COTS Journal by RTC Media

Data Sheet: VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

JOURNAL

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

Rugged Box Systems Meet UAV Design Demands Shipboard Tracking Solution Uses VPX Technology DoD Budget Report: Major Programs Update

An RTC Group Publication

April 2015 Volume 17 Number 4

cotsjournalonline.com

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JOURNAL

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

CONTENTS

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.

April 2015 Volume 17 Number 4

FEATURED p.10 Integrated Box-Level Systems Slim Down for UAV Duties SPECIAL FEATURE Boards and Rugged Boxes in UAV Payloads 10 14

Integrated Box-Level Systems Slim Down for UAV Duties

DEPARTMENTS 6 Editorial

Spring Forward

Jeff Child

Pre-Tested Box Solutions Accelerate UAV Payload Designs

The Inside Track

RJ McLaren

COTS Products

Marching to the Numbers

TECH RECON Signal Chain: Shipboard Signal Processing 18

VPX Implementation Serves Shipboard Search and Track Needs Thierry Wastiaux

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT DoD Budget Report: Major Weapons Programs 22 Major DoD Programs Budget Makes Technology a Priority Jeff Child

DATA SHEET VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup 28 30

Coming in May See Page 48 On The Cover: Like its predecessor, MQ-8C Fire Scout UAV can carry an array of ISR sensors. The C version adds more cargo and payload capability and increased endurance. Shown here, the MQ-8C Fire Scout prepared to land on the guided-missile destroyer, USS Jason Dunham, for the first time last December, off the Virginia coast. (Photo by Northrop Grumman).

VME SBCs Keep Pace with Tech Refresh Needs Jeff Child

VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

Digital subscriptions available: cotsjournalonline.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

AIRBORNE, SHIPBOARD, GROUND MOBILE DATA RECORDING AND DATA STORAGE RPC 24 RUGGEd dEPLOYABLE

JOURNAL

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

Editorial EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jeff Child, jeffc@rtcgroup.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR Johnny Keggler, johnnyk@rtcgroup.com SENIOR EDITOR Clarence Peckham, clarencep@rtcgroup.com MANAGING EDITOR James Pirie, jamesp@rtcgroup.com

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COTS Journal HOME OFFICE The RTC Group 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 150 San Clemente, CA 92673 Phone: (949) 226-2000 Fax: (949) 226-2050 www.rtcgroup.com EDITORIAL OFFICE Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief 20A Northwest Blvd., PMB#137, Nashua, NH 03063 Phone: (603) 429-8301 PUBLISHED BY THE RTC GROUP Copyright 2015, The RTC Group. Printed in the United States. All rights reserved. All related graphics are trademarks of The RTC Group. All other brand and product names are the property of their holders.

COTS Journal | April 2015

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EDITORIAL Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief

Spring Forward

ne of the highlights of my year each Spring—going back to even before I joined COTS Journal 13 years ago—has been the Boston RTECC show put on by this magazine’s parent company The RTC Group. And this year was no different. As usual the Boston RTECC earlier this month was for a me a great chance to catch up face to face with old friends but also meet new people. Talking to exhibiting companies from our industry I heard a lot of anecdotes of great sales leads. One company in particular told me they got a lead from an engineer at defense company that walked right up to them at 8:30 when the doors opened—a lead he expects will be very lucrative. That type of thing is gratifying to me because it’s a sign that technology-based, bottom-up marketing—for which both RTECC and COTS Journal excel—still thrives on face-to-face interaction. Another great pleasure for me at this year’s Boston RTECC was being there to introduce the keynote speaker, my old friend Dr. Jerry Krasner. Jerry is the Founder and Principal Analyst Embedded Market Forecasters. His keynote topic “2015 Insights: Embedded Developers Share Design Choices, Purchase Pressure Points and Major Concerns” touched on a number of technology and design issues that struck a chord with the audience. His presentation included sharing a number of survey results from his on-going market research on embedded systems technology. One interesting twist Jerry’s market analysis has is a that he’s able to sort his data in ways that address very specific questions. His “Dashboard” tool lets users look at the embedded marketplace from their own company’s strategic perspective—seeing what customers and prospects are doing, such as what operating systems, chips and tools they employ. One area Jerry talked about is the very pervasive trend in embedded systems development of those surveyed reporting that their project is behind schedule. A lot of this comes from the unpredictability of the hardware/software integration phase of any system. When embedded software is integrated onto target systems delays are so common that it can easily be called endemic to the embedded computing industry. When Jerry and I used to work together at a previous job he and I worked together on publishing data on this very trend. As systems get every more complex, the schedule delays never seem to get better. Thanks to the kind of cross tabulation of market data that Jerry has in the current incarnation of his operation, some insight can be seen into what’s behind these oh-so-typical project delays. For example, those engineering firms that have embraced sophisticated model-based design methods and tools tend to find

COTS Journal | April 2015

problems early on. This allows them to shift their requirements around and simulate functionality before spinning out prototypes. His numbers show over a 10 percent difference between those using model-based design and those that do not. And Jerry’s isn’t the only market analyst noticing that the problem of projects being off schedule is widespread. A recently announced vendor-sponsored research report from VDC Research said that over 40 percent of embedded engineers report their projects are running behind schedule. The report sponsored by software tool vendor GrammaTech highlights the delivery challenges of producing high quality code, and the reasons why more embedded teams are using third-party code to meet delivery dates despite the challenges and potential security vulnerabilities such code may cause. Andre Girard, Senior Analyst at VDC sees significant growth in the use of open-source code and third-party code, as teams try to catch up with slipping delivery dates. The problem is developers lack access to third-party commercial source code, creating dangerous quality and security blind spots if the third-party binaries aren’t analyzed. According to developers surveyed by VDC, the use of commercial third-party code is expected to increase across all major industries. Survey findings indicated that, 28.6 percent in aerospace and defense industry expected to see an increase in commercial third-party code. While the problem of slipped project schedules isn’t new for military embedded systems developers, it’s clear that there are ways to attack the problem. By embracing more sophisticated tools that enable model-based design and binary code analysis tools schedules can improve. Another way is to rely more on the off-the-shelf embedded computing products and expertise our industry offers. Meanwhile, COTS Journal and RTECC will continue to play their roles as the leading tools for communicating and exhibiting those technology and products. Together maybe we can all set our schedule clocks forward a bit.

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INSIDE TRACK Curtiss Wright Avionics Gear Selected for NASA CST-100 Spacecraft Curtiss-Wright has announced that its Defense Solutions division was awarded a contract by Boeing to supply rugged data handling avionics for use in the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft. This equipment will gather data from critical vehicle sensors used by the on-board computers to make decisions during the flight. Curtiss-Wright will complete development, qualification and certification of the data handling avionics system along with delivery of the first production units. The shipments of Flight models will begin in 2015 and the CST-100 is scheduled to undergo orbital test flights in 2017. Under the terms of the agreement, Curtiss-Wright will provide

Boeing with the CST-100’s RAIU (Remote Analog Interface Unit) based on the Company’s Acra KAM-500 data handling avionics equipment. The RAIU will be used to gather data on the status and health of critical spacecraft systems during all phases of the mission. The Boeing CST-100 spacecraft will provide transportation for up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the Bigelow planned station (Figure 1). Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Ashburn, VA (703) 779-7800 www.cwcdefense.com

Figure 1 The Boeing CST-100 spacecraft will provide transportation for up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station.

Rockwell Collins Delivers RNP-RNAV Upgrade for Army CH-47F Chinooks With the new Required Navigation Performance-Area Navigation (RNP-RNAV) upgrade from Rockwell Collins, the U.S. Army continues to bring additional levels of safety to CH-47F operators. The upgrade for CH-47F Chinooks equipped with Rockwell Collins’ Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) was most recently fielded with the Minnesota/Iowa National Guard, as well as the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade at Wheeler Army Airfield, HI/ The enhanced capability, initially fielded in the fall of 2014, FIND the products featured in this section and more at

www.intelligentsystemssource.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

ing timely and efficient mission planning and execution. The RNP software also allows the Chinook user to be compliant with civil flight rules while operating in the continental U.S., Europe and other areas of the world where traffic congestion is being addressed by newer Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management rules.

Figure 2 The RNP-RNAV upgrade allows Chinook users to operate in and around civil airspace with safety benefits previously afforded only to commercial aircraft. allows Chinook users to operate in and around civil airspace with safety benefits previously afforded only to commercial aircraft (Figure 2). RNP-RNAV provides tactical

helicopters with full civil airspace interoperability under current flight rules. It eliminates the need to obtain waivers or be limited to non-preferred routing, while ensur-

Rockwell Collins Cedar Rapids, IA (319) 295-1000 www.rockwellcollins.com

Two Embedded Computer Firms Tapped to Evaluate HPEC Next Gen Radar Curtiss Wright Defense Solutions of GE Intelligent Platforms

The

INSIDE TRACK have both announced that they have been contracted to participate in a US Air Force organized Next Generation Radar evaluation program. The goal of this program is to assess the capability of cost-effective COTS hardware and software to perform airborne radar signal processing. Benchmarks provided by the US Air Force leverage advances in commercial high performance computing (HPC) software, such as OpenCL, VSIPL, FFTW, and MPI. Under the program, Curtiss-Wright, GE and a select group of COTS vendors will each benchmark their proposed multiprocessor High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) Radar processing architecture based on specifications and requirements provided by the US Air Force. Under the program, CurtissWright will benchmark and optimize its HPEC-based radar processing system design. The Curtiss-Wright design is based on the company’s Fabric40 rugged OpenVPX board and chassis products that deliver the industry’s first complete end-to-end system approach for integrating the 40 Gbps high-speed fabrics into aerospace and defense HPEC applications. GE Intelligent Platforms will leverage its HPEC and GPGPU technology for the program and will carry out its participation in the project at GE’s HPEC Center of Excellence in Billerica, MA. According to GE the award includes the development of a lab-based processor system that has a clear path to rugged deployment on US Air Force platforms. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Ashburn, VA (703) 779-7800 www.cwcdefense.com GE Intelligent Platforms Charlottesville, VA. (800) 368-2738. defense.ge-ip.com

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT Space-Qualified FPGAs Feature Flash with Radiation Upset Immunity Figure 3 The high res, optically coupled BICU displays have been designed and qualified for the M1A2 Abrams tank and will be delivered to the US Army over a period of five years.

Lockheed Martin Chooses RADA for Laser Weapon Research Projects RADA Electronic Industries has announces the selection by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of its Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar (MHR) to support internally funded high energy laser weapon system prototype testing. The radar will be used by Lockheed Martin in combination with other sensors. The MHR is an S-Band, Software-Defined, Pulse-Doppler, Active Electronically Scanned Array radar (Figure 3). It has sophisticated beam forming capabilities and advanced signal processing, provides multiple missions on each radar platform, and offers unprecedented performance-to-price ratio. It is compact and mobile, delivering ideal organic, tactical surveillance solutions for force and border protection applications such as counter rockets and mortars, counter unmanned aerial systems, ground moving target indicator, air surveillance, and more. RADA Electronic Industries Netanya. Israel +972-9-8921111 www.rada.com

According to analysts, the next 10 years will see an increase of about 25 percent in the number of new spacecraft of 50 Kg mass or larger. Those new spacecraft will have more sophisticated payload electronics than their predecessors, doing more on-board data processing to maximize data acquisition while dealing with limited downlink bandwidth. With Figure 4 that in mind, Microsemi has announced availability of its RTG4 high-speed signal The RTG4’s reprogrammable flash technology offers complete immunity processing radiation-tolerant FPGA family. The RTG4’s reprogrammable flash to radiation-induced configuration technology offers complete immunity to upsets in the harshest radiation radiation-induced configuration upsets environments. in the harshest radiation environments, requiring no configuration scrubbing, unlike SRAM FPGA technology (Figure 4). RTG4 supports space applications requiring up to 150,000 logic elements and up to 300 MHz of system performance. Typical uses for RTG4 include remote sensing space payloads, such as radar, imaging and spectrometry in civilian, scientific and commercial applications. These applications span across weather forecasting and climate research, land use, astronomy and astrophysics, planetary exploration, and earth sciences. Other applications include mobile satellite services (MSS) communication satellites, as well as high altitude aviation. Such applications have historically used expensive radiation-hardened ASICs, which force development programs to incur substantial cost and schedule risk. RTG4 allows programs to access the ease-ofuse and flexibility of FPGAs without sacrificing reliability or performance. Key features include up to 150,000 logic elements; each includes a four-input combinatorial look-up table (LUT4) and a flip-flop with built-in single event upset (SEU) and single event transient (SET) mitigation. The 300 MHz devices embed 24 serial transceivers, with operation from 1 Gb/sec to 3.125 Gbit/s. The device has 16 SEU- and SET-protected SpaceWire clock and data recovery circuits as well as 462 SEU- and SET-protected multiply-accumulate mathblocks. The devices are immune from single event latch-up (SEL) and configuration memory upset immunity. They can handle a total ionizing dose (TID) beyond 100 Krad. Engineering silicon, Libero SoC development software and RTG4 development kits are available now. RTG4 FPGAs and development kits have already shipped to some of the 120+ customers engaged in the RTG4 lead customer program. Flight units qualified to MIL-STD-883 Class B are expected to be available in early 2016. Microsemi Aliso Viejo CA (949) 380-6100 www.microsemi.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE Boards and Rugged Boxes in UAV Payloads

COTS Journal | April 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE

Integrated Box-Level Systems Slim Down for UAV Duties The on-board functionality of all types of UAVs are moving to whole new levels as system developers pack more capacities into UAV payloads. Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief

oD budget investments UAV development have been less constrained in recent years than the defense budget overall. But trend has been more toward technology upgrades of existing UAV platforms and payloads with decision makers keen toward improving already deployed UAVs while limiting development of new ones. Those trends are positive ones for the embedded computing industry, as they roll out new integrated box-level systems with the proper size, weight and power (SWaP) for UAV requirements. According to market research from ASDReports the worth of the worldwide UAV market reached $6,762 million in 2014 and will reach $10,573 million by 2020. North America holds almost 69% share of the global UAV market. Technological advancements in UAVs along with, their success in combat situations, and the rising demand for non-defense applications is expected to drive the UAV market.

