Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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08 Nov 09. EADS, the aerospace group that owns Airbus and Eurocopter, looks set to freeze its research and technology budget in 2010.
Jean Botti, the chief technology officer, who is currently negotiating his budget, said EADS was “not immune” to the economic crisis, adding that maintaining his €900m (£804m) budget “would be great”. Airbus was the second-biggest investor in R&D in the UK aerospace and defence sector in 2007. (Source: Google)
12 Nov 09. A new personal wireless communications system for the next generation of British troops is being developed at Queen’s University Belfast Centre for Secure Information Technology (CSIT). The helmet-mounted communication system allows individual troops to communicate real-time information including pictures, videos and texts to each other in the battlefield. The design of the system will form the basis of a body area network (BAN), which transmits real-time data and battle tactics between soldiers over a distance of 40m. The CSIT-developed personal wireless communication system is based on the 60GHz radio frequency waveband that provides enough signal bandwidth for soldiers to communicate in real time. Belfast CSIT post-doctoral research member Simon Cotton said they were testing an intelligent antennae that focus beams of energy and provides information to a visor system. The wireless communication technology is being developed by CSIT while the partner developers are working on the chipsets for the helmet visors and other parts of the overall system. The system will overcome previous issues seen with constantly mobile soldiers working in terrains that can interfere with the relay of messages. It could be another ten years, however, until the system prototype enters the battlefield as part of the British Army’s future integrated soldier technology (Fist) programme. (Source: army-technology.com)
06 Nov 09. Lightning strike tests of a helicopter at Eurocopter’s Donauwörth facility have verified the accuracy of finite element analysis techniques for characterising the electromagnetic behaviour of complete and custom-cabled modern aircraft structures constructed using advanced composite materials. The exercise was performed using the Opera electromagnetic design software from Cobham Technical Services, as a final element of the company’s work for the ILDAS (In-flight Lightning Strike Damage Assessment System) project. Simulation of the ILDAS tests highlighted how finite element techniques can easily generate accurate models of complex assembled airframes, and simulate the effects of lightning strikes rapidly – in around a day on a standard office PC – to help developers evaluate and optimise lightning protection measures during the design cycle. Com