 1.5 watts at the power-beaming receiver’s output with an end-to-end efficiency of around 11%, more than ten times the team’s efficiency goal. The power beaming link distance is 1.45 meters. To NRL’s knowledge, in addition to being the first laser power beaming demonstration in space, this also represents the highest power, longest distance, and most efficient power beaming demonstration in orbit of any type.

“Though small in scale, SWELL is a critical first step in investigating laser power beaming in space. We’re ecstatic with its ongoing success in orbit,” said Chris DePuma, SWELL Program Manager. “This is the first step towards addressing the challenges of implementing power-beaming links for lunar exploration and other applications.”

(OECIF), with additional support from the Naval Center for Space Technology at NRL. The Department of Defense Space Test Program supported launch and spacecraft integration.

Power beaming delivers energy via electromagnetic waves, avoiding the need for wires or the transport of batteries or fuel. This allows energy to be sent at the speed of light. SWELL expands on previous NRLled power beaming efforts, such as SCOPE-O, that have demonstrated power beaming’s safety and feasibility on the ground, and a prior wire-

The INSIDE TRACK

Aerojet Rocketdyne Develops and Successfully Tests New Solid Rocket Motor for Kratos’ Zeus Program

Aerojet Rocketdyne has successfully developed, and static-fire tested the Zeus 1, an advanced stage 1 Large Solid Rocket Motor (LSRM) for Kratos. The motor met or exceeded performance expectations..

“Congratulations to the Aerojet Rocketdyne and Kratos teams for this outstanding achievement,” said Eileen P. Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and president. “This test validated the robustness of our innovative motor design for an affordable hypersonic application and further demonstrated our large solid rocket motor capabilities at Camden, where we support multiple industry customers to power various defense programs.”

The motor was developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne at its Huntsville, Alabama facilities and manufactured and tested in Camden, Arkansas. The motor’s development was co-funded by Kratos and Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Eric DeMarco, President and CEO of Kra-

tos Defense & Security Solutions, said, “The Zeus 1 accomplishment is a representative example of the force multiplier effect and success of the Kratos and Aerojet Rocketdyne relationship, which is a true partnership. Aerojet Rocketdyne is a clear technological leader in the rapid development and production of cost-effective propulsion systems like Zeus, and top-down, Aerojet Rocketdyne is focused on the mission’s success.”

Kratos intends to use the Zeus 1 commercial solid rocket motor to support launch vehicle stages for its research, hypersonic and ballistic missile target vehicles. The Company noted in an announcement that the Zeus 1 motor performance “provides substantial improvement” over similar legacy solid rocket motors, and they expect the advancements to provide Kratos’ customers opportunities to “fly more often, faster and farther using fewer stages at a substantially reduced cost.”

The Zeus 1 is the first of two high-performance LSRMs developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne under the Kratos Zeus Program. Aerojet Rocketdyne is now manufacturing the larger Zeus 2 motor, slated for testing at its Camden facility later this year.

The INSIDE TRACK

General Dynamics Mission Systems

Awarded NSA’s Next Generation Secure Voice Development Contract

General Dynamics Mission Systems announced they received a National Security Agency (NSA) contract to design and deliver the next-generation secure desktop phone. This ad-

vanced Voice over Internet Protocol device will provide improved voice quality, cybersecurity modernization, and new features such as video conferencing in a flexible, modular architecture that reduces total life cycle cost. General Dynamics is a recognized national leader in providing high-assurance encryption using the best technology to protect and defend critical information and national security systems.

“This is a great opportunity to design a future-proof portfolio to deliver trusted, secure voice communication capabilities into the hands of our customers, addressing the ever-changing mission landscape and requirements,” said Stephen Marker, vice president of Secure Network and Voice Products in General Dynamics Mission Systems’ Cyber Systems line of business. “Our proven track record demonstrates a profound commitment to our customers, ensures delivery of a resilient portfolio that will withstand emerging adversarial threats, and paves a solid, trusted path to Next Generation Encryption and Cryptographic Modernization.”

The INSIDE TRACK

NAVAIR Selects Mercury to Deliver Digital Head-Up Display for T-45 Goshawk Training Aircraft

LMercury Systems, Inc. received a fiveyear contract worth as much as $83 million from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to deliver high-definition, digital Head-Up Display (HUD) systems for the T-45 Goshawk training aircraft. This firm-fixed-price delivery order was issued under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement. The Navy is the first customer to adopt Mercury’s HUD1080 technology, enabling aviators to see critical flight and weapons data in real-time without taking their eyes off the sky.

Under this program, Mercury expects to deliver nearly 300 HUD systems, with the first $45 million production order awarded in conjunction with this contract. The T-45 Goshawk

is a tandem-seat jet trainer used to train Navy and Marine Corps aviators to fly the U.S. military’s most advanced fighter jets, including the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F-35 Lightning, and the EA-18G Growler, as well as tactical airborne early warning aircraft such as the E-2 Hawkeye. The new T-45 HUD with an integrated camera is based on Mercury’s low-profile HUD design that minimizes pilot discomfort, enhances situational awareness, and maximizes an aviator’s field of view. It is also DAL-A certifiable— the highest level of design assurance that can be applied to airborne systems—allowing it to be used for critical flight and mission tasks such as landing on aircraft carriers.

Why It Matters

Pilots must understand a wealth of rapidly changing data while flying, and a HUD allows them to maintain awareness of this information without having to take their eyes off the sky to look down at multiple instruments. Cur-

rent training aircraft use older analog HUD systems that have a bulky design, are out of production, and cannot integrate with the modern enhanced vision systems used in today’s fighter jets. Integrating Mercury’s HUD into the T-45 solves the obsolescence problem for the aircraft. It ensures pilots are trained in an operationally realistic environment, as the systems are compatible with upcoming T-45 avionics upgrades.

“The introduction of the HUD1080 expands Mercury’s display technology portfolio and our ability to deliver mission-ready technology and solutions for all aspects of the avionics ecosystem,” said Mitch Stevison, Executive Vice President and President of Mercury’s Mission Systems division. “We look forward to delivering our digital HUD for the T-45 Goshawk, ensuring today’s student pilots have the technology to train for current and future missions.”

The INSIDE TRACK

Drone Industry Set to Take Off with Release of Streamlined Beyond Visual Line of Sight Regulations

With over 24 years of operations and commitment to advancing drones, Draganfly cites the new streamlined regulations as the seminal event for the broad integration of drones.

Draganfly Inc. is well poised to meet the market acceleration of the evolved and newly announced regulations governing Beyond Visual Line of Sight (“BVLOS”) drone operations by the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”).

Dragonfly has been actively preparing for this evolution, ensuring it is well-positioned to serve its existing and future public safety: First Responder, Search & Rescue, Wildfire, Medical, and Defence customers.

As part of this development, the FAA has announced important updates to drone waivers to enhance safety and expand operations. These updates were created through collaborative efforts between public safety stakeholders, companies, and the FAA.

The FAA has introduced new waivers and templates that streamline the approval

process for drone operations, particularly in the public safety sector. The Drone as a First Responder (“DFR”) BVLOS/FR-BVLOS significantly reduces the approval timeframe from over six months to just a few days. This improvement will benefit Draganfly, enabling the Company to expand its presence in multiple industries and capitalize on more opportunities in the public safety sector.

Dragonfly has over 24 years of experience manufacturing drones, particularly for public safety in North America, providing crucial drone technology beyond visual line of sight. Dragonfly is a technology, manufacturing, and services partner with leading public safety organizations, such as ColdChain Delivery Services, DroneSense, SkyeBrowse, Vermeer, and PromoDrone.

Also, in support of these streamlined regulations, Draganfly recently opened the Draganfly UAS A.I.R. Space, a 150-acre flight facility dedicated to the advancement of UAS program Adoption, Innovation & Research, which is designed to be the proving ground for our partners and customers testing requirements to attain applicable flight waivers. Dragonfly drones have a storied track record of performance, from being the first Drone credited to have saved a human life to the recent humanitarian and demining missions in Ukraine, which have helped build a reputation as a reliable and efficient provider poised to be a leader with our stakeholders dedicated to saving time, money, and lives.

“Commercial, Government, Military & Industrial drone adoption, expansion, and sustainability can only be attained with a clear and efficient regulatory framework which, after decades of development, has now taken shape and will accelerate the drone industry to its multi, multi-billion-dollar potential,” said Cameron Chell, President, and CEO of Dragonfly. “These regulations will enable broad adoption in addition to opening a whole new range of use cases and potential.”

The market for drones flying beyond the visual line of sight could surpass $34 billion in the next six years. This is being driven by streamlined regulation and expanded applications of drone technology.