Shifting to Box-Level Systems The trend in large and medium UAVs in recent years has been to embed arrays of big slotcard board systems with general-purpose processors and more recently FPGA-based cards. But as thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shifted toward the idea of stand-alone function-specific box-level systems are in some cases replacing traditional slot-card implementations. That kind of box-level consolidation of that kind impacts the radar, imaging processing and communications capabilities of

COTS Journal | April 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE

Figure 1 A new multimode maritime surveillance radar on the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter will drastically enhance longrange imaging and search capabilities for Navy commanders.

large UAVs by allowing more functionality in the same space (Figure 1). For UAV platform slot-card based systems offers a number of advantages. One is the flexibility in terms of I/O complement that can be supported. For example if a MIL-STD-1553 interface is needed, such a board can be added. That flexibility is very welcome especially when not all the I/O requirements are defined at the beginning of a project-which happens quite frequently in military programs. For functions like comms and networking systems sometimes it’s helpful to leave open for the end-user for reconfiguring fielded systems to their own needs. What’s happened in recent years, is that boxlevel solutions have emerged that have open architecture boards inside, based on VPX or PC/104 for example.

Flight Qualified UAV Solution An added twist on the integrated system solution is the emergence of pre-qualified systems. These allow customers to save costs and time by started with systems that the vendor has already done specific testing work on. With that in mind Extreme Engineering Solutions offers its latest flight-qualified Intel Core i7-based multiprocessor system. X-ES routinely partners with prime contractors to support their applications on X-ES’s rugged COTS modules and systems. In this case, the advantages of the XPand4208’s Intel Core i7based SBCs, networking modules, and power supply module, along with the convenience 12

COTS Journal | April 2015

and security of two hardware-encrypted removable SSD modules, were leveraged by the prime contractor to win their program. The XPand4208 includes two Intel Core i7-based 3U VPX modules, an XPm2120 VITA 62 3U VPX power supply, and two XPort6193 removable SSDs that allow for quick, toolless insertion and extraction (Figure 2). The system utilizes an XChange3013 3U VPX Gigabit Ethernet switch mated with the XPedite5205 Cisco IOS-based router XMC to provide its backplane fabric and secure networking capabilities. This system also simplifies future upgrades and additional configurations with two 3U VPX expansion slots for additional I/O or processing capabilities and an open architecture based on the use of 3U OpenVPX (VITA 65)-compatible modules. For this deployment, the XPand4208 LRU was qualified to comply with MIL-STD-810F and DO-160F environmental specifications for temperature, altitude, vibration, shock, humidity, sand and dust, waterproofness, magnetic effects, explosive atmosphere, fluid susceptibility, fungus resistance, and salt fog. It was also qualified for EMI compliance according to MIL-STD-461F for conducted, as well as radiated, emissions and susceptibility. Because size, weight and power are key concerns for UAV systems, the more integrated the solution the better. Along such lines RTD Embedded Technologies last fall announced a robust Core i7 CPU-based mission computer that offers high-performance for rugged applications in extended temperature environments (Figure 3). Choose from single-core, dual-core, and quad-core configurations. These systems feature a synchronized power supply, an integrated 2.5-inch SATA carrier, and standard I/O including Gigabit Ethernet, USB, Serial, SVGA, DisplayPort, and programmable digital I/O. The CPU is designed with soldered SDRAM and solid-state flash storage for high shock and vibration situations. The stackable PCIe/104 architecture allows system expandability for additional DAQ, I/O, storage, and network functionality. The Core i7 system is compatible with RTD’s complete line of IDAN data acquisition and peripheral modules. Tailored solutions include conformal coating, watertight enclosures with cylindrical MIL-SPEC connectors, and a variety of custom mounting, LED, and paint options.

VITA 74 for Smaller VPX Variant Small form factor box system standards have been under development for the past couple years. And UAV systems developers have been particularly interested in leverage such standards based solutions. Many of those efforts have taken longer than expected, the VITA 74 spec has come together in the six months partly thanks to the formation of the VITA’s VNX Marketing Alliance— a group established to grow adoption of the VITA 74 NanoX Small Form Factor specification and technology. VITA 74 defines both mechanical and electrical specifications to implement a small form factor system. The specification addresses a need for a standardized approach to small-scale systems to be used in rugged environment applications. The VITA 74 NanoX Small Form Factor specification was released as a VITA Draft Standard for Trial Use at the end of 2013. The working group is now focused on achieving full ANSI/VITA ratification for VITA 74. Products based on VITA 74 or VNX are already available. Creative Electronic Systems in February announced the first member of the ROCK-3 family of rugged VNX mission computers. The base VNX 2+1 System consists of a chassis supporting two doublewide 19mm and one single-wide 12.5mm VNX modules. One 19mm site hosts an SBC, initially an AMD G-Series SoC quad-core processor with two independent GPUs. The second 19mm site can host either a second SBC, an image processor, or a video conversion module.

Figure 2 The flight qualified XPand4208 includes two Intel Core i7-based 3U VPX modules, an XPm2120 VITA 62 3U VPX power supply, and two XPort6193 removable SSDs that allow for quick, toolless insertion and extraction .

SPECIAL FEATURE

enhancement. The SB2200 is an industrial storage server thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s used as a data acquisition system with large storage capabilities in mission-critical applications. The rugged 2U platform offers an Intel or AMD processor based architecture designed and tested for high shock and vibration, the SB2200 provides complete protection for mission critical applications. The RM3000 provides the data acquisition and processing power needed for the different UAV algorithms. This 3U rack server provides a compact design that saves space and weight.

Figure 3 This Core i7 CPU-based mission computer feature a synchronized power supply, an integrated 2.5inch SATA carrier, and standard I/O including Ethernet, USB, Serial, SVGA, DisplayPort, and digital I/O. A stackable PCIe/104 architecture allows system expandability for additional functionality. The 12.5mm site is configured to hold either an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with GPS and optional SAASM capability, or a dual MiniPCIe I/O carrier with a variety of mezzanine modules for Data Bus, Discrete and Analog I/O functions including MILSTD-1553, CAN, and ARINC-429. An I/O transition panel supports the MIL connectors for power and I/O connectivity. A rear transition panel supports mSATA storage, as well as optional external high speed optical interfaces. Internal to the chassis, all modules are conduction cooled. External chassis options include convection, conduction and forcedair conduction cooling, as well as various mounting features. Linux is provided as initial operating system. Support for ARINC 653 operating systems is planned.

Rackmount Systems for UAV Programs For its part Systel has found success with rackmount rugged servers as solutions for UAV systems. According to Systel its SB2200 and RM3000 rugged boxes are used extensively in the UAV programs. These industrial servers are used for tracking targets, flight controls, signal dissemination, cross platform data sharing, and precision strike

Acromag Wixom, MI. (248) 295-0310. www.acromag.com Aitech Defense Systems Chatsworth, CA. (888) 248-3248. www.rugged.com. Concurrent Technologies Woburn, MA. (781) 933 5900. www.gocct.com Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Ashburn, VA (703) 779-7800 www.cwcdefense.com Dynatem Mission Viejo, CA (949) 855-3235 www.dynatem.com. Extreme Engineering Solutions Middleton, WI (608) 833-1155 www.xes-inc.com. GE Intelligent Platforms Charlottesville, VA (800) 368-2738 defense.ge-ip.com. General Micro Systems Rancho Cucamonga, CA (909) 980-4863 www.gms4sbc.com Kontron America Poway, CA (858) 677-0877 www.kontron.com. Mercury Systems Chelmsford, MA (978) 967-1401 www.mrcy.com. North Atlantic Industries Bohemia, NY (631) 567-1100 www.naii.com.

Octagon Systems Westminster, CO (303) 430-1500 www.octagonsystems.com RTD Embedded Technologies State College, PA (814) 234-8087 www.rtd.com Systel Sugar Land, TX (281) 313-3600 www.systelusa.com Themis Computer Fremont, CA (510) 252-0870 www.themis.com

Different UAVs Demand Different Power Conversion Approaches Leonard Leslie, Director of Engineering, VPT Military UAVs cover a very broad spectrum of requirements from high altitude, long loiter, high-cost assets such as the Global Hawk, to the micro air vehicle (MAV) class of UAVs. The requirements placed on the DC-DC converter modules used in these platforms for performance, price and environmental capabilities covers an equally broad spectrum. A high performance, high altitude platform, that is not as cost sensitive would typically benefit from the full military temperature range and hermetic protection provided by a hybrid microcircuit form factor DC-DC converter, such as the VPT DV series parts. As the performance requirements of the platforms decrease and the cost sensitivity increases, the Hi-Rel COTS category of DC-DC converters become more practical. These parts have a slightly reduced temperature operating window compared to the hybrid converters (-55C to 100C as opposed to -55C to 125C), but similar electrical performance at a significant cost saving. A significant program difference between high-cost, high-capability assets and MAVs is the production quantities. A quantity of a high-cost UAV may be limited to a few hundred units over the life of the program, where a MAV may be produced in quantities exceeding ten thousand per year. Such volumes require that the PC boards be manufactured in mass production lines that typically use aqueous cleaning processes, which are incompatible with most non-hermetic, metal enclosed DC-DC converters. The new VPT series option for a rugged epoxy encapsulated package is fully compatible with these high volume aqueous cleaning procedures. In addition the epoxy package offers improved shock and vibration environmental resistance at decreased weight, all of which are critical to the successful performance of a lightweight UAV. VPT, Blacksburg VA. (425) 353-3010. www.vpt-inc.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE Boards and Rugged Boxes in UAV Payloads

Pre-Tested Box Solutions Accelerate UAV Payload Designs Validated small form factor box-level systems are emerging as as high value design tools. For complex, space-constrained applications like UAV payloads these systems accelerate the path toward proof-of-concept. RJ McLaren, Portfolio Manager, Avionics & Military Products Kontron

iterally hundreds of high performance computing systems may be fitted onto a single military aircraft or vehicle, defining a significant OEM opportunity even in the face of defense cutbacks. In particular, demand continues in UAVs for increased sensor capabilities combined with the ability to change or update sensor arrays based on specific mission profiles—further fueling the value of modular plug-and-play payloads that maximize combat capability, flexibility and efficiency. This puts the focus on the ‘integrated system’ including the network and payload along with processing, exploitation, and dissemination (PED), rather than the specific airframe itself. Gone are the days where defense programs allow OEMs extended time and budget to design and develop individual or customized UAV applications. Application readiness is the new norm, coupled with high expectations for integrating advanced technologies that “just work”. High performance surveillance and situational awareness applications like fullmotion video (FMV) are confirmed as one of the most urgent requests from the field. Small UAS are proving highly effective in delivering unmanned mission sets beyond the capabilities of MQ-1/9 and RQ-4—giving commanders and individual service members enhanced information so critically 14

COTS Journal | April 2015

Figure 1 COBALT is a highly scalable embedded computer system, sealed and validated IP67, available with a wide selection of processor, storage, power and interface options.

needed for today’s complex operations. The demands from the front line are changing quickly, creating a growing need for validated small form factor box-level systems that can step in as high value design tools. These systems are the enabling rugged building block solutions that accelerate Proof-of-Concept (PoC) and development via a trusted COTS platform. In addition, new pre-tested systems based on

Computer-on-Modules (COMs) now couple mezzanine modules with the carrier board to provide a modular approach that further streamlines development by allowing use and reuse of low power, reliable UAV designs. Packaged in highly ruggedized enclosures, these small form factor systems add significant value when partnered with processor upgradability.

SPECIAL FEATURE

Figure 2 The AiRES is an IP67 sealed switch family in a small form factor, low power design that offers 16x GbE ports with direct locking connectors. It’s specifically designed and tested to operate reliably in the toughest extreme environmental conditions found in military UAV payloads.

