Raytheon Completes Design Review for CVN 78's Dual Band Radar
Raytheon and the U.S. Navy recently completed a critical design review (CDR) for the Dual Band Radar (DBR), which will be installed on the Navy's next-generation aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) (Figure 1). The DBR, produced by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), is the Navy's most advanced multifunction radar; it will provide superior surveillance capabilities supporting air operations and ship self defense. Leveraging advanced technologies to meet the carrier mission requirements in both deep water and littoral environments, DBR will be the U.S. Navy's most capable radar and a critical asset for the fleet.
Figure 1
The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers (or Ford-class) will be the next generation supercarrier for the United States Navy. Shown here is an artist’s depiction of the CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford.
The review demonstrated that the radar, currently in production for the Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG 1000), meets the critical operational requirements of the Ford-class aircraft carrier. As a result of DBR's modular, open architecture design, only minor modifications need to be made to accommodate specific platform differences between DDG 1000 and CVN 78. The DBR's open architecture design provides the flexibility to adapt the radar to different naval surface combatant platforms, combat systems and missions. The Dual Band Radar combines the benefits of S-band and X-band radar capabilities to provide superior performance in a broad range of environments against a variety of threats; its innovative design greatly reduces manning.
Raytheon
Waltham, MA.
(781) 522-3000.
[www.raytheon.com].
Micro Power Awarded Two Patents for Battery Pack Tech
The U.S. Patent Office has awarded Micro Power Electronics two new patents covering innovative design techniques and manufacturing practices for battery packs. These patents improve the safety and reliability of the portable battery packs produced by Micro Power for mission-critical operations. One of the newly issued patents is for Micro Power's redundant battery protection system and method covering an enhanced protection system. The enhanced protection system includes both a primary protection circuit and a redundant protection circuit. The components of the redundant protection circuit are electrically coupled in parallel with the primary protection circuit. If the primary protection circuit fails, the redundant protection circuit will still operate to allow the enhanced battery pack to function.
The additional newly issued patent is for Micro Power's electrical insulation system and method for power storage component separation, which includes an electrical insulation method for electrical separation of power storage components. This patent describes the use of polyurethane elastomer material to electrically separate various components of electrical power storage components within battery packs.
Micro Power Electronics
Beaverton, OR.
(503) 693-7600.
[www.micro-power.com].
ITT Secures $9.7M Contract to Make Netted Iridium Tactical Radios
ITT has received a contract from the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division to supply 1,450 Iridium-based handheld tactical satellite communication devices for use by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under the firm, fixed-price contract, valued at $9.7 million, ITT will manufacture and deliver the Distributed Tactical Communications Systems - Radio Only (DTCS-RO) transceivers (Figure 2) by March 2010. The DTCS-RO handheld push-to-talk radios use the Iridium satellite network to provide over-the-horizon, beyond-line-of-sight tactical networks for warfighters on the move.
Figure 2.
The DTCS-RO handheld push-to-talk radios use the Iridium satellite network to provide over-the-horizon, beyond-line-of-sight tactical networks for warfighters on the move.
In June, NSWC awarded Iridium a five-year development contract valued at up to $21.7 million for Phase Two of the DTCS program, also known as "Netted Iridium." Under Phase Two, Iridium is making in-orbit upgrades to the satellites and ground infrastructure to expand the footprint of DTCS nets from 100 to 250 miles, and to permit more than 2,000 nets to be activated simultaneously on the satellite network. The upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of this month.
ITT
White Plains, NY.
(914) 641 2000.
[www.itt.com].
DRS Technologies Nabs Contract to Upgrade Comms for AEGIS Ships
DRS Technologies has received a $14 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) award from the U.S. Navy to provide a modernized integrated voice communications system (IVCS) for Aegis cruisers and destroyers. Figure 3 shows the USS Lake Champlain, a Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided missile cruiser. This contract award includes options that, if exercised, could continue the work until 2014 and bring the cumulative value of the contract to a total value of $59 million. Work will be performed at DRS facilities in Kanata, Canada, Gaithersburg, MD, Chesapeake, VA, Johnstown, PA and is expected to be completed by late 2010.
Figure 3
AEGIS Cruisers like the USS Lake Champlain will receive upgrades as part of the AEGIS Modernization (AMOD) Secure Voice System (SVS) ON-568 program.
This contract award was the result of a competitive process in which DRS Technologies was selected as the "Best Value" for the U.S. Navy. According to DRS, this award further strengthens DRS' position as a leading supplier to the U.S. Navy. DRS is a supplier of tactical and administrative intercommunications systems. The Cruiser and Destroyer AEGIS Modernization (AMOD) Secure Voice System (SVS) ON-568 is a mission-critical, tactical communications system supporting command and control operations on the ship.