The INSIDE TRACK

Nullspace, Inc. Launches as an Engineering Software Company

Nullspace, Inc. was launched as a spin-off from IERUS Technologies, an established defense contractor in Huntsville, AL. Nullspace, Inc. focuses on delivering advanced engineering software for electromagnetics applications.

With solid backing from IERUS and initial seed funding of $500K, Nullspace, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is off to a strong start. The three co-founders all hold PhDs in electromagnetics and aerospace engineering and have 10+ years of commercial and executive leadership experience.

“The proprietary solvers for Nullspace EM have been rigorously tested on real-world antenna, microwave, and scattering problems for the last 12 years,” said Dr. Jason Keen, CEO of IERUS Technologies and Nullspace co-founder. “With this spin-off, we are excited to bring this powerful simulation technology to the commercial market for antenna and radar design applications.”

The Company’s flagship product, Nullspace EM, boasts proprietary fast linear algebra algorithms and multi-CPU and multi-GPU acceleration capability - making this software ideal for solving electrically large, complex problems over 25x faster than available solutions – without sacrificing accuracy.

Dr. Daniel Faircloth, Nullspace’s Chief Technical Officer and co-founder, initially began to develop Nullspace at IERUS because he wanted more than the EM tools available on the market. Dr. Faircloth and his engineering team needed more power and flexibility from their simulation tools to design complex electromagnetic devices for defense and aerospace.

Dr. Faircloth and his team set out to design a better solution. “Our customers did not ask us to develop software. They asked us to create next-generation RF technologies to solve their most challenging problems,” says Dr. Faircloth. After 12 years of developing a tool to help deliver those cutting-edge RF products for the US military, Nullspace was born.

Nullspace CEO, Dr. Masha V. Petrova, was recruited by IERUS and joined as the Nullspace co-founder after an extensive CEO search. The co-founding team recruited a strong group of advisors with comprehensive defense, finance, R&D, and entrepreneurial experience.

“Unlike present-day solutions, the Nullspace solver architecture was developed from the ground up to scale across multiple cores, which makes it ideal for design optimization, uncertainty analysis, and SaaS applications where engineers need flexibility,” said Dr. Petrova. ”Our product roadmap includes expanding to the cloud and adding proprietary AI technology to automate EM device design in a way that is not on the market today.”

The Company is currently offering three products commercially: Nullspace EM – an EM simulation solver designed for solving large optimization problems for defense, aerospace, automotive, and communications applications; Nullspace Prep – CAD and meshing pre-processor that integrates with Nullspace EM; as well as Nullspace ES – the world’s only commercial electrostatic solver for immense scale design and analysis in quantum computing.

Masha Petrova, Chief Executive Officer of Nullspace

The INSIDE TRACK

Curtiss-Wright Awarded $24 Million Contract to Provide Flight Test Instrumentation Equipment for the F-35 Technology Refresh 3 Program

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW) announced that it had been awarded a $24 million contract from Nellis Air Force Base to provide Flight Test Instrumentation (FTI) equipment in support of the F-35 Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) program. Technology Refresh 3 represents a series of critical upgrades to the F-35’s hardware and software to improve its displays, memory, and computer processing capability and support future modernization capabilities.

“We are proud to have been selected by Nellis Air Force Base to provide our aerospace instrumentation technology for use on critical flight tests of the F-35 TR-3 program,” said Lynn M. Bamford, Chair and CEO of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. “The receipt of this contract reflects our long-standing relationships and ongoing collaboration with the F-35 Joint Program Office and U.S. Flight Test Range engineers and personnel and demonstrates the trust and confidence that customers place in Curtiss-Wright’s advanced and reliable integrated high-speed flight test instrumentation systems.”

Curtiss-Wright has worked closely over the past three years with U.S. Flight Test Rang-

es, including Nellis AFB and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, as well as the F 35 Joint Program Office, to define and architect the Distributed Flight Test Instrumentation (DFTI) system that enables the test and evaluation of F-35 TR-3 configured aircraft. Curtiss-Wright’s FTI technology forms part of the DFTI system, where products and subsystems that allow the acquisition, collation, processing, recording, and telemetry of flight test data support the seamless transport of that data. Because it is networked, DFTI enables the distribution of flight test instrumentation equipment closer to the measured parameters, resulting in increased test accuracy.

The INSIDE TRACK

Concurrent Technologies Secures Significant Embedded Systems Contract

Concurrent Technologies, a world-leading specialist in designing and manufacturing highend embedded computers and system-orientated solutions for critical applications, announces that it has secured a contract with a UK FTSE 250 company to supply a custom set of embedded systems for a national defense installation.

The contract, valued at c.£1.25 million, marks a significant milestone for the Company. Building on the successful completion of a £200,000 preliminary design contract, Concurrent will deliver embedded systems units through 2025, with half the revenue expected to be recognized in 2023.

In line with the Company’s announcement last year to expand its product offering into the embedded systems market alongside the existing plug-in-cards business, the contract

validates the Company’s strategy, being its first systems contract surpassing £1 million in total revenue value. Furthermore, while Concurrent has an existing relationship for embedded cards with the customer, adding embedded systems significantly extended the Company’s reach, enabling it to successfully compete for and secure this opportunity.

Miles Adcock, CEO of Concurrent Technologies, commented:

“This exemplifies how the provision of fully integrated embedded systems generates significant value for our customers. While our plug-in

cards form only a relatively modest proportion of the total deliverables, the additional systems integration and real-time software create the capability our customer requires. We are pleased to have won this competition, and I have great confidence in the growth of our embedded systems business.”

Evolution of thermal management: A Perspective from an Electronics Packaging Company over the Last 25 Years

By Justin Moll, Vice President, Pixus Technologies

The modular open standard architecture computing industry has evolved significantly in the last 20-plus years. As these backplanebased systems have progressed from busbased architectures to today’s leading-edge SOSA designs, the thermal management of the approaches has dramatically evolved. We’ll look at how one backplane/chassis manufacturer has evolved with the design trends and review the lessons learned throughout the process of cooling electronics.

Before Pixus Technologies existed, there was a small backplane design company out of Canada called Kaparel. The design solutions for the CompactPCI bus-based specification, with the “high” 66Mhz and 33Mhz speeds and based on the Windows/Intel (Wintel) architectures, were taking the industry by storm. It was the late 1990s, and the company was developing a variety of enclosures for computing technology. Later Kaparel would be acquired by Rittal, a world-class enclosure and cooling solutions expert. With the lower speeds of the processors those days, and by extension typically lower heat levels, the focus for the cooling of these systems was versatility. The typical sizes for the backplanes in the CompactPCI system were five slots and eight slots (the max bus width was eight slots without bridging); a chassis where the boards were mounted vertically in the system wasted a lot of vertical space. Space in a 19” rack was at a premium, so any way to reduce that size was a significant factor. A vertical-mount chassis for 3U boards may be at least 5U tall (at the time) to allow proper airflow through in a front-to-rear cooled configuration. A front-to-rear airflow configuration was how most cabinet rack enclosures provided the cooling, so the fans were often placed in the

back of the chassis. The downside is that they would often block space for Rear Transition Modules (RTMs) or other devices in the enclosure or otherwise require a taller enclosure to fit the fans. Customers wanted to reduce the height of this 5U (or 8U-9U for 6U boards). One solution was that bottom-to-top cooled enclosures could be utilized. This would reduce the height of a 3U system to 4U (1U of height for the fans below the card cage) or 7U for a 6U CompactPCI board system. With heat blowing upwards into a perforated top cover (See Figure 1), the drawback is the heat would blow into the enclosure above it. So, placing the 4U chassis

in the cabinet rack was essential to consider. Other applications had simply a 3U sub-rack with 1U fan trays placed inside the cabinet rack. The downside of bottom-to-top cooling is you can’t have an enclosure directly above or below it unless fan trays are cooling through the whole cabinet enclosure system.

In later applications, some 4U top to bottom would be explored by various enclosure companies with mixed results. Yes, you can keep the chassis height limited, but by bending the airflow twice in such a small space, the cooling is not very effective, even using mini reverse

Figure 1: The bottom to top cooling configuration. The enclosure is 4U tall with fans below the card cage that hold 3U plug in boards. The top of the enclosure is perforated for airflow to pass through.

impeller fans that can fit in smaller spaces.