Building Blocks and Mezzanines Pre-validated COMs-based systems provide the small and rugged building blocks ideally suited to UAV design. Weighing less than a few pounds, they deliver efficient thermal management employing flexible and well-known COMs for the processing power at the heart of the platform. The system also includes a rugged carrier board, power module, and appropriate I/O connectors housed in a fully-enclosed, fanless system. Integrating mezzanine options with these systems allows developers to create new systems without significant modification to an original base design. Developers reduce resources and development timelines, capitalizing on the system’s basic design as a foundation to build a specific system profile for their designated application. A design methodology that leverages COM Express Type 6 pin-outs within the primary system reallocates legacy PCI pins for digital display interfaces and additional PCI Express lanes, enabling a path to future design options. Unused PCI Express lanes are then routed to serial-based mezzanine card slots such as mPCIe (mini PCIe) and XMC. The resulting expansion options support a performance jump in contrast to devices relying on earlier pin-out options. The off-the-shelf, standards-based mPCIe mezzanine card illustrates the concept. Using an mPCIe card, designers can access specialized I/O such as video encoding, ARINC 429 or MIL-STD-1553 as well as more

common wireless specifications like Wi-Fi, GSM or LTE. Embedding this type of functionality in the mezzanine card – rather than the custom-designed carrier board – assures a longer, more flexible product lifecycle. Swapping out modules to access processor advancements allows system performance to evolve as needed. The latest Intel Atom E3800 processor on a Compact COMe provides high performance capability in a low Thermal Design Power (TDP) from 5W (single core) to 10W (quad core). The TDP is in contrast to a Core i7 COMe that can range from 20W to 45W. Because it is standards based, there are common I/O signals from the Atom and Core i7 COMe modules that can be leveraged on a base platform such as USB 2.0, 3.0, GbE, SATA and video out. This allows for scaling the system as needed for lower or higher processing power performance, without the need to give up key I/O connectivity. This gives OEMs the ability to reuse proven designs in smaller systems, easily extending functionality while avoiding additional customization costs and development resources. Developers avoid design requalification, while the system’s baseboard stack provides all required interconnects for the COM Express board and XMC and mPCIe interfaces.

Profiles Facilitate Integration Design and development of UAV payload systems can be simplified further by working with a series of standard profiles

available in pre-tested COMs-based systems, illustrated by those offered with Kontron’s COBALT (Computer Brick ALTernative), a next generation high-performance embedded computer (Figure 1). A good way for developers to determine which standard profile offers an ideal base design is to first look at how to balance latencies and other requirements for overall signal processing speed. For example, low latency requirements may indicate a profile intended for dedicated video or data acquisition. These systems are built to handle specific tasks through special algorithms, in contrast to a server profile which is simply designed for more generic processing performance. Server profiles may offer high performance data collection and storage, but overall performance is dependent on the limitations of their connected devices. In this scenario, transmitting analog data from a camera to an onboard network may require greater compression time in a situation where milliseconds matter. As a result, developers will have to carefully consider design choices such as dedicated hardware solutions or network-based systems. By connecting several pre-validated systems based on different profiles—for example a situational awareness profile and a server profile—, developers can quickly address a larger set of performance requirements. With the addition of an XMC signaling card, the same systems can also be configured to act as sensors, ultimately networking the system back to the server profile. It is also essential that system engineers determine in advance the ideal base configuration for their specific application. There are trade-offs in using a carrier board rather than a backplane in pre-validated systems based on COMs, resulting in a limited number of mezzanine expansion slots.

Storage and Connectivity Options Basic performance configurations include increased storage capabilities with either fixed or removable solid state drives, wireless connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX or a 3G/4G modem, or additional network port connections via an L2/L3 GbE switch. For instance, opting for a pre-validated system that offers a storage-focused profile enables access to a variety of storage types and capacities. Systems can be more COTS Journal | April 2015

SPECIAL FEATURE

Figure 3 Air Force UAV resources have shifted to focus on MQ-9 Reaper UAV procurement support based on its 600 percent higher payload capability compared to theMQ-1.

easily reconfigured and remain adaptable to military program requirements. This may provide an ideal base design for systems that require storage devices to be removed frequently in the field, or for secure systems that require removal of the device itself rather than transmitting network data. A situational awareness profile may be an ideal base configuration for systems that require video capture, compression, storage and analytics. Systems based on COM Express already have an advantage in these applications, as the standard incorporates longlife video support natively within the chipset. If additional video cards are required by the application, they can be added via an XMC module—further assuring that video processing does not borrow performance from system CPUs. By adding a video encoder profile for video capture and suppression, this configuration quickly becomes a dedicated video or data acquisition system optimized for mission critical data gathering. When required to connect and manage multiple systems and IP based devices, a fully managed L2/L3 Ethernet Switch like the Kontron AiRES product is a compact, low power solution highly suited to UAV payloads (Figure 2). Adding this hardware device creates a reliable switch-stacked pro16

COTS Journal | April 2015

file, connecting sensors and devices such as IP cameras to a central server solution, and enabling developers to add applications on top of network server capabilities. This type of profile may provide an ideal foundation for high-speed signaling, image detection or sensor arrays such as biometric, thermal, motion or radar are found onboard vehicles or helicopters.

Simplifying Payload Development Air Force UAV resources have shifted to focus on MQ-9 procurement support based on its 600 percent higher payload capability compared to theMQ-1 (Figure 3). The MQ-9’s anticipated effectiveness gets a huge boost when combined with versatile and powerful Wide Area Airborne Surveillance (WAAS) sensors. With more reliance on theMQ-9 Reaper, Combat Air Patrols (CAPs) are expected to increase in effectiveness by more than 1,200 percent initially, and are calculated to provide an eventual 6,000 percent improvement over the MQ-1 Predator. In these, as well as smaller airframes such as Wasp III, RQ-11 Raven and Scan Eagle, developers must respond to continually increasing demand for functionality and performance – even as airframe space becomes smaller, and tightly constrained with no op-

tion to expand system footprint. COMs-based small form factor platforms are answering the need as modular, flexible systems that focus on integrated features, advanced functionality and payload processing rather than the airframe itself. The availability of established performance profiles keep OEM resources in check, offering a starting point for high performance designs and a fast path to PoC and prototype development. Traditional backplane-based systems are often too large to be competitive in some unmanned environments; a smaller overall footprint can be achieved with a module-approach that also provides a design path for inevitable upgrades in payload computing. Tested, pre-integrated and application ready, COMs-based systems deliver the performance demanded by UAV designs today and remain flexible enough to improve future payload performance when enhancements are eventually called for in the same physical space. Kontron America Poway, CA (858) 677-0877 www.kontron.com

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TECH RECON Signal Chain: Shipboard Signal Processing

VPX Implementation Serves Shipboard Search and Track Needs Defending against anti-ship missiles is a problem for which high-performance computing is instrumental. A VPX system architecture approach provides the throughput speeds and processing muscle to meet shipboard Search and Track requirements. Thierry Wastiaux, Senior Vice President, Interface Concept

nti-ship missiles are a significant threat to surface ships. Navy leaders are known to be concerned with advanced radar-guided anti-ship missiles. New anti-ship missiles can fly at up to three times the speed of sound, giving targeted vessels little time to react. They may have the capability to maneuver on its terminal flight to its target, which could make defeating them difficult, if not impossible. To counter this threat, multilayer defenses have to be used. A combination of agile radar, infrared search and track systems and integrated missile firing control systems are usually used. Infrared sensor technology, high performance computing hardware and advanced detection and tracking algorithms have enabled a new generation of infrared warning systems for navy surface vessel allowing high precision engagement capacities. With that in mind, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helpful to consider a new architecture for high performing Search and Track VPX systems as presented here.

Employing Distributed Sensors Search and Track systems aim at automatically detect, track and classify air and surface targets. These targets may be stealthy or full maneuvering threats. In order to perform full panoramic and wide 18

COTS Journal | April 2015

Figure 1 Shipboard missile defense systems have to be efficient in their detection and tracking performance. That means the sensor stabilized platforms must be installed in locations allowing wide angle vision from the vessel. elevation coverage without any blind sector, a Search and Track system usually uses distributed advanced IR or RF Sensors. IR sensors may operate at different wavelength mainly Mid-Wavelength Infrared (MWIR) or intermediate infrared (3-5 Âľm). This is the atmospheric window in which the homing heads of passive IR heat seeking missiles are designed to work. The development of stra-

tegic technologies to design IR sensors at ever higher image definition needs a permanent sustained R&D effort. For efficient detection and tracking performance the sensor stabilized platforms must be installed in locations allowing wide angle vision from the vessel (Figure 1). Fully passive infrared surveillance systems are able to automatically detect, track

TECH RECON BACK END PROCESSING

IC-INT-VPX6a

VPX 6U Backplane

IC-INT-VPX6a

PCIE x4 Data Plane FRONT END PROCESSING

IC-FEP-VPX6b

COSATM Enabled sFPDP

sFPDP

1 x 3U cPCI Slots

sFPDP

Up to 3 I/O or Comms Functions

Figure 2

SWaP-Optimized

This VPX system architecture allows the cooperation of processor boards and FPGA modules connected to a high speed PCIe x 4 Data Plane, as well as the connection to many sensors for panoramic and elevation coverage.

and classify air and surface targets (Maneuvering and stealthy threats). Distributed state of the art imaging sensors allow performing full panoramic and wide elevation coverage without any blind sector with a high surveillance rate. The short time of reaction implies heavy real time image processing allowing automatic fast detection and adaptive tracking. The image processing algorithms must contain clutter rejection features for very low false alarm rate. The data from the sensors may be fused with other sensor data for improved detection capabilities and flawless identification. These systems must be interfaced with the combat system of the vessel for firing control.

VITA 65 FPGA Solution The following VPX architecture (Figure 2) provides an innovative approach to build high performance Search and Track systems. In compliance with the VITA 65 norm, this system architecture allows the cooperation of processor boards and FPGA modules connected to a high speed PCIe x 4 Data Plane, as well as the connection to many sensors for panoramic and elevation coverage. Each data inflow coming from each sensor is first processed in real time in the corresponding Virtex-7 running parallel powerful algorithms. The output of this first step is DMA transferred through PCIe x4 Gen2 links to each Intel CoreI7 processor

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that performs a second processing step and in particular the tracking and the control. The distributed sensors collect low noise image data that must be transferred to the central image processing system with minimum latency. This transfer is achieved using optical or copper cables. However optical cables are lighter, free from EMI radiation and EMI resistant which enable them to avoid interferences inside space-restricted vessel situation awareness and protection systems. Gigabit/10 Gigabit serial links connecting the sensors to the processing units bear various protocols as Serial FPDP, 10GbE, Aurora, Serial RapidIO. Serial FPDP appears to be the interconnect of choice for streaming data capture systems as it is seen as an optimized protocol for maximum data rates and minimum overhead with different operation speed. In the proposed architecture, the sensors are connected to the system through communication FMCs bearing optical SFP transceivers (Figure 3). Last generation of FPGAs can perform massively parallel image processing algorithms. The last generation of extremely powerful FPGAs constitutes a technology disruption. They can perform massive parallel processing with very low consumption in comparison with other technologies and feature huge communication bandwidth— up to 2.76 Tb/s for the Xilinx Virtex-7. The usual Search and Track step of signal pro-

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TECH RECON

Figure 3 In the proposed VPX system architecture, the sensors are connected to the system through communication FMCs bearing optical SFP transceivers.

cessing consists in performing massive parallel algorithms on the sample data from the sensors among them partial differential equations, Cooley-Tuckey Fast Fourier Transform, multidimensional Discrete Cosine Transform and so on. Designers have considerably improved the performance of their Search and Track systems by using this last generation of FPGAs.

Protocol Decoding with FPGAs An IP instantiated in the FPGA performs the protocol decoding. IC has especially developed a VITA 17.1-2003 compliant sFPDP IP that can run at high speed in a virtex-7 FPGA ensuring a low energy low latency interface. Using the high speed transceivers of the Virtex-7 FPGAs, the sFPDP link can run at a much higher data rate than the maximum rate of the norm. This IP supports unframed data as well as single frame data, fixed size repeating frame data and dynamic size repeating frame data. The configuration supported are Basic system, Flow control, Bi-directional data flow, Copy mode and Loop mode that allows the recording of the data coming from the sensors. One of the two SFP transceivers of the SFP FMC, receives the sensor data flow while the other transmits a copy of the same flow to a multi channels recorder under the Copy Mode. The IC-FEP-VPX6b (Figure 4) features two of the most powerful FPGAs of the Virtex-7 Xilinx family with up to 80 GTH 13.1 Gbit/s Transceivers and 3600 DSP48E1 slices. 20

COTS Journal | April 2015

A PCIe advanced switch allows combining the power of the two interconnected Virtex-7 Xilinx FPGAs, the Freescale QorIQ e5500 quad core T1042 and the fabric links of the VPX connectors. Each Virtex -7 FPGA has a very wide 64 bit connection to two DDR3 SDRAM memory banks supporting up to 1800 MT/s. as well as a connection to two DDRII+ SDRAM memory banks. Each Virtex-7 FPGA is interfaced with four SPI mirror flash memories (three for local bit streams storage and one for user parameters). They are directly interconnected together through 8 GTH lanes and 35 LVDS signals. The IC-FEP-VPX6b is endowed with two FMC sites compliant with FPGA Mezzanine Card standard (VITA 57.1), allowing to implement FMC modules provided by IC, third-party or developed by the user. As on all of our FMC sites, an optional I/O connector can route sixteen additional differential pairs from the FMC module directly to the VPX backplane. The QorIQ processor T1042 provides the usual interfaces: Ethernet, Serial and USB ports with one eUSB slot to plug an optional SSD module. Combining up to 32 Gbytes/s of backplane bandwidth and the processing power of two Intel Core i7 and a Kintex-7 Xilinx FPGA, the IC-INT-VPX6a fully uses the substantial bandwidth and system-enabling features of the 6U OpenVPX form factor. Delivered with IC UEFI Boot Loader for optimized power up sequences, the IC-INTVPX6a provides versatile PCIe backplane configurations thanks to two PCIe switches,

each attached to both processors. An ultralow latency GbE switch attached to each CPU offers five GbE ports. IC provides its Fabric Management Software (Multiware) allowing message passing with synchronization, shared memory and bulk DMA powered transfers between PCIe domains (IDC). IC also provides its Reference Design to implement Signal Processing and High Speed communication functions into the Xilinx Kintex FPGA linked to an FMC slot.

