Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
———————————————————————–29 25 Apr 13. The DOD’s satellite control networks are fragmented, says GAO report. Air Force agrees it should use more commercial practices to improve efficiency of satellite control operations. The Department of Defense’s satellite control networks are fragmented and potentially duplicative, according to a report from the General Accountability Office (GAO). “Over the past decade, DOD has increasingly deployed standalone satellite control operations networks, which are designed to operate a single satellite system, as opposed to shared systems that can operate multiple kinds of satellites,” states the GAO in an April report entitled, Satellite Control: Long Term Planning and Adoption of Commercial Practices Could Improve DOD’s Operations. For example, the GAO report points out that one Air Force base has 10 satellite programs operated by 8 separate control centers. “According to Air Force officials, DOD continues to acquire standalone networks and has not worked to move its current standalone operations towards a shared satellite control network, which could better leverage DOD investments,” states the GAO report. The Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN), DOD’s primary shared satellite control network, is undergoing modernization efforts, but these will not increase the network’s capabilities. The agency notes that the Air Force budgeted about $400m over the next 5 years to modernize the AFSCN. “However, these efforts primarily focus on sustaining the network at its current level of capability and do not apply a decade of research recommending more significant improvements to the AFSCN that would increase its capabilities,” said the GAO. (Source: Defense Systems)
03 May 13. U.S. Customs Determines Country-of-Origin of Generation II Military Engergizer Flashlights for Purposes of U.S. Government Procurement. (78 Fed. Reg. 26058) – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a final determination that China is the country of origin of the Generation II military Energizer flashlight with light-emitting diodes for purposes of U.S. Government procurement. Any party-at-interest, as defined in 19 C.F.R. § 177.22(d), may seek judicial review of this final determination by June 3, 2013. (Source: glstrade.com)
29 Apr 13. Pleora Technologies, a globally trusted development partner for standards-based camera interfaces, is pleased to announce that its iPORT™ embedded camera interfaces have been chosen by PHOTONIS to extend its NOCTURN family of digital low-light CMOS cameras to provide GigE Vision® and USB3 Vision™ connectivity. Pleora is now providing iPORT NTx-U3 embedded camera interfaces to manufacturers of industrial cameras and other imaging devices, allowing these companies to rapidly create products which are compliant with the newly-released USB3 Vision standard. End users of these imaging devices will benefit from rapid software application development, as the Pleora eBUS™ SDK version 4.0 has been designed to incorporate USB3 Vision and GigE Vision functionality into a single API.
02 May 13. X-51A Waverider Achieves Hypersonic Goal On Final Flight. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Boeing X-51A Waverider demonstrator successfully achieved sustained, scramjet-powered, air-breathing hypersonic flight above Mach 5 in its final test flight on May 1. The X-51A is intended to prove the viability of a free-flying, scramjet-powered vehicle and is considered an essential building block toward the long-anticipated development of hypersonic weapons and other high-speed platforms. (Source: glstrade.com/AvWeek)
30 Apr 13. Goodbye Itronix. General Dynamics pulls the plug on line of ultrarugged computers. The Itronix product line, at one time one of the area’s chief tech products, is finished. General Dynamics, which acquired Itr