While CompactPCI was a rapidly growing technology at the time, all of these developments would apply to VME/VME64x, which shares the same Eurocard-based form factor in the most common cases. Developing tailor-made enclosures with an attention to detail that few could achieve became a hallmark for Kaparel/Rittal. A key focus of designs was to minimize the space consumed by the chassis while maximizing performance. This included providing an effective cooling approach. A key solution to saving space in a 19” rackmount chassis with these CompactPCI and VME backplanes was to incorporate horizontal-mount chassis, where the backplane would lay on its side. This would allow an 8-slot 6U CompactPCI backplane to sit horizontally in a 4U-tall rackmount chassis. With a monolithic backplane with built-in PSUs (see Figure 2), the solution was cost-effective. However, the cooling for side-to-side airflow could be better. With roughly 160mm of depth for the plugin boards, there is little space for the fans to cool the boards. Plus, the airflow would push the hot air over the other cards in the system (in this case, the PSU or the 6U plug-in cards themselves. In addition to the 4U chassis, 3U for six slots, 2U for four slots, and 1U for two slots were also developed. Today, there are special designs for some OpenVPX applications where 3x boards in the 3U size are plugged into a 1U horizontal-mount chassis (see Figure 3).

Faster speeds and hotter boards

Eventually, the processors became more powerful, and the boards became hotter with switched fabrics (PICMG 2.16 and other similar

technologies). It was soon the case that a single set of fans on one side of the chassis was not enough. With 6U boards in the system, there was enough space in the 19” width for dual fans in a push-pull configuration. At the same time, vertical-mount enclosures still required more cooling, particularly in front-to-rear cooled configurations. While providing a push-pull configuration in the vertical orientation is possible, it adds chassis height and potential complications such as backpressure, filtering issues, etc. This need became exacerbated when bridges came along to allow the joining of multiple slot segments. Suddenly, a monolithic backplane could be up to 21 slots for CompactPCI or cPSB (PICMG 2.16). The reverse impeller blower was a game-changer for chassis cooling, which pulled air from below the card cage and blew the heat 90 degrees out the back. These hot-swappable fans came in a 1U size and, at the time, with 110 CFM of performance each. This approach could achieve front-to-rear cooling without adding significant chassis height, and the RTM area would not be impeded. The approach was also incorporated into AdvancedTCA, an architecture that took off in the early 2000s for primarily Telecom systems. The minimum requirement for ATCA cooling was 200W/ slot at a 1.2” slot pitch for nearly 3000 watts in the system. Later, ATCA cooling levels could reach up to 400W/slot. These five nines’ high availability systems required at least 99.999% uptime. So, a shelf manager would manage the FRUs (Field Replacement Units), including

power and fans, to ensure no single point of failure. A chassis was required to cool the system even if a fan went out for at least 72 hours (at perhaps ~3000W) until it was replaced. These designs are early precursors for today’s chassis managers. The Hardware Platform Management specification in PICMG was highly leveraged to develop VITA 46.11 system management which later led to more advanced SOSA-aligned chassis managers. (Figure 4 – showing the latest SOSA-aligned chassis manager).

The Kaparel ATCA solution won the award for the massive Motorola/Intel project, where, over time, over 15,000 systems were produced. Ah, the good old days.

Since then, Telecom and other markets have gone to lowercost technologies. ATCA has faded to a few applications, many

Figure 2: This is an example of a 2U tall CompactPCI chassis in a horizontal-mount configuration. The enclosure holds four 6U CompactPCI boards and two pluggable power supply units. The chassis has a side-to-side cooling configuration.

Figure 3: Illustrates one of the advantages of the horizontal-mounting approach. It allows multiple boards to be plugged in while saving rack space. This example shows a 1U tall OpenVPX chassis that holds three 3U boards.

Figure 4:shows a mezzanine type of chassis manager that can be placed on the rear of a backplane so that no slots are consumed. The compact unit can support a 5-12 slot (including the PSU slot(s)) or larger chassis for Tier 3+ chassis management.

leveraging the larger board form factor. In the mid-2000s, the owner of Rittal decided to focus on the cabinet rack business. It was the perfect opportunity for a new company to come in, licensing and later developing key technologies from Kaparel, leveraging

over a decade of experience. In 2010, Pixus Technologies was formed. (Figure 5 shows the system and thermal simulation, etc.) Today, the latest RiCool blowers are utilized in OpenVPX systems with dual 191 CFM each hot-swappable fan. These enclosures are popular in the data

centers of other Defense applications where the environment is controlled.

Cooling for Ruggedized Systems

As the Telecom, Medical, and other “high volume” backplane-based markets faded away in the embedded space, several players in the industry had to adapt or fade away. Pixus expanded its capability into more MIL-rugged applications, which brought a new set of thermal management challenges.

Although the physics of cooling does not change the environmental conditions, cooling solutions and types of components (fans, etc.) are quite different in the Mil/Aero market. In the early days, airflow in a rugged chassis utilized typical air-cooled boards in a ruggedized enclosure. Chassis with conductioncooling are common in various configurations. Often the enclosure was in an ATR format of standardized sizes of ½, ¾, 1 ATR, and so on. Most plug-in boards were under 30W or so at the time, using PowerPCs (like VxWorks, etc.) or a similar type with wedge locks for conduction cooling. An enclosure accepting these boards with external fins that maximize the surface area exposed for natural convection to dissipate the heat. Some designs had a cold plate which allowed heat to be dissipated from the base of the enclosure with often supplemental fins on the sides. As more x86-based processors emerged with higher power, the levels began to creep up. Natural convection and cold plate cooling methods are no longer viable in some applications. Fans would be added to the rear

Figure 5: Image on left, shows a 19” rackmount chassis with a divider plate to have up to 32 potential 3U OpenVPX slots in a 9U tall chassis. The dual 191 CFM hot-swappable fans allow the system to cool up to 2300 in some applications. Image on right, shows thermal simulation for a version with multiple 6U boards that were over 200W each.

Figure 6: Shows the air intake in side of the enclosure of a SOSA Aligned ATR. Fans (or an intake for an air-conditioning system) on the back of the enclosure pull air through the sidewalls that cool the fins of the VITA 48.2 conduction-cooled enclosure.

Fans would be added to the rear of the enclosure (typically), allowing airflow to go over the fins within the chassis sidewalls. This permitted the chassis at the time to cool the hotter boards from 30-70W+. Today, with options for heat pipes, today’s more advanced compressed radiator-style chassis sidewalls, and powerful MIL-grade fans, cooling over 100W per slot is not uncommon. (Figure 6 previuos page).

In the past few years, Pixus evolved to meet the cooling demands of today’s applications and with design development to stay ahead of the game. Many SOSA-aligned plug-in cards (PICs) are jumping in wattage, with many standard offers approaching 200W at full throttle and customized designs even higher. One approach to handle these requirements is air-flow-by and air-flow-through. PICs that are air-flow-by designs have fins on the boards themselves, allowing airflow to cool the boards more directly through these fins more efficiently. Air flow-through enables the module to provide direct air through finned air channels. (See Figure 7 on left for an example) Pixus has leveraged these designs in VITA 48.7 and VITA 48.8 for multiple applications, including the example in Figure 7 right.

At some point, the laws of physics catch up with us for what forced airflow can do. Further, there are other applications where there is little air available. While liquid cooling has been the last resort in most designs, some engineers and end customers are willing to make the leap to get the desired system performance. Pixus has been developing new solutions around SOSAaligned chassis requirements for liquid cooling. (see Figure 8).

Other applications incorporating liquid

include Space and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) designs, as forced airflow is impractical. Certain materials, outgassing, and other reliabilitycentric elements make space designs more challenging. Recently I learned that Pixus’ experience with Space designs goes back to the Kaparel days with the company providing the backplanes for the Rover exploration vehicle. When asked what altitude we have experience, I jokingly say, “Well, enough to get to Mars.” The enclosure shown in Figure X is an OpenVPX 3U, 4-slot ATR designed for a cold plate cooling for LEO for NASA’s SPLICE program.

From the Past to the Future

From the Kaparel days, we’ve seen the evolution of 133 MB/s VME and 33 Mhz CompactPCI bus-based architectures to applications that exceed 100GbE (25Gbaud signal rate) for OpenVPX, and SOSA-aligned systems. As the next generation of MultiGig and other solutions emerge, the push is higher to 100G signal rates across the backplane and ever hotter plug-in boards. Pixus is looking forward to tackling the challenges that arise on that journey.

Figure 7: Image on left shows a chassis that leverages VITA 48.7 for airflow over the fins of the plug-in cards in a custom OpenVPX chassis. The image shows airflow passing through the system. Image on right shows a chassis that leveraged VITA 48.8 for airflow through the boards themselves via a special card guide mat.

Figure 8: Shows a model of thermal simulation of a 8+1 slot 3U OpenVPX SOSA aligned chassis for high wattage cooling options or applications where airflow is not available.

The Software in Defense Coalition

The Software in Defense Coalition, a consortium of leading defense tech startups and small businesses, has taken a significant step forward in advocating for the future of our national security. They have submitted a compelling letter to both the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the House Committee on Armed Services, calling upon Congress to actively support policies that enable small businesses to engage with the Pentagon.