API for Software Development Multiware is a software package providing simplified API to users. A full set of software components provides a high level abstraction to provide the designer with services such as Virtual Ethernet over PCIe, shared memory, message synchronization with DMA powered transfers, between FPGA modules and CPU modules or between different 32-bit or 64-bit Intel or PowerPC CPU modules. The Multiware provides multiple kernel and user space services adapted to all users. Interface Concept supplies a full range of firmware and Example Designs for very high speed PCIe DMA data transfers, Signal Acquisition and signal processing. The PCIe DMA Engine Reference Design allows high data rate transfers with a useful data transfer speed close to the theoretical limits of PCIe (1.5 GB/s on a PCIe x 4). The signal processing Example Designs allow to implement the firmware blocks allowing capture of multiple channels up to 3.0 Gb/s (on Virtex-7).

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Figure 4 The IC-FEP-VPX6b combines the power of the two interconnected Virtex-7 Xilinx FPGAs, the Freescale QorIQ e5500 quad core T1042 and the fabric links of the VPX connectors.

The proposed architecture described above can be interfaced with the most demanding technologies of sensors allowing the design of advanced automatic fast Search and Track systems without any blind sector at a high surveillance rate and with low false alarm rate. These Search and Track systems represent the best means to protect vessels against the increasing threat of last ultrasonic anti-ship missiles. Interface Concept Quimper, France. +33 (0)2 98 57 30 30. www.interfaceconcept.com

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT DoD Budget Report: Major Weapons Programs

Major DoD Programs Budget Makes Technology a Priority With an increase than previous years, the 2016 Defense Budget Request leans in favor of technology upgrades to existing platforms. Embedded computing and electronic systems will play a key role in these programs. Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief

o call it a return to “normalcy” isn’t correct, but there’s a lot more certainty in the DoD budget process the past year. This year the President’s Budget Request for the next DoD fiscal year not only came out in the “normal” February, but very early February—a welcome change from the delays of the past couple years. Moreover, the submitted budget request was the largest in four years. And while the request is only the beginning of the usual several month process of debate and negation in Congress, the chance of the increases sticking are more likely than in years. At an increase of $38.2 billion over the FY 2015 enacted budget of $496.1 billion, the FY 2016 base budget of $534.3 billion includes DoD’s FY 2016 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). budget about 21 percent lower than the FY 2015 enacted level of $64.2 billion. That reflects the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan. The combined request represents an increase of $24.9 billion or about four percent, reflecting the need to modernize the force for the future and respond to emerging security challenges. The acquisition portion of the 2016 budget request totals $177.5 billion. That is comprised of $107.7 billion for Procurement funded programs and $69.8 billion for Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) funded programs. Of the 22

COTS Journal | April 2015

FY 2016 Modernization – Base: $177.5 Billion $ in Billions. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Space Based Systems $7.1

Aircraft & Related Systems $48.8

Shipbuilding & Maritime Systems $25.6

C41 Systems $7.4

RDT&E S&T $12.3 Mission Support Activities $47.4

Ground Systems $8.2 Missile Defense Programs $8.2 Missiles & Munitions $11.9

Figure 1 DoD FY 2016 Major Program categories.

$177.5 billion, $77.2 billion is for programs that have been designated as Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) or Major Automated Information Systems (MAIS). A breakdown of how major program funding is divided is shown in Figure 1

Within the MDAP umbrella, the major categories include: Aircraft, C4 Systems, Ground Programs, Missile Defense, Munitions and Missiles, Shipbuilding/Maritime Systems, and Space Based and Related Systems. Mission Support and Science and

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

FY 2016 Aircraft & Related Systems – Base: $48.8 Billion $ in Billions.

Aircraft Modification $6.0 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle $2.9

Aircraft Support $5.3 Cargo Aircraft $9.0

Technology Development $1.6 Support Aircraft $1.3

Combat Aircraft $19.7

Electro-optical/Infra-red Full Motion Video, maritime moving target detection, Electronic Support Measures (ESM), Automatic Identification System (AIS), a basic communications relay capability, and Link-16. Five NATO AGS aircraft are being procured with development funding and will complete deliveries by mid-FY 2017. The budget request for the RQ-4 Global Hawk funds the development and modification efforts for the Block 30, Block 40, ground stations, and Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion programs; and the U.S. contribution to the NATO AGS. It also continues engineering and manufacturing development efforts of the MQ-4C Triton and, procures three Low Rate Initial Production systems of that platform.

Funding for Small UAV Systems Figure 2 DoD FY 2016 Major aircraft program funding.

Technology also fall under the MDAP net. The scope of this article centers on the major DoD Weapons Systems budgeted for, highlighting those that use the largest amounts of embedded computing and electronics.

Aircraft and Related Systems In summary Aircraft category of the FY 2016 funding provides for the procurement of 57 F-35 jets, 41 logistics support aircraft, 300 helicopters, and 53 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). In addition, the funding in this category provides for the development of aircraft related technology, the procurement of aerospace equipment and systems, various modifications to existing aircraft, and the procurement of initial spares. As Figure 2 shows, investment continues in general technology UAV development. Just as last year, even more investment is being made in upgrading existing manned aircraft.

Medium and Large UAVs On the medium to large UAV side of things, investment continues in the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Predator and Army Gray Eagle UAVs. For the Predator the budget funds development and fielding of USAF modifications to the airframe and ground station elements. Special Operations Com-

mand (SOCOM) divested the MQ-1 in FY 2015. Gray Eagle: Continues development and integration of the Universal Ground Control Station and a signals intelligence capability; and, procures an additional 15 Gray Eagle aircraft in the base budget and 2 in the OCO. Meanwhile, for the U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper UAV Program, the plan funds the continued development, transformation and fielding of Reaper aircraft and ground stations. Includes the procurement of 29 aircraft for $821 million, and 8 fixed and 2 mobile ground control stations; and continues the modification of MQ-9s to the extended range configuration. Steady investment continues for the Global Hawk, the DoD’s largest UAV. The variants include the U.S. Air Force (USAF) RQ-4, Navy MQ-4C, and NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS)Unmanned Aircraft System. The RQ-4 Block 30 includes a multi-intelligence suite for imagery and signals intelligence collection and the Block 40 includes multi-platform radar technology for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging and moving target detection. The final three Block 30 USAF RQ-4s will be delivered in FY 2017. The Navy MQ-4C Triton provides the Navy with a persistent maritime ISR capability. Mission systems include inverse SAR,

Procurements and upgrades are the theme for DoD investments in the Small UAV category. The FY Budget Request calls funds upgrades to system hardware and performance-based logistics support for the RQ-7 Shadow. It also procures upgrades and provides training and contractor logistics support for the RQ-11 Raven. Procures a total of 7 systems. For the Raven each system consists of five air vehicles, two ground control stations, payloads, launch/recovery system, and associated ground support equipment. The request also and provides contractor logistics support for the RQ-21 Blackjack. For the DoD’s most expensive program, the budget request calls for spending $10.6 billion to purchase 57 Joint Strike Fighters. The budget asks for continued development of the air system, F135 single engine propulsion system, and conducts systems engineering, development and operational testing, and supports follow-on development. The 57 aircraft to be procured include 44 F-35A Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) for the Air Force, 9 F-35B Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) for the Marine Corps, and 4 F-35C Carrier Variants (CV) for the Navy. A multi-mission platform based on a derivative of the Boeing 737 aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon is Among the more advanced programs. The budget request spends $3.4 billion to procure 16 P-8A aircraft, support equipment and spares, and provides advance procurement for future aircraft. In COTS Journal | April 2015

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

FY 2016 Ground Systems – Base: $8.2 Billion $ in Billions.

Combat Vehicles $2.4 Weapons $0.7

Heavy Tactical Vehicles $0.2

Light Tactical Vehicles $0.5 Support Equipment $4.3

Medium Tactical Vehicles $0.1

Figure 3 DoD FY 2016 Major ground systems funding.

order for the P-8A capabilities to meet the ASW, ASuW, and ISR objectives upgrades will be delivered incrementally to the aircraft requiring continued research and development while full rate production continues for the baseline aircraft. For $1.3 billion, the FY Budget Request calls for buying 5 new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Relative to the E-2C, this variant of the E-2D provides increased electrical power, a strengthened fuselage, and upgraded radar system, communications suite, and mission computer. This will be the third year of a multiyear procurement contract, associated support, and funds advance procurement for future E-2D aircraft. Another big chunk of funding is the $4.5 billion for Army helicopter modernization. This is spread across several different helicopter types including the remanufacture of 64 Apache AH-64D aircraft to the AH-64E configuration and continued development of upgrades to enhance operational capabilities.

Modernizing Ground Vehicles With one of the smallest segments of funding, the DoD Budget request is focused on modernizing ground platforms and on24

COTS Journal | April 2015

going technology research and concept exploration that will benefit future Army and Marine Corps combat portfolios. The Army continues to modernize and upgrade select Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) in FY 2016, including Stryker vehicles, Abrams Tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and Paladin 155mm Howitzers. The Marine’s ground force focus in FY 2016 is on the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV). The ACV is a Pre-MDAP that will deliver shore and sea-based infantry to the battlefield in vehicles designed for future operational environments. And both services procure the second year of Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). Figure 3 show the allocation for ground systems funding. With one of the most successful legacies of technology upgrades, the M1A2 Abrams remains the Army’s main battle tank. The series of upgrades over the years have included the System Enhancement Package (SEP) and the Tank Urban Survival Kit (TUSK). Currently funded modifications to the M1 Abrams include Vehicle Health Management and Power Train Improvement & Integration Optimization, which provide more

reliability, durability and fuel efficiency. The 2016 budget request supports modifications and upgrades needed to maintain the armor facility at a sustainable level and minimize loss of skilled labor. Procures numerous approved modifications to fielded M1A2 Abrams tanks, including the Ammunition Data Link (ADL) to enable firing of the Army’s new smart 120mm ammunition, and the Low Profile Commander’s Remote Operating Weapon Station (CROWS). Procures hardware for Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) 1A to begin installation during vehicle recapitalization in FY 2017. As the only new vehicle in development, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle provides a light tactical vehicle capable of performing multiple mission roles, and providing protected, sustained, networked mobility for personnel and payloads across the full range of military operations. There are two variants planned: Combat Support Vehicles (3,500 lb) and Combat Tactical Vehicles (5,100 lb). The FY 2016 request funds second Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) buy of 559 trucks and fabricates assets for Live Fire Testing. LRIP Request for Proposals (RFP) was released in December 2014 with a contract award expected for July this year.

Shipbuilding and Maritime Systems In keeping the shift to an Asia-Pacific defense strategy, Navy funding is enjoying a stronger focus. A central principle to the United States Maritime Strategy is forward presence, which promotes conflict deterrence by ensuring forces are in a position to expeditiously respond to conflict. Funding is requested for nine new ships ($11.6 billion) and the overhaul of the USS George Washington (CVN73) ($678 million). The Shipbuilding Portfolio for FY 2016 (Figure 4) includes the funding for the construction of nine ships (two SSN 74 Virginia Class nuclear attack submarines; two DDG 51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers; three Littoral Combat Ships (LCS); one Fleet Replenishment Oiler (TAO(X)); and one LPD 17 Amphibious Transport Dock Ship. Aircraft carrier funding spent for the CVN 78 class ships will include new technologies and improvements to improve efficiency and operating costs as well as reduced crew requirements. This new class

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

brings improved warfighting capability, quality-of-life improvements for Sailors, and reduced total ownership costs. Gerald R. Ford is the first aircraft carrier designed with all electric utilities, eliminating steam service lines from the ship, reducing maintenance requirements and improving corrosion control. The new A1B reactor, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) and Dual Band Radar (DBR) all offer enhanced capability with reduced manning. The ship’s systems and configuration are optimized to maximize the sortie generation rate (SGR) of attached strike aircraft. The FY 2016 request funds the fourth year of construction costs for USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), completion costs for USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), long lead items for USS Enterprise (CVN 80), and continued development of ship systems. Modernization is also planned for the various variants of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer. The DDG 51-71 represent the original design, designated Flight I ships, and are being modernized to current capability standards. DDG 72-78 are Flight II ships and DDG 79-123 ships are Flight IIA ships. In FY 2016 this plan is for DDG-124 to become the first Flight III ship. Flight III ships will feature the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) capability. The FY 2016 budget request funds two DDG 51 AEGIS class destroyers as part of a multiyear procurement for ten ships from FY 2013 to FY 2017. The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) funding plan includes a seaframe acquisition strategy that procures two seaframe designs which are a separate and distinct acquisition program from the mission module program. The two programs are synchronized to ensure combined capability. Mission: Defeats asymmetric threats, and assures naval and joint forces access into contested littoral regions by prosecuting small boats and craft, conducting mine countermeasures, and performing anti-submarine warfare. The FY 2016 budget request funds construction of three LCS seaframes.

