Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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24 Feb 22. Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions, a leading supplier of modular open systems approach (MOSA) based solutions designed to succeed, today introduced the CHAMP-XD3, its highest performance, security-enhanced, 3U OpenVPX digital signal processing (DSP) processing module. Based on the just-announced Intel® Xeon®D-1700 processor, the SOSA-aligned payload card represents a “quantum leap” for sensor data processing capability in size, weight, and power (SWaP) constrained applications. The CHAMP-XD3 combines a 10-core Intel Xeon D-1700 processor for DSP processing with a Xilinx MPSoC FPGA, which supports Curtiss-Wright’s Enhanced TCOTS framework, aligned with the compute-intensive payload profile as defined by the SOSA Technical Standard. This rugged, conduction-cooled module is designed to handle the largest processing tasks characteristic of multi-mode / synthetic aperture radars (SAR), modern signal intelligence (SIGINT), electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR), and EW applications. To ensure wire-speed transfers of sensor data, the card provides three channels of DDR4-2400 SDRAM memory (up to 48 Gbytes), delivering more than 50% additional memory bandwidth compared to previous generation solutions. In addition, the CHAMP-XD3 features up to 160Gbytes of memory via dual NVMe SSD devices to support demanding virtualization, high-bandwidth, and redundant non-volatile storage requirements. The dual SSD’s deliver twice the memory bandwidth of prior solutions and provide support for Intel’s Virtual RAID on CPU (VROC), which improves RAID performance by shifting control from the host bus adapter to the CPU itself. To eliminate I/O bottlenecks, the module’s backplane supports a wide-band,16-lane Gen3 PCIe expansion plane, in addition to its 40 GbE data plane and dual 10-GbE Control Plane interfaces.
“Our latest SOSA-aligned DSP engine redefines the art of the possible for sensor processing in the 3U OpenVPX form-factor, enabling developers of high-performance embedded computing (HPEC) systems to take full advantage of the performance delivered by the new Intel Xeon D-1700 processor architecture,” said Chris Wiltsey, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. “With its high-core count, exceptional floating-point performance and integrated AI acceleration, the CHAMP-XD3 builds on Curtiss-Wright’s legacy of bringing industry-leading modular open systems-based sensor processing modules to market. Combined with industry leading DSP capabilities, the CHAMP-XD3 supports our latest eTCOTS security infrastructure for critical program protection.”
This powerful DSP processor module is engineered for the most demanding compute-intensive sensor processing applications. To meet the needs of emerging cognitive electronic warfare (EW) requirements and accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) functions, the CHAMP-XD3 features Intel’s AVX-512 instructions to support extensive floating-point calculations. With AVX-512, Intel doubles the width of the floating-point engine, significantly speeding sensor, ML, and deep learning inference processing, as well as machine vision and smart video analytics applications. AVX-512 also enables Intel Deep Learning Boost, which is based on optimized vector neural network instructions (VNNI).
The CHAMP-XD3’s Xilinx® MPSoC™ FPGA features a quad-core Arm® A53 and a dual-core R5 processor, and can be used for enhanced TrustedCOTS™ (eTCOTS™) security functionality. An optional MPSoC FPGA toolkit is available for applications that require greater design versatility for adding security IP. This toolkit enables the integration of advanced security IP, such as Raytheon’s Night Cover™ product suite and Idaho Scientific’s Immunity™ cryptography cores. The MPSoC FPGA can also support co-processing and general purpose I/O requirements. The module’s Microsemi® SmartFusion2™ FPGA has a dedicated intelligent platform management controller (IPMC) core, with HOST 3.0 extensions, that supports system and health monitoring, as well providing enhanced security capability that adds additional protection of critical control logic.
Software support for the CHAMP-XD3 DSP engine includes a comprehensive BIOS and Linux board support package (BSP) for ease of integration and solution development.