With a total of 25 visionary companies signing this letter, they are united in their plea for Congress to embrace policies that

reinforce small business participation within the defense industrial base. Alarmingly, this participation has declined by 40% over the past decade. The Coalition’s recommendations encompass several crucial aspects, including:

❑ Encouraging the Pentagon to use existing appropriations authority to buy commercially available software.

❑ Cultivating a culture that prioritizes the acquisition of commercial software, rather than expending valuable research-anddevelopment funds to reinvent the wheel.

❑ Upholding policies that streamline the certification process for small businesses,

effectively reducing the time and cost associated with their involvement in military systems.

This letter arrives at a pivotal moment for the industry. The Coalition urgently implores Congress to prioritize the passage of a comprehensive year-long funding bill, coupled with policies that fully support software innovation and ongoing defense modernization efforts. By doing so, we can bolster the prospects of defense startups and small businesses, which hold a pivotal role in maintaining our strategic advantage over adversaries.

Special Feature – brought to you by John Reardon, Publisher

Encouraging the Pentagon to use existing appropriations authority to buy commercially available software.

As Presented:

May 30, 2023

The Honorable Jack Reed Chairman

U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Roger Wicker Ranking Member

U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Reed and Ranking Member Wicker.

The Software in Defense Coalition represents the leading software technology startups and small businesses dedicated to our country’s national security mission. In an era of strategic competition among technologically advanced powers, software will shape the nature of deterrence and military readiness. The urgency to empower our defense and national security apparatus across all domains with the best and emerging technology is a strategic imperative to protect lives and secure America and our allies. We stand ready to serve the Department of Defense (“DoD”) and warfighters by providing the best technology to sustain the United States’ intelligence and security advantage.

DoD highlighted in its 2023 Software Modernization Implementation Plan1 that posturing the DoD to fight and win “will depend on DoD’s proficiency to deliver resilient software capabilities rapidly and securely.” We commend the Department in its efforts to “achieve a software-empowered DoD.” Further, the first stated goal of DoD’s Cyber Workforce Strategy is to “execute consistent capability assessment and analysis processes to stay ahead of force needs.”2 The Department’s work in this regard will allow leaders to not only frequently assess whether or not priorities are weighted and resourced according to the most critical mission needs, but also allow for more flexibility in acquiring cutting edge software solutions. We also thank the Administration for its National Cybersecurity Strategy3, which underscores the importance of not only defending our Nation’s critical infrastructure, but also enabling and prioritizing publicprivate collaboration in efforts to secure our cyberspace.

Yet, there are significant warning signs that indicate the waning health of the defense innovation ecosystem. The Reagan Institute’s 2023 National Security Innovation Base Report Card gave the Pentagon failing grades in managing the venture ecosystem. In spite of the Department’s focus on strengthening the innovation chain, small business participation in the defense industrial base has declined by 40% over the last decade.4 The government continues to encourage companies to forward invest and work for the Department on initiatives such as JADC2 and Project Maven, but fails to consistently adopt the products of those investments.

When compounded by the uncertainty and timelines of competitive procurements, this can cause significant waste and misallocation of entrant resources. Many innovative startups and small businesses struggle to break through prototype and demonstration projects to production, despite making considerable investment of capital, resources, and talent. We are simply asking for the opportunity to compete, scale promising technology to production, and serve one of our country’s most important missions in the world - its defense and national security.

We need to arrest the continued erosion of our competitive advantages against our major adversaries. As the 118th Congress formally begins its policy negotiations and appropriations process for fiscal year 2024, we look forward to supporting bicameral efforts. We ask that Congress prioritizes a full year funding bill and policies that further support software innovation and continued defense modernization, in support of key warfighter requirements and the broader National Defense Strategy.

1. Foster a culture of buying readily available commercial offerings. DoD’s Software Modernization Strategy focused on the need to deliver software solutions quickly and efficiently, while improving interoperability across the DoD enterprise. Before dedicating research and

development to new government programs, leveraging the expertise of industry partners and advancing existing commercial software solutions whenever it’s best qualified to deliver will prevent duplicative efforts and allow DoD to realize significant cost savings, faster time-tofield and develop cutting-edge software solutions to maintain a technological advantage in the future battlefield.The acquisition authorities already exist to do so. It requires a shift, however, in incentives and training to empower contracting officials. We also continue to recommend funding and authorization to allow Military Services to contract directly with product providers for software capabilities within programs of record for acquisition of hardware platforms.

Standardize how existing acquisition pathways are used across Military Services and increase training.

Other Transaction Authority (“OTA”) gives federal civilian agencies and the DoD a flexible procurement pathway to meaningfully engage with industry and academia on researching and prototyping activities. However, the United States Government (including the DoD) does not utilize OTAs to their fullest extent. As such, we recommend Congress consider: (1) requiring a report from a third-party such as the Comptroller General, Defense Innovation Board or Defense Science Board to the congressional defense committees to examine the utilization, success rates, and use cases on the benefits of OTA; and (2) increasing training across the enterprise - from contracting officers to budget and legal officers - on how to best utilize OTA as an acquisition tool. Existing authorities already are in place but lack of awareness and training contribute to under-leveraging this valuable tool, undermining the original intent to pilot capabilities developed by non-traditional defense contractors. We also recommend harmonizing OT authority policies and procedures in the Intelligence Community with that in the Department of Defense.

Additionally, only a few federal agencies currently allow SBIR program participation for companies with greater than 50% venture capital investment. Allowing eligibility for these venture-backed companies across all agencies and departments will remove another barrier to entry for innovative technology companies seeking to work with the government. Venture capital funding provides small, innovative companies with the ability to conduct research and development to reach commercialization; providing SBIR opportunities for these companies is a smart investment for the government.

Lastly, one of the Small Business Administration’s stated goals for the SBIR program is to “increase private-sector commercialization of innovation derived from federal research and development funding.” The three-phase SBIR program is designed to take small businesses from doing research from concept development in Phase I, to prototype development in Phase II, and ultimately to commercialization in Phase III. Despite the fact that Phase III sole-source authority is clearly outlined in statute, many contracting officers lack knowledge of this authority and/ or an understanding of how to implement it. This lack of knowledge inhibits SBIR Phase I and Phase II recipients’ ability to reach the final phase of the program and bring their innovations to commercialization for the DoD. Therefore, we recommend Congress enact legislation requiring training for contracting officers and agreements officers to enhance their understanding of the SBIR program, particularly focusing on how they can leverage Phase III direct awards to help get innovative technology to warfighters in a timely manner.

Improve Understanding of Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) Products

SaaS is a recognition that software is never done; it is always improving and iterating. While the old model of shipping a static piece of software worked for many years, with today’s rate of technological change, constantly evolving threats and techniques by adversaries, and the increasing needs of users, software must quickly adapt to new mission requirements and objectives.

SaaS was built from the idea that new capabilities should be quickly deployed, that any vulnerabilities are immediately patched, and that performance shouldn’t be limited to an outdated data center that can’t scale across the globe or protect the data traversing those networks. The customer pays for software that is managed by the provider, who continuously deploys improvements to the software without disruption or the need for manual reinstallation. Additionally, commercial technology services are typically reevaluated on an annual or biennial cycle, rather than the 5-year or longer cycles that are often typical in government.

Open standards Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) business models, for example, enable DoD to acquire best-in-class solutions from the most capable and advanced software providers. And yet, barriers still exist that block wide adoption and use of SaaS products within the DoD. One of the challenges associated with software is the lack of consistency in how the United States Government and industry define SaaS. Small businesses often have to alter the way they refer to their products because of lack of understanding within DoD of what SaaS means. SaaS solutions should be viewed as products and not as services. Further, a common definition of SaaS would be instructive and help ease barriers for small businesses that build emerging technology for Government use. For example, it is unclear if the DoD uses the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s definition of SaaS. We find the NIST’s definition instructive and recommend DoD (1) adopt the same definition and (2) provide additional training for DoD contracting officers that clarifies what constitutes SaaS and elucidates how SaaS offerings can help meet DoD and government needs for efficiency and performance.

2. Ease small business burden by lowering the time and cost associated with issuance of authorizations.

Harmonize ATO standards across the Department.