Advances in C4I Systems Always one of the most active consumers of embedded computing and electronics is the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) Systems part of the DoD’s Budget. This includes a

FY 2016 Shipbuilding & Maritime Systems – Base: $25.6 Billion $ in Billions.

Technology Development $2.0

Outfitting & Post Delivery $0.7 Submarine Combatant $7.6

Surface Combatant $10.9

Support $3.9 Support Ships $0.5

Figure 4 DoD FY 2016 Major Shipbuilding and Maritime funding.

broad array of capabilities enabled by an interconnected network of sensors, shooters, command, control, and intelligence. The FY 2016 budget request supports the net-centricity service-based architecture pattern for information sharing. It is being implemented by the C4I community via building joint architectures and roadmaps for integrating joint airborne networking capabilities with the evolving ground, maritime, and space networks. It encompasses the development of technologies like gateways, waveforms, network management, and information assurance. Figure 5 shows the funding breakout of the C4I Systems category. Work continues on the Warfighter Information Network- Tactical (WIN-T), the Army’s high speed, high capability backbone communications network, linking Warfighters in the battlefield with the Global Information Grid. The network is intended to provide command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The system is developed as a network for reliable, secure, and seamless video, data, imagery, and voice services for the Warfighters in theater to enable decisive combat actions. The WIN-T program

development consists of four increments. Increment 1 (Inc 1) provides “networking at the halt” by upgrading the Joint Network Node (JNN) satellite capability to access the Wideband Global Satellite (WGS). Increment 2 (Inc 2) provides networking on-themove to the company level. The WIN-T Inc 2 introduces a mobile, ad-hoc, self configuring, self-healing network using satellite on-the-move capabilities, robust network management, and high-bandwidth radio systems to keep mobile forces. Increment 3 (Inc 3) provides Integrated Network Operations development. Increment 4 (Inc 4) provides protected satellite communications on-the-move. The FY 2016 budget request funds the upgrade of 31 WIN-T Inc 1 units to enhance interoperability with units fielded with WINT Inc 2. It also supports procurement of 248 communications nodes (39 Tactical Communications Nodes, 167 Soldier Network Extensions, and 42 Points of Presence) for WIN-T Inc 2, and continues fielding and support for previously procured Low Rate Initial Production equipment. Funding is provided for Network Operations software (Build 4 & 5) and waveform development as part of WIN-T Inc COTS Journal | April 2015

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

FY 2016 Command, Control, Communications Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) Systems â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Base: $7.4 Billion $ in Billions. Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Automation $0.9

Base Communications $1.2

Theater Combat C3 & Services $4.6

Information Security & Assurance $0.3 Technology Development $0.4

Figure 5 DoD FY 2016 Major Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Intelligence Systems (C4I) program funding.

COTS Journal | April 2015

3. And finally, the request supports integration of 179 Modification kits for the AN/TRC190 line-of-sight radio systems. The plan procures and fields Tactical NetOps Management Systems to 89 nonWIN-T units and 283 Battlefield Video-Teleconferencing Center III systems. Provides program management support for Single Shelter Switch, High Capability Line of Sight, and Troposcatter Communications systems as they are transitioned to sustainment by the end of FY 2017.

Military DC-DC Power SuPPlieS VITA 62 Compliant High Efficiency Field Proven

 VITA 62 Compliant  High efficiency: 90% at full load  3U: 500W total output power  6U: 1000W and 800W total output power  Active current share through backplane  MIL-STD-461F, MIL-STD-704, and MIL-STD-810G Compliant  Qualified to the most stringent VITA-47 levels Made in the United States of America. 1-978-849-0600 www.SynQor.com/C2

DATA SHEET VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

VME SBCs Keep Pace with Tech Refresh Needs With a rich legacy, and large installed base, VME offers what’s needed to upgrading existing platforms while refreshing their embedded computing technologies. Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief

ver since its birth back in 1981, the VME architecture has been building a rich successfully legacy in military systems. Part of its success has been its unique ability to remain backward compatible and facilitate technology refresh in military programs. A new board with the latest and greatest processor, memory and I/O can easily be dropped in to a slot that could be decades old. And feeding that need, each year vendors continue to roll out new VME boards that sport the latest and greatest processors and memory technology. Over the years as the VPX standard (VITA 46) or OpenVPX emerged there’s been misconception as to how VPX is positioned versus VME in market. It’s not accurate to think of VPX as replacing VME. VPX is decidedly more aimed at high-bandwidth, data intensive military applications, while VME is suited for applications that are event-driven. These applications, controlling motors and actuators, moving gun turrets and missile launch-frames into position, are control system applications. VME’s interrupt structure can handle these kinds of applications in real-time. In contrast technologies based on switch fabrics and parallel PCI bus-based systems aren’t suited to meet those requirements. With that in mind, VME is expected to remain the primary architecture in these platforms for many years to come. 28

COTS Journal | April 2015

many existing VME based programs even as VPX captures more new designs. Because of VME’s there are hundreds of programs in the military using VME. And in this era of constrained DOD budgets VME upgrades and refreshes are much more likely to be funded, rather than forklift upgrades requiring new backplanes, packaging, and power supplies. An example is EnFigure 1 gineering Change Proposal 2 The Turret Processor Unit III built for the Bradley IFV (ECP 2) program for the Bradis a compact, single chassis solution features hybrid ley Infantry Fighting Vehicle backplane technology that supports both VME and (Figure 1). That program calls VPX open standards. for the development of an upgraded rugged embedded proTo be sure VME’s installed base is so en- cessor subsystem. In 2013 Curtiss Wright was trenched that it’s taken time for VPX to eat taped to supply its Turret Processor Unit III into its market share. Figures published by (TPU III) subsystem, comprising its Fire Conthe VITA standards organization suggest that trol Processor III (FCP III) single board com80 percent of VME products are now used by puter and COTS PMC-651 Ethernet Switch, as defense organizations. Before sequestration, the baseline solution for the subsystem. The forecasts suggested that the newer serial fab- compact, lightweight single chassis solution ric based VPX standard would match VME features hybrid backplane technology that revenues by 2012 but more recent studies supports both VME and VPX open standards. have shown that VME is still likely to outsell This accommodates hosting the critical preVPX until 2017 or perhaps longer. No matter qualified items like VME-based Fire Control what the cross over date ends up being, it is Processor to be able to work alongside Openclear that there’s strong demand to retain VPX modules.

DATA SHEET

VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

Air-Cooled 6U VME Board Sports 4th Gen Core i5/i7 CPU

PowerPC T4 QorIQ Processor Rides VME SBC

QorIQ P2010 SBC Serves up Multiple PCI Express Links

The XVME-6410 from Acromag is a high performance 6U VME SBC based on the 4th Generation Intel Core i7 or i5 processor and utilizes the Intel 8-Series PCH chipset for extensive I/O support. Intel 4th Generation processors deliver significant performance advancements such as: enhanced microarchitecture, integrated graphics, and expanded memory performance with up to 16 Gbytes of high-bandwidth DDR3L memory and ECC memory controllers. Rugged design suits harsh environments.

Aitech Defense Systems has enhanced the C111 (shown) and C112, two of its Freescale T4-based single-slot 6U SBCs to include the new, low power, multi-core, multi-processor T4080 QorIQ with AltiVec technology. Ideal for legacy VMEbus applications, the C111 supports backplane pin-out compatibility with previous generations of Aitech PowerPC SBCs— including the popular Aitech C102 dual processor SBC—eliminating costly system backplane changes.

The RIO6-8096 is a CES 6U VME SBC based on the Freescale QorIQ P2010 processor, for airborne applications requiring conduction-cooled equipment. It is specifically designed for the most demanding applications, combining very high computing and flight-worthiness capabilities along with harsh environment criteria.

• 4th Gen Intel quad Core i7 CPU for high performance (47W) or dual Core i5 CPU for low power (25W). • Intel 8-Series QM87 PCH chipset. • Up to 16 Gbytes of high-speed DDR3L memory. • Front panel I/O includes dual USB 2.0 ports, VGA, dual Gbit Ethernet and RS232 port. • Backplane I/O includes dual Gbit Ethernet, dual SATA ports, dual USB ports, DVI-D, RS-232/422/485 and VGA. • Power-On BIT (PBIT). Acromag Wixom, MI (248) 295-0310 www.acromag.com

FIND the products featured in this section and more at

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COTS Journal | April 2015

• 6U VME 2eSST single-slot SBC • Low-power Freescale QorIQ multicore SoC processor (T4080) with Altivec, • 4 Gbytes of high speed DDR3 SDRAM with ECC. • Multiple I/O interfaces: six Gbit Ethernet; two dual-redundant MILSTD-1553B, two USB 2.0, two SATA 2.0, 10 serial ports and 16 discrete I/O lines. • Multiple switch fabric options: PCIe, 10G, SRIO. Aitech Defense Systems Chatsworth, CA. (888) 248-3248. www.rugged.com.

• 6U VME64x form-factor Freescale QorIQ P2010/P2020 processor. • Xilinx Spartan-6 LX100T userprogrammable FPGA (optional). • One PCI Express switch. • One PCIe x4 on VME-P0. • Three PCIe x4 on XMCs. • Four high-speed links on XMC (optional). • Three GbE, one USB 2.0 and two UARTs on VME-P2. • Two PMC / XMC sites. • Static routing module (CES FlexIO). Creative Electronic Systems Geneva, Switzerland +41 (0)22 884 51 00 www.ces.ch

NEW THIS YEAR

Our new “Data Sheet” style round-up format Links to the full data sheets for each of these products are posted on the online version of this section.

VME SBC Serves up 32 GB of DRAM and Four SATA Links

Core i7 VME SBC Boasts High Speed DDR3 Memory Subsystem

6U Core i7 VME SBC has Convection and Conduction-Cooled Versions

Concurrent Technologies’ VP B1x/msd is a VME board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor range providing improved processing and graphics capabilities. Designed as a successor to the VP 92x/x1x family, VP B1x/msd provides one or two PMC/XMC sites for local expansion combined with compatible front panel connections for ease of migration.

The S/DMV-1908 from Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions is a low-cost, high performance technology insertion SBC. The S/DMV-1908 supports Intel’s latest mobile processor technology, the 4th Gen Core i7 "Haswell" Processor. With a contemporary high speed DDR3 memory subsystem connected directly to the processor and with a capacity of up to 32 Gbytes, the S/ DMV-1908 is able to maximize the Intel floating point processing units through the Core i7 processor.

The CPU-71-16 from Dynatem, a Eurotech subsidiary, is a high performance SBC based on the VMEbus 6U form factor. Offered in both convection cool.ed and ruggedized conduction cooled variants, the CPU-71-16 will meet the needs of commercial and military applications requiring maximum processing power, low power consumption, and fully integrated single board computing.

• 4th generation Intel Core processor. • Up to 32 Gbytes of soldered DDR3L-1600 DRAM with ECC. • Dual or single PMC/XMC module sites. • Up to 4 x 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet interfaces. • Up to 4 x external SATA interfaces via the rear. • Option for an on-board SATA drive and option for on-board CFast or SATA flash module. • 3 x serial interfaces and up to 12 x USB interfaces. Concurrent Technologies Woburn, MA. (781) 933 5900. www.gocct.com

• Intel Core i7 4th Generation "Haswell" Quad-Core CPU with 6MB L3 Cache. • SSE 4.2 floating point.

• Intel Core i7-2655LE / 2.2GHz, 25W or Core i7-2610UE / 1.5GHz, 17W. • Mobile IntelQM67 Cougar Point QM67 Platform Controller Hub chipset.

• Intel 4th Generation PCH chip set.

• 4 or 8 Gbytes DDR 3-ECC soldered DRAM.

• Dual XMC/PMC sites.

• RTM available for rear I/O support.

• External links: 3 Gbit Ethernet, AC97 Stereo Audio. 2 RS-232, 3 RS-422, 8 GPIO, 4 USB and 2 SATA.

• Legacy VME or VME64 compatible.

• Optional VME 320 interface. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Ashburn, VA. (703) 779-7800. www.cwcdefense.com.