The CHAMP-XD3 is available in both SOSA-aligned and enhanced IO configurations.
Complete CMOSS/SOSA System Solutions
The CHAMP-XD3 integrates seamlessly with Curtiss-Wright’s broad range of CMOSS/SOSA- aligned system building blocks, including:
- VPX3-687 VICTORY data / control plane Ethernet switch
- VPX3-663 PCIe Gen 3 / 10G Ethernet hybrid switch
- VPX3-673A A-PNT/Radial Clock card
- VPX3-1260 9th Gen Intel Xeon-E processor-powered general-purpose single board computer
- VPX3-E320 ruggedized universal software-defined radio peripheral
- VPX3-4935 NVIDIA® Quadro™ Turing™-power GPU-coprocessing engine
- 8-slot 3U OpenVPX CMOSS/SOSA-aligned enclosure
- CMOSS/SOSA Starter Kit for ground combat vehicles with VPX3-1260, VPX3-673A and VPX3-687 modules.
To download the CHAMP-XD3 product sheet, please click here. For information about availability of development boards to support your program needs, please contact us at , visit our website at www.curtisswrightds.com, or contact your local Curtiss-Wright sales representative.
24 Feb 22. SmartCow Launches Apollo Development Kit to Create Conversational and Advanced NLP Applications. Apollo’s versatility allows developers to make use of vision, conversational, and audio AI/ SmartCow, an AI engineering company specializing in video analytics and AIoT devices, today introduced its new audio-visual development kit, Apollo. Built around NVIDIA® Jetson Xavier™ NX, Apollo enables developers to create applications with conversational AI capabilities. The global Natural Language Processing (NLP) market is predicted to grow from US $20.98bn in 2021 to US $127.26 billion in 2028 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.4% in the forecast period. With 6 starter NLP examples and seamless, out-of-the-box speaker recognition, SmartCow’s Apollo meets the increasing demand for development kits that simultaneously process both audio and video data using advanced AI models.
“Traditional development kits are geared toward beginner-level developers working with general purpose use cases with AI vision widely used across applications. We recognize the breadth and depth of developers out there who want a dev kit that enables them to go deeper in their research and development, including the ability to implement conversational AI and NLP,” said Ravi Kiran, Founder and CEO of SmartCow. “Apollo is a specialized dev kit created to meet higher-level developers’ needs and give them a way to get straight to more conversational applications.”
SmartCow’s Apollo development kit features onboard visual and audio sensors, including four microphones, two speaker terminals, two 3.5mm phone jacks, an 8MP IMX179 camera module, and an OLED display. In addition, Apollo features a 128GB NVMe SSD for storage and comes pre-packaged with the NVIDIA DeepStream and RIVA Embedded SDK toolkits. The 6 NLP examples showcasing the kit’s unique capabilities include: text-independent speaker recognition systems; speech to text and sentiment analysis; language translations and speaker diarizations; and applications for abnormal sound and surveillance.
Apollo development kits support two programmable buttons: a default with one-key recovery to help the developers ease the procession of device recovery and a programmable button that provides flexibility for developers to add their own applications, offering them a more accessible means to developing. Moreover, Apollo is designed with a base frame that allows it to stand upright, making Apollo easy to work with.
“Edge computing technology has revolutionized the way people work, live and travel,” continued Kiran. “Apollo enables developers to continue to create and build the applications that transform everyday life such as digital transformation of conference rooms, airport self-service counters, facility management, and more. By including advanced NLP to our development kits, Apollo addresses these growing needs, enabling users to create conversational edge computing applications.”