Some military departments have policies that require ATO reciprocity among their systems. Most recently, the Department released updated July 2022 guidance for the “DoD Information Enterprise to use cybersecurity reciprocity” and for Authorizing Officers to “promote reciprocity as much as possible.” We strongly support continued efforts and execution of these policies across Services and components to help improve the process and cycle time of lengthy sequential certification processes. However, there are repeated past indications that such policies are unevenly instituted and executed across DoD and broader government. With the evolution from static ATO to continuous ATO, the need for consistency and portability will increase as systems and software move into continuous evaluation and approval. We recommend that Congress consider regular reporting requirements on the length of time it takes for a company to be issued an authorization, including at specific risk categorizations and DoD Impact Levels. Further, we recommend that Congress requires the DoD to establish reciprocity for ATO. If a company has an ATO with one DoD or Federal element, the ATO package should be used without requiring an entirely new assessment and authorization. In other words, a company’s existing ATO should be used as the basis for a separate element’s ATO requirements.

Accelerate technological advancement in the National Technology Industrial Base by removing obstacles for research and development within AUKUS/FVEY countries. The Export Administration Regulations has a license exception that facilitates defense technology collaboration between the United States and our closest Allies by eliminating the need for pre-approval across a defined and enforced set of technologies and countries. We recommend Congress consider applying a version of the same exception to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to surgically eliminate obstacles for research and development specifically within the Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States framework in support of a National Technology and Industrial Base that can respond to emerging threats to our collective security.

Allow the DoD flexible use of already existing appropriations authority for buying readily available commercial software offerings that best support defense modernization and encourage broader understanding of software products. 10 U.S.C. § 3136, also known as the Defense Modernization Account, was developed in 1996 to provide the DoD with acquisition flexibility so that unexpired funds could be reallocated for modernization initiatives. However, the Account has been underutilized since its inception. We recommend that Congress incentivize the DoD to identify unallocated dollars, so that funds can be transferred to the Defense Modernization Account used specifically for initiatives and projects that operationalize concepts and required capabilities outlined by the operative Software Modernization Strategy. This will allow the DoD to further its efforts to transition from legacy systems to modern, innovative, and secure commercial platforms, thereby strengthening our defense ecosystem and helping small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors to bridge the valley of death.

Additionally, we appreciate the foundational thinking behind the development of the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Software and Digital Technology Pilot Program budget activity 8 (“BA 08”). BA 08 was premised on the idea that defense software innovation would be further enhanced by funding qualified programs as a single budget item consistent with an iterative and continuous software development process. After a promising start, the pilot has been held at status quo in part due to insufficient reporting on program performance. It is too early to close the door on this critical program. Congress requires sufficient visibility and oversight of BA 08, while DoD requires innovative and flexible procurement pathways. As BA 08 builds a track record towards providing cost, schedule and performance, we recommend interim metrics that focus on its ability to support innovative projects and a plan to capture and report the required information, pursuant to the original law.

Finally, we want to highlight the importance of successful resolution of both the debt limit and the appropriations process. Any lapse in funding can adversely impact the sustainment of nontraditional vendors and critical software modernization efforts to maintain secure Joint Force operations and readiness in theater in the face of rising threats to democracy.

We believe executing the above recommendations would significantly ease barriers to entry for small businesses dedicated to building mission-focused software and allow them the opportunity to break through the valley of death more quickly. Doing so will significantly increase innovation and technological superiority for DoD and the IC.

Thank you so much for your service and your continued accomplishments in the 118th Congress.

Sincerely,

Balan Ayyar. Chief Executive Officer Percipient.ai

Jennifer Bisceglie Chief Executive Officer Interos

Mark

Dan

Brunner President, Federal PrimerAI

Ceperley Chief Executive Officer LeoLabs

Kevin

Dror

Chalker Chief Executive Officer and Founder Qrypt

Davidoff Chief Executive Officer Aqua

Yevgeny

Brian

Ted

Dibrov Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Armis

Dye Chief Executive Officer Corelight

Elliott Chief Executive Officer Copado

COT’S PICKS

Curtiss-Wright Unveils its Strategic Vision for 25 Gbaud “Gen 5” OpenVPX Products for Next Generation 100G Systems

Next-generation Fabric100™ 3U and 6U modules and systems will support 100Gbit Ethernet and PCIe Gen 4 to eliminate processing chain bottlenecks.

The first members of the Fabric100 family, which will feature 3U and 6U modules, will be publicly announced throughout 2023. The debut products in the Fabric100 family, a pair of multi-processing 6U OpenVPX modules, will include a dual-processor compute module and a dual-processor signal acquisition and processing module.

Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division announced the launch of its new Fabric100 suite of 3U and 6U OpenVPX™ modules and systems. Fabric100 brings 100Gbit Ethernet, and high-performance PCIe Gen4 interconnect speeds to tomorrow’s new generation of rugged deployable computing architectures. Today, system integrators must satisfy their C5ISR applications’ insatiable appetite for sharing ever-increasing volumes of information. The higher-speed interconnects required to support these performance demands introduce significant integration challenges for systems integrators. What’s more, the ability to meet the industry’s goal of simplified interoperability, in other words, to quickly and effectively build systems using open standards-based building blocks and make them work well together, becomes increasingly risky as system designers migrate to faster 16Gbaud and 25Gbaud signaling technology. To address this daunting problem and reduce the system design risks associated with higher-speed interconnects, Curtiss-Wright has developed Fabric100, a complete end-to-end ecosystem of high-speed rugged OpenVPX modules and system components. It is not enough to provide 100Gbit connections between a system’s modules yet fail to support the ability to process all this data within the modules. Recognizing that Curtiss-Wright’s Fabric100 board architectures are designed to deliver full 100Gbit performance through the entire processing chain to effectively eliminate data bottlenecks that might otherwise compromise system performance.

Support for SOSA Architectures

For customers building systems based on the SOSA Technical Standard, all Fabric100 products are designed to align with the SOSA Technical Standard, including I/O Intensive Single Board Computer Profile modules, Payload/Compute Profile modules, and several Switch profile modules. Customers that don’t require alignment with SOSA will also benefit from Fabric100 innovations since the SOSA standard’s common pinouts and Curtiss-Wright’s adherence to specific SOSA profiles for all Fabric100 3U and 6U modules will help deliver unprecedented levels of systems integration ease and greater flexibility and options for future technology insertions.

A Seamless Upgrade Path from 40Gbit to 100Gbit

For customers currently using Curtiss-Wright Fabric40™ OpenVPX technology with 40Gbit interconnect speeds, the new Fabric100 solutions will provide a simplified technology insertion path. As Fabric40 and Fabric100 products share considerable architectural hardware and software commonality, customers that plan to deploy Fabric100-based designs can begin their system development using Fabric40 hardware and upgrade later as needed, with only minimal systems and application design updates required. Customers will also benefit from having a single vendor that provides a consistent development ecosystem, including platform software and application APIs, to ease their transition from 40Gbit to 100Gbit processing.

Designed to provide system designers with unmatched interoperability, the Fabric100 suite of products will address the broadest range of rugged deployed applications, from those that require low power and high-efficiency general-purpose processing (GPP) to those that demand the most extreme and compute-intensive processing performance. The Fabric100 family will enable system designers to architect their entire system, whether they require GPP or High-Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC), Virtualization, AI/ ML Engines, GPU acceleration, or Programmable FPGA Processors, all while using members of the same product suite which have been optimized to work seamlessly together. Curtiss-Wright ensures that the benefits of this high-speed technology are realized by systems integrators with the verification of the 100Gbit throughput performance of Fabric100 products, not just at the interface or module level but when used together at the system level. To support and validate Fabric100’s 25 Gbaud interconnects, Curtiss-Wright has developed the industry’s most rigorous 25 Gbaud signal integrity design rules for system-level integration.

New and Innovative Module-level Thermal Management

Predictably, faster signaling technology in Gen 5 OpenVPX systems drives increased power and thermal dissipation requirements. As the industry moves to 100W, 150W, 200W, and even 300W modules, the ability to cool contemporary processing engines becomes a critical differentiator between competing COTS vendors. While two suppliers may use the same or similar processing chipsets, the design that uses a better thermal solution will deliver superior operational performance. For that reason, Curtiss-Wright has implemented new and innovative module-level thermal management techniques that provide excellent cooling for COTS versions of its Fabric100 product suite. In addition, a wide range of advanced chassis-level cooling methods is also supported by the Fabric100 product suite, including Air Flow-Thru (AFT), Liquid Flow-Thru (LFT), and Fluid Flow-Thru (FFT) technologies.

Curtiss-Wright curtisswright.com

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High Speed & Flexible Connectivity – New CompactPCI Serial Board for Network Applications

EKF announces its latest CompactPCI Serial peripheral board, SN9-CAPO, suitable for various networking applications. It comes with four 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports on front RJ45 sockets. Each port is connected to an Intel® I226-IT network controller, allowing each network adapter (NIC) to operate at speeds of 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T, and 2.5GBASE-T.

This real-time capable board is the perfect companion for data-intensive IIoT applications in industrial automation or transportation applications. It can be used for router and gateway functions, data acquisition, and edge computing. Additionally, it provides an easy upgrade path for outdated 1000Base-T solutions that may no longer meet the performance requirements.