• Available in convection and conduction-cooled versions. • Optional wedge locks provide high shock and vibration immunity per MIL-STD-810F • Supports on board CFast (SATA) card for bootable storage. Dynatem Mission Viejo, CA. (949) 855-3235. www.dynatem.com FIND the products featured in this section and more at

www.intelligentsystemssource.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

DATA SHEET | VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

6U VME SBC Marries Core i7 Haswell CPU and 32 Gbyte of DRAM The XCalibur4530 is a high-performance 6U VME single board computer that is ideal for ruggedized systems requiring high-bandwidth processing and low power consumption. With the 4th generation Intel Core i7 Haswell processor, the XCalibur4530 delivers enhanced performance and efficiency for today's network information processing and embedded computing applications. • Supports 4th generation Intel Core i7 processors.

6U VME Board Aims at HPEC Needs GE Intelligent Platforms line of products includes a board based on the quad-core 4th generation Intel Core i7 architecture (“Haswell”). The XVR16 6U VME has improved capabilities that suit existing command/control applications, but also more demanding High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) signal processing applications such as ISR, sonar and radar. • Single slot 6U VME single board computer.

• Conduction or air cooling.

• 4th Generation Intel Core i7 quad core processor.

• Up to 16 Gbytes of DDR3L-1600 ECC SDRAM in two channels.

• Two channels of soldered DDR3 SDRAM with ECC up to 16 Gbytes.

• Up to 64 Gbytes of NAND flash.

• 2 XMC sites, 2, PMC sites.

• 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports,2 PMC/XMC interfaces, 2 HDMI/DVI-D or DualMode DisplayPort interfaces.

• Front I/O: 2 Gbit Ethernet ports, 1 DisplayPort, 2 USB ports, 1x COM port.

• 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 SATA ports and 2 RS232/422/485 serial ports. Extreme Engineering Solutions Middleton, WI. (608) 833-1155. www.xes-inc.com

• Rear IO: 2 Gbit Ethernet ports, 2 VGA, 2 DVI, 2 SATA Gen3 ports, 2 COM ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 12 GPIO. • Optional conduction cooling. GE Intelligent Platforms Charlottesville, VA. (800) 368-2738. defense.ge-ip.com

6th Gen VME SBC Blends 2.4 GHz Processing and Wide I/O Set The VSB2105 "Albatross" from General Micro Systems is a sixth-generation VME SBC module based on GMS's upgradable CPU technology. It is designed to provide the highest level of workstation performance possible in a fully ruggedized, single-slot VME slot. It may be operated in all VME backplanes with 3-row or 5-row VME connectors with or without VME P0. The board supports the latest Intel fourthgeneration Core i7 processor with up to four physical CPU cores with Hyper-Threading for a total of 8 logical cores, each operating at up to 2.4 GHz with the ability to TurboBoost. The VSB2105 "Albatross" from General Micro Systems is a sixth-generation VME SBC module based on GMS's upgradable CPU technology. It is designed to provide the highest level of workstation performance possible in a fully ruggedized, single-slot VME slot. It may be operated in all VME backplanes with 3-row or 5-row VME connectors with or without VME P0. • 4th generation Core i7 processor with up to four 2.4 GHz CPU cores. • Up to 32 Gbytes of 1600MHz DDR3 memory with ECC. • Supports 4 Gbit Ethernet channels with TCP/IP offloading engine (TOE), 1 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 to front panel, 4 USB 2.0 to rear, mSATA up to 1 Terabyte. • One 2.5-inch SATA drive (lose PMC/XMC), 1 VGA port and HDMI port to rear, 1 DVI-I to front panel, 4 COM ports, and 16 buffered GPI/O lines. • Operates up to -20° to +75°C at full load (0° to +55°C standard).

FIND the products featured in this section and more at

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COTS Journal | April 2015

General Micro Systems Rancho Cucamonga, CA. (909) 980-4863. www.gms4sbc.com

DATA SHEET | VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

Core i7 SBC Features 4 Gbit Ethernet Ports and FPGA Interface

PowerPC QorIQ SBC can be Master or Slave in VME System

6U VME ARM Cortex-A9 SBC Boasts Modular I/O

Interface Concept the IC-INT-VMEa is powered by an Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor and its companion chipset QM77, offering a high performance computing platform including all the graphic capabilities required by a wide range of aerospace and defense applications such as command and control, mission computer, console and image processing.

MEN Micro’s A21C is a PowerPC based embedded SBC with a Freescale single-core P1013 or dual-core P1022 QorIQ processor. The SBC features full VME64 support and can be used as a master or a slave in a VMEbus environment. The A21C provides 1 Mbyte of local dual-ported SRAM for slave access and communication between the local CPU and another VMEbus master.

North Atlantic Industries’ 64ARM1 is a 6U VME ARM Cortex-A9-based, SBC that can be configured with up to six intelligent function modules. NAI’s Custom-On-Standard Architecture (COSA) offers a choice of over 40 intelligent I/O, communication, and Ethernet switch functions.

• Intel Core i7 2.1GHz 3612QE (or 2.5GHz 3555LE).

• Freescale PowerPC QorIQ P1013, 800 MHz.

• DDR3-1333 with ECC (up to 2 x 8 Gbytes).

• Up to dual-core P1022, 1.067 GHz.

• Optional on-board SSD Disk (SATA); Up to 4 SATA ports on P0.

• 64-bit VMEbus master and slave. • Up to 2 GB DDR3 DRAM soldered, ECC.

• 6U VME SBC with support for 6 independent, intelligent function modules • ARM Cortex-A9 Dual Core 800 MHz processor. • 512 Mbytes DDR3L SDRAM

• 4 Gbit Ethernet ports (1588, Virtualization), 5 USB ports, 4 UARTs, 1 HDMI, 2 DVI.

• Up to 64 MB Flash and 128 KB FRAM.

• Up to 32 Gbytes SATAII NAND Flash (4 GB standard)

• microSD card and mSATA slot.

• Less than 5 W MB power dissipation.

• VME64x with 2eSST (Tsi148), 2 PMC/ XMC slots.

• 2 Gbit Ethernet, 1 COM, additional I/O options.

• 2x 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet, 1x RS232, 1x I2C.

• One Open FPGA (Xilinx Kintex-7) interfaced with 4 serial drivers and 68 differential pairs/8 single ended/4 GTP lanes and reference clocks to an optional FMC slot.

• 2 PMC/XMC slots U-Boot Universal Boot Loader.

• VICTORY interface services.

Interface Concept Quimper, France. +33 (0)2 98 57 30 30. www.interfaceconcept.com

• -40 to +85°C screened MEN Micro Ambler, PA. (215) 542-9575. www.menmicro.com

• Operating temperature: 0°C to +70°C commercial, or -40°C to +85°C rugged. North Atlantic Industries Bohemia, NY. (631) 567-1100. www.naii.com

FIND the products featured in this section and more at

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COTS Journal | April 2015

COTS

PRODUCT GALLERY Innovative Integration Phone: (805) 383-8994 Email: sales@innovative-dsp.com Web: www.innovative-dsp.com

FMC-500

X6-250M

The FMC-500 is a high speed digitizing & signal generation FMC I/O module featuring two, 500MSPS A/D channels & two 1230 MSPS D/A channels supported by ultra-low jitter sample clock & triggering features. Receiver IF frequencies of up to 500 MHz are supported due to the wide bandwidth performance of the analog front-end.

The X6-250M integrates digitizing with signal processing on a PMC/XMC IO module. The module has a powerful Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA signal processing core, & high performance PCI Express/PCI host interface. Applications include software-defined radio, RADAR receivers, & multi-channel data recorders

X6-1000M

FMC-1000 The FMC-1000 is a high speed digitizing & signal generation FMC I/O module featuring two, 1250 MSPS A/D channels & two 1250 MSPS D/A channels supported by sample clock & triggering features. Receiver IF frequencies of up to 625 MHz are supported.

The X6-1000M integrates high-speed digitizing & signal generation with signal processing on a PMC/XMC IO module for demanding DSP applications. The tight coupling of the digitizing to the Virtex-6 FPGA core realizes architectures for SDR, RADAR, & LIDAR front end sensor digitizing & processing. The PCI Express system interface sustains transfer rates over 2 GB/s for data recording & integration as part of a high performance real-time system.

North Atlantic I n d u s t r i e s

www.na i i . c om

cPCI-6S10 6U GbE Switch Blade

Scalable GigE Switches

64PPC1 – 6U VME P2041 SBC

• Stacking, expandable 1 Gbps Ethernet switches

• 24-port fully managed CompactPCI® Gigabit Ethernet switch

• Board-level 10-pin headers or RJ-45 jacks

Ideally suited for rugged defense, industrial, and commercial applications, the 64PPC1 delivers off-theshelf solutions that accelerate deployment of SWaPoptimized systems.

• ARM Cortex-A9 processor integrated in Broadcom BCM56150 switch • Layer 2/3 switching with advanced support for VLANs, QoS and IPv6 • Two 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ uplink ports • Supports IPMI based on PICMG 2.9 • Pre-installed ADLINK PacketManager accelerates packet processing

ADLINK Technology Phone: (408) 360-0200 Email: info@adlinktech.com Web: www.adlinktech.com

• Eight ports per board, and expandable in groups of eight • Can be used standalone or with a host computer

• Compact 6U VME SBC with support for 6 independent, intelligent function modules

• Link, activity, and speed LEDs for each port

• 40+ modules to choose from

• Stackable PCI Express (PCIe/104) expansion

• Freescale™ QorIQ P2041 Quad-Core e500mc Processor

• Enclosure configurations with D-sub receptacles, RJ45 jacks or watertight military cylindrical connectors

• Classic Double Precision FPU

• Fanless -40 to +85°C Operation

• < 25 W MB power dissipation • Up to 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc.

• Up to 32 GB SATA II NAND Flash

Phone: (814) 234-8087 Email: sales@rtd.com Web: www.rtd.com AS9100 & ISO 9001 Certified

• Dual 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet ports • Wind River® VxWorks® or Linux OS Support

North Atlantic Industries, Inc. Phone: (631) 567-1100 Web: www.naii.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

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COTS

FIND the products featured in this section and more at

PRODUCTS

www.intelligentsystemssource.com

5-Slot 3U Mission Computer Embeds Four iCore7 SBCs Curtiss-Wright has announced that its Defense Solutions division has introduced a new fully integrated 5-slot 3U OpenVPX rugged mission computer the MPMC-9355-0002 Multi-Platform Mission Computer. It can be readily configured with up to four 2.1 GHz VPX3-1257 3U OpenVPX SBCs, each of which features a quad-core 3rd Generation Intel Corei7 processor. The MPMC’s SBCs are flexibly connected using a fully managed Layer 2 Ethernet switch and a PCIe backplane infrastructure. The integral VPX3-652 Ethernet switch supports up to eight external Gbit Ethernet connections for inter-system communication. Designed to meet the needs of any compute-intensive application, this flexible mission computer can be easily “personalized” with a wide array of module options via each of the SBC’s onboard PMC/XMC expansion site. The MPMC9355-0002 can also be configured to support high performance graphics display by integrating an optional VPX3-716 graphics engine that can drive up to four independent displays. Power is provided by a 3 phase 115 VAC power supply. The cost effective, rugged MPMC-9355-0002 is especially well-suited for demanding

compute intensive applications such as image, signal, and radar processing. In addition to meeting the demanding DO-160 specification, the MPMC9355-0002 also supports MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-704 for power. Designed with advanced packaging techniques to ensure optimal performance in harsh environments, the mission computer operates at full performance in ambient temperatures up to 55°C using an integral rugged fan. The rugged conductioncooled ½ ATR enclosure isolates its installed modules from external environmental conditions such as humidity, dust and sand. EMI filters and gaskets ensure system security and increased reliability. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions, Ashburn, VA (703) 779-7800. www.cwcdefense.com

We have your solution DIN 41 612 connectors

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With 40 years of development, HARTING’s market leading connectors offer solutions for today. Reduced size with one third length versions, mixed contact types with hybrid connectors. Rugged shell housings address the most demanding applications. Specially loaded variants deliver solutions customized to your need.