DRS Technologies
Parsippany, NJ.
(973)898-1500.
[www.drs.com].
Mil Market Watch
Emerging Standards and Groups Will Impact A&D Software
A number of groups are emerging, or have emerged that will influence the future of software for aerospace. Most of these organizations have been sponsored by the Department of Defense, and some have extensive opportunities for industry involvement. The following is only a partial list of the Lone Star/EMF derived data, containing some of the more notable efforts within current working groups:
?UAI - Universal Aircraft Interface. On first blush, this seems to be nothing more than an effort to update the MIL-STD-1760 specification. In fact it is much more. The services (in particular, the USAF and USN) have become very frustrated with the time and expense to integrate new stores and weapons with combat aircraft. The UAI will be the first "plug and play" architecture adopted across all combat weapon types. This is a major sea change in the management of Operational Flight Programs (OFPs), which are a significant business for the prime that manages the aircraft configuration. Industry participation has been aggressive, and this has become a quasi-standards body.
?Network Centric Weapon: Another quasi-standards body, aimed at defining the architecture and data set for data linked weapons. This has implications that reach far into the network. This is much more than just a data link standard.
?System of Systems Modeling: Example - The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has interrelationships with 8 classes of other systems, which average about 4-5 programs per class. The health of each program is assessed three ways (schedule, performance cost), and the interfaces are also assessed independent of the program assessment. Some capabilities only exist at the family of systems level. The goal is to take a group of family programs of records and create systems engineering at the major functions across several programs. This could be a major opportunity for UML and other model-driven approaches.
?JCIDS Process: The new process to manage military operational capabilities and requirements calls for extensive systems modeling. This is another area where we expect UML-driven models and standards to emerge. Significant funding is in place to expand these capabilities.
?FIPS 140-2: The standard for networked security. With IPv6 chosen as the standard protocol for all DoD systems, there is now a significant opportunity for standardizing software solutions in networked warfare in the IDE.
In order to seize the opportunities inherent to these efforts, any firm wishing to participate needs to carefully assess these (and other activities) developing key messages, questions and value propositions. In some cases, the road to competitive advantage will require some time, and hence must be viewed as a strategic move. In other cases, the time to generate sales may be driven more by product development than the sales cycle. In either case, careful homework is required before first engaging with the government and before committing to a course of action.
This information is relatively new to the embedded RTOS and software tools industry that in the past was content to get the occasional subcontract from a prime. Vendors need to be better connected and proactive in order to get a slice of the emerging large piece of the action. And this activity has to be initiated before the RFP is let.
Embedded Market Forecasters
Framingham, MA.
(508) 881-1850.
[www.embeddedforecast.com].
Teledyne Controls to Supply Flight Data Acq Gear for Navy E-6B Aircraft
Teledyne Controls has been awarded a contract of approximately $5 million by subcontractor L3 Communications to supply the flight data acquisition system, ground-based flight data monitoring tools, and flight training simulator crew debriefing station for the U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft. As part of the contract awarded to Boeing by the U.S. Navy to upgrade their fleet of 16 E-6B aircraft (Figure 4), Teledyne Controls will provide its latest generation Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU), along with a suite of ground-based applications including AirFASE for flight data monitoring and analysis, Vision for 3D flight visualization and event investigation, and ReVision for digital flight crew briefing and debriefing. Delivery of the systems is expected to start in mid 2010.
Figure 4
The U.S. Navy E-6B is a modified Boeing 707 that provides survivable, endurable, reliable airborne command, control and communications in support of the President, Secretary of Defense and USSTRATCOM.
The U.S. Navy will use Teledyne Controls' COTS systems to monitor the E-6B aircraft for a wide range of health issues, including airframe structural life expended, engine performance, avionics system fault reporting and flight operations quality assurance (FOQA). The data acquisition solution offered for the E-6B aircraft is an enhanced configuration of Teledyne's standard commercial Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU).
Teledyne Controls
El Segundo, CA.
(310) 765-3600.
[www.teledynecontrols.com].
Event Calendar
January 26
Real-Time & EmbeddedComputing Conference
Santa Clara, CA
www.rtecc.com
February 2
AFCEA West 2010
San Diego, CA
www.afcea.org
February 9
Real-Time & EmbeddedComputing Conference
Huntsville, AL.
www.rtecc.com
February 11
Real-Time & EmbeddedComputing Conference
Robins AFB, GA
www.rtecc.com
February 24-26
AUSA Winter
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
www.ausa.org
March 9
Real-Time & EmbeddedComputing Conference
Chicago, IL
www.rtecc.com
March 11
Real-Time & EmbeddedComputing Conference
Minneapolis, MN
www.rtecc.com
To list your event, email:
sallyb@rtcgroup.com