Each connector is connected to a separate

Pasternack Introduces IndustryLeading Ruggedized Electromechanical Relay Switches

New Electromechanical Relay Switches Are Designed for Dependable RF Signal Routing

Pasternack has announced the release of its innovative series of ruggedized electromechanical relay switches. The switches are engineered to ensure dependable RF signal routing for vital applications, spanning various market bands from DC to 40 GHz.

This groundbreaking series comprises 40 unique switch models and designs. The switches are suitable for numerous market bands, including L, S, C, X, Ku, and K. This provides a wide range of frequency bandwidths and extensive application opportunities.

These switches meet IP64 compliance standards and have a Level 1 moisture seal making them ideally suited for customers operating outdoors or where testing might expose them to moisture. This rugged construction ensures durability and dependability across various settings.

The series also delivers outstanding performance, with insertion loss as low as 0.15 dB (typi-

Intel® I226-IT network adapter, allowing for a highly flexible and customized networking solution. The SN9-CAPO supports full-duplex transmissions, enabling simultaneous transmission and reception of data. Galvanic isolation using transformers, per the IEEE standard, protects the devices from damage caused by high voltage on the line and avoids potential voltage offsets that may arise from differences in potential between the devices.

Like all EKF solutions, the SN9-CAPO is 100% made in Germany and is long-term available. The network card operates within an extended temperature range of -40°C to +85°C and can be expanded with 4 X-coded M12 connectors at the front upon request.

cal) and isolation levels reaching up to 90 dB. This ensures superior signal integrity while minimizing signal degradation. Furthermore, they offer diverse actuator options with TTL logic compat ibility, including latching, failsafe, or normally open actuators.

Noteworthy is the switches’ high power handling capability. They can manage pow er up to 160 watts continuous wave (CW) at 1 MHz, guaranteeing reliable performance even in demand ing situations.

The hardy electromechani cal relay switch es are available in compact, MILgrade, coaxial package designs. Depending on the frequency band, they are fit ted with SMA, 2.92 mm, TNC, or N-Type connectors.

“Pasternack’s unwavering commit ment is to provide our customers with ro bust, reliable, and readily available solutions tailored to their unique requirements. This latest product line exceeds those expecta

The SN9 is delivered in conformity with EN 50155 with a protective coating for use in rail applications. With the SN9-CAPO, EKF provides its customers with a powerful and highly flexible CompactPCI Serial solution for modern networking requirements.

tions,” said Kevin Hietpas, Product Line Manager.

Pasternack

July 2023

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Tektronix Showcasing Feasibility of Early PCIe Gen7 Transceivers and the Ability to Test a Gen6 Receiver with Link Training Abilities

Tektronix, Inc. will be conducting three PCI Express product demonstrations. Two Tektronix demos will showcase the feasibility of early PCIe Gen7 (128 GT/s PAM4) transceivers, and the third demo will highlight the ability to test a Gen6 (64 GT/s PAM4) receiver with controller (link training) abilities. With the early stages of development for the PCI Express 7.0 Base specification, these cutting-edge Tektronix demonstrations will indicate the circuit readiness and path toward the future of measurement methodologies.

As shown in the demonstration, the Tektronix DPO70000SX scope and PAMJET (analysis software) are currently used for early PCIe Gen7 measurements with industry partners Cadence and Synopsys. Tek’s technology makes it possible to complete 64 GT/s Tx measurements for eye diagrams, SNDR, RLM, and Uncorrelated Jitter. These capabilities allow IP companies the tools to characterize their High-Speed SERDES targeted at PCI Express 7.0 before the specification has reached any level of significant

maturity. The capabilities from Tektronix and partnerships with industry IP providers provide much-needed direction for the industry and will help guide the development of mea-

AXTAL Rackmount System Provides Very High Stability, Very Low Noise 10MHz Frequency References and Distribution Amplifiers

Q-Tech Corporation, a leading global supplier of space-qualified crystal oscillators and high-performance frequency control systems, announces the availability of the AXTAL AX9000 series. This series offers 10 MHz ultra-low noise frequency references with very high OCXO, GPS-disciplined OCXO, or Rubidium stability down to 10 -13.

The AXTAL distribution amplifier series AXDA9000 allows ultra-low noise and low jitter distribution of the 10 MHz and 1PPS reference signals. Stand-alone or combined systems are used in various complex systems, including atomic clocks, time servers, frequency combs, etc.

The frequency references AXIOM9000 (OCXO), AXGPS9000 (GPS-disciplined OCXO), and AXRB9000 (Rubidium), as well as the distribution amplifiers

surement methods moving forward. Tektronix tek.com

AXDA9000/9100, are all packaged in 1U, 19-inch rack units. The Ultra-Low Noise Distribution Amplifier AXDA9000 provides up to 16 fully isolated 10 MHz outputs, and the AXDA9100 is its counterpart for very low jitter 1PPS distribution.

“Unlike other distribution amplifiers in this class, the AXDA9000 is a selective and not a broadband amplifier, resulting in lower phase noise,” said Henry Halang, AXTAL’s Managing Director. “Combined with the supreme AX9000 frequency references, these units are an exceptional solution to a range of applications requiring multiple, isolated, accurate, and stable timing sources.”

“The Acquisition of AXTAL has added significantly to the range of frequency control products we offer,” said Scott Sentz, Q-Tech’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “Products like the AXIOM9000 and AXDA9000 are an example of AXTAL’s system integration expertise.” AXTAL .axtal.com

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Uncrewed Air Systems Provider Reduces Risk, Enhances Performance with AMETEK Abaco Systems and SYSGO Partnership

The company’s flagship aircraft gets the best flight-certifiable hardware and software Technologies.

AMETEK Abaco Systems and SYSGO are now equipping an uncrewed air systems (UAS) developer with their joint certifiable mission computer hardware and software components. It comprises the hardware comprising Abaco’s SBC314C flight safety certifiable single board computer, SYSGO’s real-time operating system, and hypervisor PikeOS.

The vertical takeoff and landing UAS uses fly-by-wire; technology and is designed redundantly. The aircraft’s hardware and software package allows it to automatically perform missions in complex electromagnetic environments on land or sea. The certifiable technology solutions created in the collaboration between Abaco and SYSGO is giving the UAS developer increased aircraft development flexibility, openness, and efficiency. The equipment supplied to the UAS developer is the start of a long-term strategic partnership between SYSGO and Abaco.

Abaco’s SBC314C flight safety certifiable single board computer is available stand-alone or as part of the FORCE2C flight safety certifiable mission computer LRU. Both are engineered to meet airworthiness regulations following AMC 20-152A and are available with DO-178C and DO-254 supporting artifacts audited by an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER).

They are suitable for a wide range of airborne and ground control station applications are compatible with certifiable commercial-off-the-shelf APIs and operating systems.

“The UAS now has the most flexible and sophisticated combination of certifiable hardware, an open board support package, and embedded software,” says Alan Hislop, Abaco vice president of business development, sales, and marketing. “Our partnership with SYSGO reduces the risk of any hardware and software mismatch as well as reducing time to develop new aircraft and take it to market.”

SYSGO’S PikeOS is an innovative real-time operating system and hypervisor, providing a platform where multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously in a secure environment. The Safe and Secure Virtualization (SSV) technology allows multiple operating systems APIs to run concurrently on one device. PikeOS provides various operational & guest OSs, including Linux, certified POSIX, ARINC, OSEK, Ada, RT Java, and others.

“The technology partnership between SYSGO and Abaco increases the value and efficiency we can deliver to the UAS developer, as well as to other companies,” says Franz Walkembach, VP of marketing and alliances from SYSGO. “The combination of an innovative software solution with a sophisticated board support package is certainly a plus for demanding mission-critical embedded system applications. Also, with PikeOS, customers profit from an ITAR-free solution.”

Abaco Systems abaco.com

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VIAVI Unveils the Comprehensive and Versatile CX700 ComXpert for Automating Radio System Testing

VIAVI CX700 ComXpert for radio manufacturers and the military consolidate an entire communications test and measurement lab into a single system

Viavi Solutions Inc. introduced the CX700 ComXpert Radio Test System. This radio test solution revolutionizes testing for radio manufacturers and depot-based and field-deployed military personnel by delivering all-in-one high-performance synthetic instrumentation for production, depot-level, and field test of current and future radios and waveforms.