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COTS Journal | April 2015

3/13/2015 2:55:49 PM

COTS PRODUCTS

XMC Module Provides Dual Channel Adaptive IF Relay

Pentek has introduced the newest member of its Cobalt line of XMCs: the Model 71624 dual channel, 34 signal, adaptive IF (Intermediate Frequency) relay XMC with a Virtex-6 FPGA. As an IF relay, it accepts two IF analog input channels, modifies up to 34 signals, and then delivers them to two analog IF outputs. Any signal within each IF band can be independently enabled or disabled, and changed in both frequency and amplitude as it passes through the module. The board supports many useful functions for both commercial and military communications systems including signal drop/add/replace, frequency shifting and hopping, amplitude equalization, and bandwidth consolidation. Targeted applications include signal monitoring, signal jamming, channel security, countermeasures, beamforming and radar applications. The Model 71624 features 34 digital down converters (DDCs), each independently tunable across a 100 MHz input IF range, handling signal bandwidths from 20 kHz up to 312 kHz. The DDCs deliver 34 baseband signals to the host computer, which determines how each signal is dropped, replaced, or changed in amplitude and frequency. The modified signals are then combined and delivered as an analog IF output. The card comes preconfigured with a suite of time-tested Pentek IP functions for DDC, DUC, DMA transfers and digital summation. Captured signals may be relayed with gain and frequency modifications directly through the module, or the host system may substitute a modified signal on any channel instead. The Model 71624 features an on-board programmable sample clock synthesizer that is phase-lockable to an external frequency reference input. Multiple units can be synchronized for high-channel count systems. The Cobalt Model 71624 XMC starts at $16,095. Pentek, Upper Saddle River, NJ (201) 818-5900. www.pentek.com

AIA

CONVERTER

Military Power Supply Solutions EMI - TRANSIENTS - HOLD UP - CONVERSION

Gaia Converter’s proven power modules protect and regulate power for military applications. Example Block Diagram for a Cockpit Display: +5V +15V

28VIN

-15V

EMI Filters

Transient Suppression

Hold-Up Modules

DC-DC Converters

• MIL-STD-461 rev C, D, E and F

• MilL-STD-704 rev A-F

• 50ms, 200ms & up

• 1 ~ 3 Output Modules

• MIL-STD-1275 rev A-D

• Charge, monitoring • Mil-Std-704/1275 & switching functions Input Voltage ranges

2 / 10 / 20 Amps

• Passive, common & differential modes

50 / 100 / 300 Watts

50 / 300 Watts

4 ~ 200 Watts

w w w . g a i a - c o n v e r t e r . c o m COTS Journal | April 2015

COTS PRODUCTS

High Density Fins Provide Improved Heat Sink Performance

Signal Record/Playback System Supports Wide Bandwidths X-COM Systems, a subsidiary of Bird Technologies, has introduced the IQC5000B RF record and playback system designed for applications such as electronic warfare, interference analysis, surveillance, and spectrum monitoring and management. In the industry’s smallest form factor, the IQC5000B has the widest instantaneous bandwidth, 4 Terabytes of removable, high-speed solid-state data storage, and other features tailored for the most demanding applications. The IQC5000B design reflects the need to record signals with greater bandwidths than ever before, including IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi, satellite communication channels, and many radars. Each of the IQC5000B’s two recording channels has an instantaneous bandwidth of 165 MHz that when combined produce a record bandwidth of 330 MHz. These signal bandwidths can be recorded at any input frequency from HF through millimeter wavelengths. The system has two high-speed, easily-removable 2-Terabyte solid-state drives configured in RAID 0 for 4 Terabytes of combined capacity. Together they allow the IQC5000B to store 83 minutes of continuous recording at the system’s full bandwidth. External SSD storage of up to 15 Terabytes can be added to allow recording times of up to 5 hours. It measures 12 x 3.5 x 10.5 inches and weighs 8.5 lb. It is available in rugged portable or standard rack enclosures. X-COM Systems Reston, VA (703) 390-1087 www.xcomsystems.com

FIND the products featured in this section and more at

www.intelligentsystemssource.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

Advanced Thermal Solutions (ATS) provides new zipper fin heat sinks that are protecting thousands of components from the dangers of excess heat at a lower cost than other high fin density heat sink types. Zipper fins are machined from thin sheet metal, typically aluminum or copper, and are formed into custom shapes. The sheets are designed to interlock with a very narrow space between their layers. The fin assembly is wave soldered to a metal base forming a very rigid, lightweight heat sink. Zipper fin heat sinks can also be made in high aspect ratio fin profiles, enabling taller, thinner and more tightly packed fins for higher cooling performance. Advanced Thermal Solutions Norwood, MA (781) 769-2800 www.qats.com

COTS PRODUCTS

3U OpenVPX Module Maries Xeon-D and FPGA Processing

Mercury Systems has announced the rugged OpenVPX Ensemble LDS3506 processing module that seamlessly integrates the Intel Xeon processor D system-on-a-chip (SoC) product family ( formerly codenamed “Broadwell DE”) with Xilinx’s powerful Ultrascale FPGA in a SWaP-constrained 3U package. With over 256 peak GFLOPS of general processing power from the Intel processor alone, is suited for applications such as electronic warfare (EW), electro-optical/infrared (EO/ IR), image intelligence (IMINT) and other mission or sensor processing applications. The LDS3506 provides x4 Gen3 PCIe connectivity across the data plane via Xilinx’s FPGA device, with multiple DMAenabled non-transparent bridge (NTB) interfaces, giving users the versatility needed to construct powerful processing subsystems quickly. The module’s latest Xilinx FPGA hosts Mercury’s Protocol Offload Engine Technology (POET) to give each module the ability to refresh its mission capability, provide information assurance abilities, or even refresh or upgrade its switch fabric itself without affecting any hardware. The Ensemble LDS3506 supports open data movement middleware, including Open MPI and OpenMPI/OFED, VITA 46.11 system management, and standard optimized math libraries. Modules will be initially populated with the 45W TDP Xeon D-1540 processor and will be available with additional Intel Xeon D series processors as they become available. Customer demonstrations will begin spring 2015 and production units will become available later this year for air-cooled, conduction-cooled, and Air Flow-By systems. Additional products in the 6U OpenVPX form factor based on the Intel Xeon processor D family are expected to be announced by Mercury later this year. Mercury Systems, Chelmsford, MA (978) 967-1401. www.mrcy.com

The industry’s most trusted and widely used USB interfaces

Portable Avionics Databus Interfaces A reliable USB interface from Astronics Ballard Technology does it all – databus test,

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analysis and simulation. Use it in the lab or in the field – it’s fully powered by a single USB port. Simply connect it to any available laptop, desktop or tablet PC and it’s ready to go. Add our CoPilot® interactive software for a complete easy-to-use solution.

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COTS Journal | April 2015

COTS PRODUCTS

ARINC 429 XMC Aids Both Development and Deployment GEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Intelligent Platforms has announced the RAR-XMC ARINC 429 High Density XMC Interface for deployment on many SBCs. The RAR-XMC supports maximum data

throughput on all channels while providing onboard message scheduling, label filtering, multiple buffering options, receive message time-tagging and error detection, and IRIG-B receiver (AM or DC/TTL) and generator (DC/TTL). Up to 16 transmit and 32 receive channels are available, with configurations supporting fixed and software-programmable transmit/receive channels. This allows users to use the same card for dynamic channel demands. GE Intelligent Platforms, Charlottesville, VA. (800) 368-2738. defense.ge-ip.com

CompactPCI Serial XMC Carrier Supports PCIe Lanes 1 to 4 EKF Elektronik offers the SK2-SESSION, a peripheral slot board for PICMG CompactPCI Serial systems and acts as carrier card for a XMC-style mezzanine module. XMC modules are specified by ANSI/VITA 42, and can be considered as an improved replacement for PMC modules. While using the same form factor as PMC cards, XMC modules are provided with a PCI Express interface. The SK2-SESSION is equipped with a bidirectional 4-lane 5 Gbps PCI Express redriver, for optimum high speed PCIe 2.0 signal integrity, and can be installed into any peripheral slot of a CompactPCI Serial backplane. The optimum performance however can be achieved from a cPCI Serial fat pipe slot. EKF Elektronik, Hamm, Germany +49 (0)2381/6890-0. www.ekf.de Untitled-1 1

COTS Journal | April 2015

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COTS PRODUCTS

AMC Board with Kintex-7 FPGA is Carrier Dual FMCs VadaTech offers a dual FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) carrier per the VITA 57 specification. The AMC502 comes in a double module, mid-size AMC and features a Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA. The board has 32 Mbytes of flash memory and an on-board crystal referenced clock source to provide at least 125 MHz as GTX reference input for PCIe, SRIO, and GbE. The LVDS crossbar switch and PLL provide improved clock flexibility and cleaner signals. VadaTech is also developing a version of its dual FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA. VadaTech also offers a full suite of FPGAs with single FMC carriers from Virtex-6, Virtex-7, Kintex-7, Zynq-7, and Artix-7. Vadatech, Henderson, NV (702) 896-3337. www.vadatech.com

Video Card Serves Multi-display Command Control Rooms

CMY

cExpress-BT/cExpress-HL • • • • • •

Computer on Module Type 6 Compact size: 95 x 95 mm 4th and 5th Gen Intel® processor SoCs Up to 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz 4x PCIe x1 or 1x PCIe x4, GbE 4x SATA 6 Gb/s, 2x USB 3.0, 6x USB 2.0

The C420 quad-output PCI Express graphics card from Matrox delivers the features systems integrators require when designing small-form-factor (SFF) systems and video walls and multi-display operator workstations in command & control rooms. C420 is fanless for enhanced reliability and silent operation. Its low-profile design and low power consumption make it the perfect fit for SFF, desktops and embedded systems. It drives up to four displays or projectors at resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 per output and two C420 cards together can drive eight displays from a single system. Secure Mini DisplayPort connectivity prevents loose cabling and 2 Gbytes of on-board memory ensures smooth video playback and graphics performance. Matrox Electronic Systems, Dorval, Quebec, Canada (514) 822-6000. www.matrox.com

COM Express Type 6 Module Serves Up 5th Gen Core CPUs A COM Express Compact Size Type 6 module, the cExpress-BL from Adlink Technology is based on the fifth generation Intel Core processors i75650U, i5-5350U and fifth generation Core i3-5010U processor, with support for up to 16 Gbytes of dual channel DDR3L memory. The board BL features Intel HD Graphics 5500 and 6000 integrated in the CPU and provides two DDI channels and one LVDS channel supporting three independent displays, enabling it to drive multiple HD screens without the need for a discrete graphics card. It also provides high-bandwidth I/O, including four PCIe x1 or single PCIe x 4, four SATA 6 Gbits/s, two USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 for peripheral devices and data transfer. ADLINK Technology, San Jose, CA (408) 360-0200. www.adlinktech.com

COTS Journal | April 2015

Embedded and IoT Engineering is Hard â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Are you Asking the Right Questions?

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COTS PRODUCTS

Compact Multi-Display System Fits 2U Rack Space Neuro Logic Systems provides a selection of multiple two and three head KVM and display-only units. Stowing in only 2U rack space, the CSC-3L-19 is the most compact triple 19 inch LCD KVM unit available. Designed for harsh outdoor oil field service operations, the CSC3L-19 is ideally suited for military aircraft, shipboard and ground mobile installations as well. The 19 inch SXGA LCDs are protected by impact resistant polycarbonate shields that are AR optically coated for glare reduction. Clamping levers lock the LCD heads in position providing resistance to movement due to shock and vibration. Widescreen 16:9 LCD and MIL-STD-461/810/167 are options. Neuro Logic Systems, Camarillo, CA. (805) 389.5435. www.nlsdisplays.com

20 Terabyte Storage System Features Modular, cPCI Serial Design MEN Micro has expanded its modular, built-toorder systems with the MH70S designed for storage applications. The CompactPCI Serial platform, which offers a capacity of up to 20 Terabytes, is a preconfigured system for storage intensive applications. The MH70S is a half 19-inch modular system with up to five HDD/SSD slot cards, totaling 20 Terabytes. For robust and safe operation, the HDD carriers can be configured in RAID 0, 1 or 5, while the carriers themselves have their own internal RAID 0, 1 and JBOD hardware configuration abilities. The system is based on a high-performance Intel Core i7 processor supporting Intel AMT functionality and featuring two Gbit Ethernet interfaces. Two of the seven slots in the system can be equipped with Ethernet interfaces and/or Ethernet switches—the latter with Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality. For wireless communication via WLAN, UMTS, LTE, GPS or GLONASS, these slots alternatively can be used with PCI Express Mini Cards. The MH70S offers two PSU slots for AC or DC to ensure system reliability and redundancy. The system can be rack or wall-mounted and uses either natural, fanless convection or an additional fan tray at the bottom of the system for cooling. Pricing for the MH70S is $6,495.

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Low Profile Triple Output Power Supply Delivers 75W TDK-Lambda has announced its CUT75 low profile, triple output power supplies. In the industry standard 3- x 5-inch footprint, the series is just 1.06 inches height. Operating from a universal input voltage of 85 to 265 Vac, the CUT75 is available in two standard models. The CUT75-522 offers 5V +12V output voltages and the CUT75-5FF 5V +15V with an output power of 75W. The two converter topo logy of the CUT75 enables zero minimum load operation, good regulation and provides 500Vac isolation between the 5V and the secondary outputs for easier system configuration. The 5V output is user adjustable from 5V to 5.25V. Convection cooled, the series features a wide operating temperature range from -20 to 70 degrees C ambient. TDK-Lambda Americas, San Diego, CA. (619) 628 2885. www.us.tdk-lambda.com/lp

picoe

lec

800 431-1064 Fax 914-738-8225 E Mail: info@picoelectronics.com

PICO

Electronics, Inc.