Engineers, manufacturers, and technicians responsible for designing or maintaining RF systems and radios often have to use multiple pieces of test and measurement equipment for accurate

Acrosser has announced a new 2U rackmount edge network appliance named ANR-C621A1

This appliance is powered by dual Intel 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable Processors (Intel code name “Ice Lake-SP”). The processors from Intel are optimized for cloud, enterprise, HPC, network, security, and IoT workloads, with up to 40 powerful cores and a wide range of frequency, feature, and power levels. The ANR-C621A1 is infused with Intel Crypto Acceleration, which enhances data protection and privacy by increasing the performance of encryption-intensive workloads, including SSL web serving, 5G infrastructure, and VPN/firewalls while reducing the performance impact of pervasive encryption. The ANR-C621A1 is also fueled by Intel SGX, which protects data and application code while in use from the edge to the data center and multitenant public cloud, making it an ideal product for UTM, SD-WAN, 5G MEC, and IT/OT Cybersecurity.

The ANR-C621A1 provides up to 16 DDR4 RDIMM channels. It has a maximum memory capacity of 512 GB with error-correcting code (ECC), which protects against undetected data corruption, reduces crashes, and boosts system performance for cybersecurity applications. To simplify expansion network slots, the ANRC621A1 provides eight high-speed networking

testing and verification. The CX700 is uniquely designed to address this challenge by providing users with a comprehensive, versatile, all-in-one communications test system that includes 100 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth, superb phase noise performance from 9 kHz to 6 GHz, the fastest industry-standard data transport mechanisms, and a built-in power supply for the devices under test.

For superior maintainability and upgradeability, the CX700 meets MIL-PRF-28800 Class 3 environmental requirements. It has a GNSS-enabled “no-cal” chassis time base, user-replaceable modules, and an integrated ruggedized keyboard, touchscreen, and trackpad to enable comprehensive system testing in remote-deployed environments.

“The CX700 ComXpert is the culmination of our team’s hard work constantly pushing the cutting edge of radio test design,” said Edward

interfaces module(NIM), including eight copper 1GbE LAN ports, 8 SFP+ Fiber 10 GbE LAN ports, and up to 66 LAN ports. It also provides 1 PCIe[x16] expansion slot for an add-in riser card, accelerating the deployment of networking security, UTM, and uCPE scenarios.

“The uCPE enables the use of a single platform for various functions, including routing, VPN, firewall, IPS/IDS, SD-WAN, UTM, and IT/ OT cybersecurity. A crosser’s ANR-C621A1 is an ideal NFV-ready uCPE solution that offers faster and easier service provisioning, centralized control, and improved flexibility with software-defined security,” said Alan Chou, Head of the Product Planning Division.

The ANR-C621A1 provides 1 x RJ-45 console, 1 x IPMI slot, and 1 x LCM with keypad, enabling operators to easily access the appliance for system configuration. It also provides 2 x 2.5” SATA type SSD/HDD for data backup, full range 1200W 1+1 redundant

Latimer, Director, Radio Test, VIAVI. “It brings to our customers brand new all-in-one capabilities in lab-grade test equipment, such as the ruggedized chassis and KVM, built-in power supply for devices under test, and superior field maintainability. In addition, the CX700 leverages the highly intuitive GUI first introduced on our CX300 ComXpert, supports native on-box Python scripting as well as remote commands over Ethernet, and interfaces with VIAVI StrataSync and Smart Access Anywhere to deliver a truly exceptional integrated user experience.”

Viavi Solutions Inc. viavisolutions.com

power supply design. It is equipped with Trusted Platform Module 2.0 for hardware-based data encryption to enhance data protection. The ANR-C621A1 delivers perfect performance, flexibility, and security for cloud-scale computing, AI, 5G networks, HPC workloads, and multi-access edge computing (MEC) applications.

Acrosser Technology provides industry-leading solutions with 30+ years of experience, from supplying field-proven standard products to OEM/ODM services. Customers can always find the best answers from the range of products offered by Acrosser Technology to meet their exact application, shorten the time to market by reducing the development time, and accelerate the deployment process.

Acrosser acrosser.com

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Enhance Tactical Operations with ATMOS by Core Systems

Core Systems, a leading provider of rugged computing solutions, is proud to introduce the ATMOS, a rugged portable multi-nodebased platform with integrated compute, UPS, switch, and router capability.

The portable data center platform can be carried on and stowed easily on aircraft for deployable missions. Our Intel Xeon Scalable CPU based compute nodes have an integrated battery backup with additional IO and GPU options. The ATMOS tactical solution features the industry’s highest compute power per SFF node.

Key Military Requirements

Military customers often encounter challenges when searching for a portable tactical computing solution with adequate computing power for central network operations that is not the traditional 5U rackmount form factor weighing in at 110 lbs. They require a SWaP-Optimized solution capable of housing several compute nodes to build a tactical cloud with a maximum payload of 70 lbs. Truly on-the-move applications need less than a 4-man lift.

How Does The ATMOS Address These Requirements?

The ATMOS, a multi-node tactical data center from Core Systems, perfectly addresses these military requirements. It delivers exceptional performance and durability in a compact form factor.

Key features include:

1. Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution with high-end Xeon processors and multiple IO configurations

2. Multi-node configurations with switching options

3. Integrated UPS battery backup per node

4. Carry-on form factor transit case

5. 70lbs max payload

6. Rugged MIL-Spec chassis

7. Field setup within minutes

When deployed, ATMOS by Core Systems brings significant benefits to the military:

1. Enhanced operational capabilities through real-time communication and data exchange.

2. Rugged and reliable performance in harsh military environments.

3. Long-term hardware availability and revision control for compatibility and reliability.

4. Seamless software integration for mission-critical communication.

The ATMOS is a transformative tactical computing solution that fulfills the stringent requirements of military operations. Core Systems is a trusted partner for military organizations worldwide with its rugged design, high performance, and innovative configuration. Empower your tactical operations with ATMOS and experience the difference today.

Core Systems core-systems.com

Sagetech Avionics Announces New

Upgrade to the Mode 5 MX12B IFF

Transponder MX12B V2 Incorporates

Cutting Edge Mode 5 Level 2B (M5L2-B) Out Technology

Sagetech Avionics, an aerospace technology company that advances safer skies with innovative avionics solutions, the MX12B V2, which incorporates Mode 5 Level 2B Out technology, revolutionizing aircraft combat identification capabilities and advancing the field of military aviation.

Building on its strong track record of technological excellence, Sagetech has achieved yet another milestone by becoming the first company to receive certification for this capability from the DoD International AIMS Program Office (PO). The significance of this certification cannot be overstated. The M5L2-B Out IFF system enables seamless integration and interoperability among military platforms, ensuring effective coordination and minimizing the risk of fratricide and midair collisions. This new IFF function represents the latest advancement of the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system used in military aircraft. M5L2-B empowers aircraft to securely and accurately transmit critical information such as ownership position, velocity, and identification to other friendly platforms and ground-based radars, without requiring a costly and large Mode 5 interrogator to determine the identification status of the aircraft.

“The addition of Mode 5 Level 2B will create a safer and more efficient airspace by providing air and ground crews with situational awareness of other friendly aircraft,” described Matt Hamilton, Sagetech’s Chief Technology Officer. “This technology will help enable the airspace for Manned-Unmanned-Teaming (MUM-T) missions and Autonomous swarming. It also will improve air defense and counter-UAS (c-UAS) systems by providing a complete picture of the airspace without an interrogator system.”

Sagetech Avionics sagetech.com

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Concurrent Real-Time Launches Groundbreaking Engineering Platform for Autonomous Design, Powered by NVIDIA

Powerful, new release of RedHawk Linux supports NVIDIA Jetson AGX. Orin System-on-Module, achieving the highest level of determinism and lowest latencies of all NVIDIA Jetson platform modules

Concurrent Real-Time, a global leader in high-performance real-time Linux solutions for mission-critical applications, announced the release 8.4.5 of its Redhawk ™ Linux ® real-time operating system (RTOS) specifically designed to support the NVIDIA ® Jetson AGX Orin ™ platform.

Redhawk Linux is the industry’s leading real-time operating system for x86 and ARM64 systems. It is widely used in embedded applications that require high-performance and deterministic response.

The Jetson AGX Orin is an Arm64-based AI system-on-module powered by NVIDIA’s Ampere GPU technology with Tensor Cores. It offers high performance in a small, power-efficient form factor or intelligent edge devices like robots, drones, and smart cameras.

Aitech and FlySight Resolve Modern Situational Awareness Challenges in SWAP-constrained Environments

Aitech Systems has collaborated with FlySight Srl to bring improved situation awareness into SWAP-constrained military applications. In this innovative partnership, FlySight’s AI-based, real-time Augmented Reality engine OPENSIGHT-mc has been integrated into Aitech’s A172, a small form factor (SFF) mission computer for applications requiring high-performance data and video processing in harsh environments.