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Delivery - Stock to one week

COTS Journal | April 2015

COTS PRODUCTS

1U Rackmount Platform Sports Cavium Processors A 1U rackmount network platform is designed for security and other networking applications. The PL-80730 from WIN Enterprises is suitable for securing network domains in the enterprise or data center. The unit is designed with the Cavium CN61XX/CN60XX family processors to provide a platform for UTM/VPN/Firewall, packet processing, and deep packet inspection in servers, switches, and routers. The device supports a DDR3 SO-DIMM memory socket, nine GbE ports with bypass function based on Marvell 88E1240/1310, and LED indicators to monitor activity and transfer rate. The PL-80730 supports onboard eMMc or NOR flash for boot device support and has space for an optional 2.5- or 3.5inch SATA HDD, and has two mini-PCIe slots. WIN Enterprises, Waltham, MA (978) 688-2000. www.win-ent.com

1700 Watt Isolated DC/DC Converter Boasts 94 Percent Efficiency Calex has announced the MBI 1700 Watt DC/DC Converter. The MBI is housed in a 9.98- x 6.98- x 1.25-inch enclosure. The efficiency of the MBI runs as high as 94 percent minimizing the case temperature rise of the converter under various loading conditions easing the job of thermal management. The input range of the MBI is 23 to 35 VDC with an output voltage of 29.5V DC at 58A making the unit ideal for ground based mobile military applications. The MBI is designed to meet MIL-STD 1257B for normal mode operation, CE101 and CE102 of MIL-STD 461 as well as MIL-STD 810F. The output voltage range of the MBI over line, load, temperature and life is 28.6 to 30.40 VDC. The output current range is 0 to 58 A, the MBI can be operated down to a no-load condition. Output voltage ripple is 400V peak to peak max and 160V RMS max. Line and load regulation is +/-70mV and +/-500mV respectively. The MBI features ON/OFF control for battery conservation. The operating temperature range of the MBI is -20 to +100C. The storage range is -55 to +100 degrees C. Calex, Concord, CA (925) 687-4411. www.calex.com

COTS PRODUCTS

Test System Tests 32 SSDs or PCIe 3.0 Cards at a Time One Stop Systems and Cheetah RAID Storage have introduced The Flash Storage Array Test System (FSA-TS) that allows the rapid insertion and removal of 32 PCIe 3.0 cards or nVME SSD’s to be tested at one time. A single operator can install 32 cards into the slots, run their specific test applications and remove any number of cards at any time while other cards remain under test. The 4U test chassis consists of four removable canisters, each with eight Cheetah RAID Storage PCIe test riser cards or nVME SFF-8639 test adapter cards installed in each canister. One Stop Systems, Escondido, CA (877) 438-2724. www.onestopsystems.com

DSP Card Meet Real-Time and Low-Power Needs A family of small form factor cards features TI’s Keystone I TMS320C667x DSPs, targeting requirements for real-time computing and low power in an ultra cost-sensitive solution. In the SI-C667xDSP from Sheldon Instruments, the TI C667x DSPs are multicore DSP Systems on Chip (SoC), conveniently programmed using the C language. The number of C667x CorePacs range from one to eight, each clocked at 1.25GHz for a maximum of 320 GMAC and 160 Gflops performance at a mere 10 watts of power consumption while most processors of this caliber are in the 40W-60W range. Single unit pricing starts at $3100. Sheldon Instruments, San Diego.CA (619) 282-6700. www.sheldoninstruments.com

DC-DC Power Module Features Built-In Inductor New DC-DC power modules from Sumida have achieved breakthrough performance improvements through a new patent-pending design concept, where the magnetic material forms the entire package and all components are mounted within the inductor. The maximum volume can therefore be available for the inductor, allowing very low DC resistance and high conversion efficiency. The SPM1004 Series has a 12VDC nominal input with the SPM1005 Series for 5V/3.3V nominal input. Available DC outputs include 5V, 3.3V, 2.5V, 1.8V, 1.5V, 1.2V, 1.0V, 0.8V and 0.6V at up to 6A load current. Operating temperature range is -40 to +85 degrees C, without forced air or derating. Sumida America Components, Evanston, IL (847) 424-1000. www.sumida.com

TE Connectivity’s (TE) CeeLok FAS-T, CeeLok FAS-X and DEUTSCH Wildcat circular connectors are extremely compact, provide rugged reliability and signal integrity at super-fast speeds • CeeLok FAS-T connector offers 10 Gb/s data delivery and has a T-shaped pin pattern that helps improve signal integrity through uniform crosstalk cancellation • CeeLok FAS-T Nano connectors have a small form factor that occupies less than 3/8” (9.5mm) of panel space • CeeLok FAS-X connector that helps provide easier, faster fi eld termination • DEUTSCH Wildcat Micro connectors are offered in two miniature housing sizes with four contact layouts

te.com/adm

©2015 TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies. All Rights Reserved. CeeLok FAS-T, CeeLok FAS-X, DEUTSCH, EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS, TE Connectivity and the TE connectivity (logo) are trademarks of the TE Connectivity Ltd. family of companies.

COTS Journal | April 2015 2/13/15 TE-ADM_SmallCircular_Speed_2p25x9p875_COTS.indd 1 47 4:48 PM

COTS

ADVERTISERS INDEX GET CONNECTED WITH INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS SOURCE AND PURCHASABLE SOLUTIONS NOW Intelligent Systems Source is a new resource that gives you the power to compare, review and even purchase embedded computing products intelligently. To help you research SBCs, SOMs, COMs, Systems, or I/O boards, the Intelligent Systems Source website provides products, articles, and whitepapers from industry leading manufacturers---and it's even connected to the top 5 distributors. Go to Intelligent Systems Source now so you can start to locate, compare, and purchase the correct product for your needs.

Index

www.intelligentsystemssource.com

Company Page# Website

Adlink Technology, Inc.........................42.........................www.adlinktech.com

Mercury Systems, Inc. .........................5.................................. www.mrcy.com

AUVSI..................................................41.......................... www.auvsishow.org

MPL......................................................4.......................................www.mpl.ch

Ballard Technology..............................39................ www.ballardtech.com/usb

North Atlantic Industries.................. 17, 19................................. www.naii.com

COTS Product Gallery..........................34.........................................................

One Stop Systems, Inc. ....................26, 29.............www.onestopsystems.com

CES.....................................................35..........................www.ces-swap.com

Pentek, Inc...........................................2............................... www.pentek.com

Data Bus Products..............................40.............. www.databusproducts.com

Phoenix International Systems, Inc. .....4............................ www.phenxint.com

DDC.....................................................46................. www.ddc-web.com/AIC/C

Pico Electronics, Inc............................45................. www.picoelectronics.com

Dynatem..............................................21........................... www.dynatem.com

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc. ......51.................................... www.rtd.com

Extreme Engineering Solutions............52..............................www.xes-inc.com

Sealevel Military..................................38......................www.sealevel-mil.com

Gaia Converter....................................37.................. www.gaia-converter.com

SynQor, Inc..........................................27...............................www.synqor.com

Harting................................................36...................... www.harting-usa.com

TE Connectivity...................................47..............................www.te.com/adm

High Assurance Systems.....................43........................www.highassure.com

Trenton Systems, Inc. .........................44.................www.trentonsystems.com

Inteligent Systems Source...................49.. www.intelligentsystemssource.com

WinSystems..........................................7........................www.winsystems.com

COTS Journal (ISSN#1526-4653) is published monthly at 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 150, San Clemente, CA 92673. Periodicals Class postage paid at San Clemente and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to COTS Journal, 905 Calle Amanecer, Ste. 150, San Clemente, CA 92673.

COMING NEXT MONTH Special Feature: C4ISR Technologies for Military Vehicles

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s military views C4ISR as a capability that pervades all corners of the force, and that includes military vehicles. Onboard communications and control electronics are expected to multiply in sophistication for Current Force fighting vehicles. With budgets that shy away from new vehicle program starts, the focus is on tech upgrades of existing vehicles as the dominant activity in this space. Articles in this section explore the latest requirements and how these changes may be influenced by technology and the latest products available. Developments in the Armyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WIN-T program are looked at as well.

Tech Recon Signal Chain: Signal Processing: FPGAs vs GPGPUs vs GPPs

Throughout 2015 our Tech Recon feature delivers a series of sections that follow a sequential path hitting all the key technologies that are part of a signal chain. The May Signal Chain section compares the merits of FPGAs, GPGPUs and GPPs in signal processing. GPUs have potential in application areas including target tracking, image stabilization and SAR (synthetic aperture radar) simulation. A number of solutions are available in OpenVPX and other form factors, but GPUs are not expected to supplant FPGAs or general purpose processors overnight.

COTS Journal | April 2015

System Development: PCI Express and 10 Gbit Ethernet as System Interconnects

10 Gbit Ethernet is becoming entrenched as a favorite data plane interconnect fabric in compute-intensive applications like sonar, radar or any application that networks sensor arrays together. But PCI Express has inherent advantages that make it better for control functions than Ethernet. This section updates readers on the product and technology trends driving board-level Ethernet switch products, and explores how system designers can benefit from the marriage of Ethernet and PCI Express with embedded computing form factors like VPX, VXS, Compact PCI Express, MicroTCA and AMC.

Data Sheet: Small Non-standard Boards

While standard open-architecture board form factors continue to dominate in military systems, non-standard form factors free designers from the size and cost overheads associated with including a standard bus. Portable military gear, unmanned ground vehicles and small UAVs are just some of the systems that rely on such technologies. Articles in this section look at the trade-offs between standard and non-standard form factors. A product album compares the latest representative small non-standard boards.

Why Should Researching SBCs Be More Difficult Than Car Shopping? Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s systems combine an array of very complex elements from multiple manufactures. To assist in these complex architectures, ISS has built a simple tool that will source products from an array of companies for a side by side comparison and provide purchase support. INTELLIGENTSYSTEMSSOURCE.COM is a purchasing tool for Design Engineers looking for custom and off-the-shelf SBCs and system modules.

INTELLIGENTSYSTEMSSOURCE.COM

COTS Journal’s

MARCHING TO THE NUMBERS

100

40 NAUTICAL MILES

The number of AH-64E Apache helicopters the Army has accepted delivery of so far. This so called “Echo” model is a complete rebuild of the AH-64D model. It includes an improved drive system, composite main rotor blades, a more powerful 701D GE engine, is fully digitized, and has level-4 manned-unmanned teaming, which allows pilots to control UAVs such as the Gray Eagle. The Echo model has maintained 80 percent operational readiness rates, whether in combat or in peacetime operations. The Army plans to have an all-Echo model Apache fleet, for a total of 690 aircraft.

3.12 Billion

The worth that the SONAR systems and technology market will reach by 2020 according to a new market research report available from ASDReports. The report “SONAR Systems and Technology” tracks how the increasing underwater threat in major oceans across the world has led to increase in investment through technologies for the development of more efficient SONAR systems. Until recently, side scan and multibeam SONARs have been the leading technology for detailed mapping and imaging of the seabed. However, the market for Synthetic Aperture Sonars (SAS) is expected to show phenomenon growth in near future.

23 Million

Value of the contract the U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command has awarded to General Dynamics Land Systems for updates and revisions to all logistic requirements and data in support of the Buffalo A2 M1272 vehicle. The Buffalo A2 is a heavily armored truck specifically designed to protect its occupants from mines and improvised explosive devices. The Buffalo is a recognized leader in the global mine-protected route-clearance vehicle class, with approximately 238 Buffalo A2 vehicles delivered to U.S. units throughout the world. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan. 50

COTS Journal | April 2015

Range up to which the Small Diameter Bomb II can strike targets with a dynamic warhead that can destroy both soft and armored targets, while keeping collateral damage to a minimum. Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force completed three successful Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) program reviews prior to a mid-May Milestone C decision. During March and April, the SDB II team successfully completed a functional configuration audit, a production readiness review and a system verification review. A successful Milestone C brief and decision clears the way for low rate initial production in 2015 for SDB II.

Six Acres

Area of the site of the new Space Fence radar system for which the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin broke ground in February on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean – more than 2,100 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu. The event marks the official start of construction for the S-band ground-based radar system. When it comes online in 2018, Space Fence will enable the Air Force to locate and track hundreds of thousands of objects orbiting Earth with more precision than ever before to help reduce the potential for collisions with our critical space-based infrastructure.

Innovative Solutions

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At RTD, we have developed a full suite of compatible boards and systems that serve defense, aerospace, maritime, ground, industrial and research-based applications. We provide high-quality, cutting-edge, concept-to-deployment, rugged, embedded solutions. Whether you need a stack of modules, or a fully enclosed system, RTD has a solution for you. Call us to leverage our innovative product line to design your own embedded system that is reliable, flexible, expandable, and field-serviceable. Let us show you what we do best. Start here: www.rtd.com/systems

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Module and System-Level Solutions from Intel® and Freescale™ Single Board Computers

XPedite7570

4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-based 3U VPX SBC with XMC/PMC

XCalibur1840

Freescale QorIQ T4240-based 6U VPX SBC with dual XMC/PMC

Secure Ethernet Switches and IP Routers

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Secure Gigabit Ethernet router XMC utilizing Cisco™ IOS®

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3U VPX 10 Gigabit Ethernet managed switch and router

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XPedite2400

Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA-based XMC with high-throughput DAC

High-Capacity Power Supplies

XPm2220

3U VPX 300W power supply with EMI filtering for MIL-STD-704 & 1275

Rugged, SWaP-Optimized, COTS-Based Systems

XPand4200

Sub-½ ATR, 6x 3U VPX slot system with removable SSDs

XPand6200

SFF 2x 3U VPX system with removable SSD and integrated power supply

XPand6000

SFF Intel® Core™ i7 or Freescale QorIQ-based system with XMC/PMC

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Designed, manufactured, and supported in the USA