Designed to assist in critical aircraft missions, this robust, data-driven system seeks to provide military and defense operations with improved autonomous tasks, situation control, intelligence, and decision-making assurance. The combined mission computer and AR engine solution eases integration issues and facilitates better model recognition, event reasoning, and adaptive learning using available data.

Pratish Shah, General Manager U.S. at Aitech, noted, “Today’s military system designers are looking

“The Jetson AGX Orin is NVIDIA's most impressive and powerful Jetson platform todate,“ noted Jason Baietto, Chief Systems Architect at Concurrent Real-Time. “RedHawk Linux for Orin is our most impressive and powerful Jetson release, capable of achieving higher determinism and lower latencies than any previous NVIDIA platform,” he added. On the Jetson AGX Orin, RedHawk provides a guaranteed response time of less than 20 microseconds with an average Process Dispatch Latency (PDL) of 3 microseconds – a significant improvement from latencies in the milliseconds without RedHawk Linux.

“Our customers have been eagerly awaiting support for Orin, and we’re glad the engineering community will now have access to this groundbreaking technological capability to build the next generation of autonomous machines,” noted Anish Anthony, Vice President of Product Management at Concurrent Real-Time.

The NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit, with its PCIe x16 slot, also supports Concurrent Real-Time’s FPGA-based intelligent I/O cards. A combination of 12 64-bit Arm Cortex A78AE cores, 2048 CUDA cores, 64 tensor cores, and the added FPGA-based I/O also creates a powerful and flexible architecture for rapid control prototyping and X-in-the-Loop testing of autonomous AI technology.

for more comprehensive, integrated solutions that advance situational awareness while reducing development efforts. Working with FlySight to integrate OPENSIGHT into our A172 delivers this combination to our customers while meeting the modern challenges of SwaP optimization, a key factor in avionics platforms.”

Andrea Masini, CTO for FlySight Srl, commented, “New scenarios and new challenges are constantly emerging that push our industry to achieve improved situational awareness in real-time. The Paris Air Show is the perfect venue to showcase the potential that this combined solution brings to the international aircraft community.”

This very high-performance, ruggedized, and secure SWAP-constrained mission computer system can be customizable in every aspect and for specific applications to meet virtually any mission-critical environment.

The RedHawk™ Linux embedded development environment includes Concurrent Real-Time’s NightStar, ™ a powerful suite of tools that can be used to bring applications to market more quickly. NightStar is a fully integrated toolset for debugging, analyzing, and tuning latency-sensitive embedded applications. NightStar tools run with minimalintrusion, enabling developers to graphically view and trace the interaction of their application threads with the Linux kernel in real-time in order to uncover performance bottlenecks.

The RedHawk Linux environment on the AGX Orin also supports SIMulation Workbench™, a comprehensive hard real-time simulation framework that enables the execution of MathWorks ® Simulink™ models, custom C/C++ code, and handwritten as well as MathWorks GPU Coder ™generated CUDA® code.

Concurrent ctc.com

Aitech’s A172 weighs below 2.25 kg and is designed for applications requiring high-performance data and video processing in a SWAP-constrained environment. Based on Intel’s 11-generation Tiger Lake UP3 CPU SoC, it provides an exceptional performance-to-power ratio while supporting a strong integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU with 96 Execution Units (EUs). Its modular architecture allows fast upgrades to next-generation Intel CPUs and integration of additional functionality, I/Os, and storage (e.g., analog or digital frame grabbers).

Aitech aitechsystems.com

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Unique New Multi-Node System Provides Cost-Optimized Performance at Scale for eCommerce, Software Development, Cloud Gaming, Content Creation, and Private Server Instances.

Supermicro, Inc. is introducing a new server that gives IT and data center owners a high-performance and scalable solution to meet the needs for E-commerce, cloud gaming, code development, content creation, and virtual private servers. The new systems are designed to use AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors optimized for server usage, based on the latest “Zen 4” core architecture, which has a max boost speed of up to 5.7 GHz, including PCIe 5.0 support, DDR5-5200 MHz, and up to 16 cores (32 threads) per CPU. The new Supermicro MicroCloud is designed to use the latest system technology for a wide range of applications, including web hosting, cloud gaming, and virtual desktop applications.

“We are expanding our application-optimized

Rugged and reliable touch solutions for transport systems and in-vehicle applications

Support for UV and corrosion resistance with extended temperature specifications

Display solutions and embedded systems provider Review Display Systems Inc. (RDS) has announced the availability and support for a wide range of PCap touch solutions for in-vehicle and transportation applications from leading global touch solution supplier AMT.

Transportation systems, vehicles, and vessels are operated in terrestrial, subterranean, atmospheric, and marine environments. The display and touch technologies used in these systems must provide dependable operation under various operating environments and conditions. Operating environments will present challenges, including temperature extremes, temperature change, magnetic and electrical noise, mechanical shock and vibration, ultraviolet radiation, and liquid/fluid substances. These factors all pose potential threats to reliable and consistent touchscreen operation.

Temperature immunity

User displays employing touchscreen interfaces must provide reliable and stable operation under temperature extremes while coping with rapid temperature variations.

server product lines to include the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors,” said Michael McNerney, VP of Marketing and Security, Supermicro. “These new servers from Supermicro will give IT administrators a compact and high-performance option to offer more services with lower latencies to their internal or external customers. By working closely with AMD to optimize the Ryzen 7000 Series firmware for server usage, we can bring a range of solutions with new technologies with PCIe 5.0, DDR5 memory, and very high clock rates to market faster, which allows organizations to reduce costs and offer advanced solutions to their clients.”

The Supermicro MicroCloud new blade offering, the AS -3015MR-H8TNR server, contains a single optimized AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processor, up to 128GB of DDR5 memory, and a TDP of up to 170W.

The Supermicro MicroCloud 3U enclosure contains eight blades, with each blade containing up to two front-accessible NVMe U.2, SAS, or SATA3 drives. The Supermicro MicroCloud shares cooling and redundant power supplies across the eight blades for

Touchscreen solution provider AMT develops and supplies PCap (projected capacitive) touch panels that are specified to an automotive standard operating temperature range of -40°C to +85°C and a storage temperature range of -50°C to +90°C. Temperature change is tested with thermal cycling of -40°C (30 minutes) to +85°C (30 minutes) for 100 cycles.

UV resistance

Transportation systems and infrastructure equipment are often operated extensively in outdoor environments and, as a necessity, must withstand prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. An unprotected system subjected to extended UV (ultraviolet) radiation can cause yellowing, hazing, and material degradation.

AMT PCap touchscreen solutions have been successfully tested to strict industry standards, including accelerated UV aging and weathering standard ASTM G154 Cycle 1 - 1,000 hours and environmental conditions standard MIL-STD-810H Pro 1 - 1,000 hours.

Ambient light

Light reflection in high ambient light environments can impact display image clarity and visibility. Optical bonding is used to eliminate internal air gaps, which reduces internal reflections and refraction effects. AMT also offers touch panels with a Low-Reflective (LR) design to aid and assist in improved image legibility in bright light conditions.

a more efficient and uninterrupted operation. IT departments can quickly set up dedicated hosting, a multi-instance environment for workloads such as web hosting, cloud gaming, and remote and virtual desktops through easy accessibility of the physical nodes and the rear I/O with a flexible remote management interface, including dedicated IPMI port for the eight nodes.

“AMD works closely with Supermicro to bring innovative products to market that enable customers to reduce costs while increasing performance for a wide range of workloads. The Supermicro MicroCloud offers customers a compact, low latency solution that can meet the demands of many data center operators seeking a successful digital transformation,” said John Morris, Corporate Vice President, Enterprise and HPC Business Group. “The AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors set a new standard for performance in a compact form factor for cloud and dedicated hosting environments.”

Supermicro, Inc. supermicro.com

EMC and noise immunity

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is essential in all transportation applications. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations require all devices installed on aircraft to pass certification to DO-160 Environmental Conditions and Test Procedures for Airborne Equipment. Employing suitable integration and firmware adjustment, AMT PCAP touch solutions can meet DO160 Conducted RF Emission at 150KHz to 152MHz and Radiated RF Emission at 100MHz to 6000MHz test standards. AMT’s hardware and software design solutions enable excellent electromagnetic immunity for all transportation applications.

Designed for purpose

Operator displays on public transport systems often adopt dual-screen redundancy designs to mitigate against unexpected failure circumstances. A dual-screen operator display can incorporate two touchscreens using just one piece of integrated cover glass. The electric fields generated between the two projected capacitive (PCap) touch screens can interfere with each other.

AMT has conducted many internal tests and used different signal frequencies to mitigate the problem of interference and ensure dual-screen applications can be successfully deployed.

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