Additional Resources
- Learn More About SmartCow and Apollo at GPU technology Conference (GTC) March 21 – 24
- Learn Details on Apollo at www.apollo.smartcow.ai
- Watch Apollo product review on YouTube
- Visit our website at www.smartcow.ai
- Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn
About SmartCow:
Established in 2016, SmartCow is an end-to-end AI engineering company that builds hardware and software products for AI applications used by the defense industry, in smart cities and industry 4.0. Strategic partners include NVIDIA and PNY. The company is located in Malta, India and Taiwan and is expanding to Italy, France and Singapore. For more information, visit www.smartcow.ai. (Source: PR Newswire)
24 Feb 22. Mercury’s first-to-market avionics modules provide safe, powerful, flight-ready computing. Safety-critical multicore 6U solutions accelerate data-intensive sensor processing applications while lowering risk. Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), a leader in trusted, secure mission-critical technologies for aerospace and defense, today announced the new FIOVU-2180 and CIO10-2080 6U OpenVPX™ avionics modules, the first safety-certifiable multicore modules on the market to incorporate the latest Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processors (former code name Ice Lake D). Power-efficient, rugged and reliable, the new avionics modules deliver processing performance 2–3x that of previous generations and are ideally suited for mission-critical applications such as flight computing, platform management and artificial intelligence (AI).
Why It Matters:
Unlocking the power of AI and machine learning through the combined innovation of Mercury and Intel, pilots benefit from more accurate situational awareness, while military and urban air mobility aircraft are made safer and more capable.
“Developers and system integrators require safe, reliable and scalable modules and systems with the most advanced technology to flawlessly manage, process and connect sensor data across platforms and domains,” said Jay Abendroth, vice president and general manager, Mercury Mission. “By using our first-to-market, purpose-built, safety-critical 6U modules with the newest Intel processors and Wind Rivers’ VxWorks software, they can accelerate development of data-intensive airborne applications and lower operational risk, saving time and money.”
Built with the latest commercial technology and proven BuiltSAFE™ elements
- Intel Xeon D-1700 processors for increased performance and improved signaling
- Dual Xilinx Virtex® UltraScale+™ XCVU9P FPGAs to support real-time algorithms
- Dynamically reconfigurable FPGA framework to simplify and speed FPGA programming
- PCIe 3.0 interconnects and integrated 40Gb/S Ethernet to accelerate high-bandwidth applications
- Board support packages for Wind River VxWorks™ to achieve FAA CAST-32A objectives
“Next-generation avionics applications require powerful AI and real-time capabilities,” said Avijit Sinha, chief product officer, Wind River. “Wind River Studio’s VxWorks and Helix™ Virtualization Platform enable high-speed processing and low-latency deterministic computing that is vital for high-risk scenarios that demand quick decisions. By working with Mercury, we can help customers meet evolving market needs and accelerate their time to market with flight-ready, secure and certified solutions.”
The new modules feature BuiltSAFE proven, modular, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) elements complete with hardware and software DO-254 and DO-178 artifacts to deliver smooth performance and streamline system development, integration and deployment. Mercury’s BuiltSAFE solutions have been designed, tested, certified and fielded over three decades on multiple safety-critical platforms.
24 Feb 22. Turkey, Pakistan to jointly develop fifth-generation fighter aircraft. Turkey and Pakistan have joined forces in the development and production of a new fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
“This is a Turkish-Pakistani fighter programme,” said Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) CEO, Temel Kotil, while holding a scale model of the Turkish Fighter Experimental (TF-X)/National Combat Aircraft (MMU) single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation fighter aircraft in an interview with a Pakistani TV channel on 18 February.
“This is a fifth-generation fighter aircraft in which Pakistan and Turkey are now collaborating,” Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Air Vice Marshal Rizwan Riaz, pro-rector for Research, Innovation & Commercialisation (RIC) at National University of Science and Technology (NUST), said during the same interview.
The new fifth-generation fighter aircraft will be developed to meet the operational requirements for a fifth-generation aircraft of both countries and will replace the existing Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft fleets in service with the Turkish Air Force and the PAF. (Source: Janes)
24 Feb 22. Custom Electronics, Inc. (CEI), a globally recognized manufacturer of top-quality mica paper capacitors and tailored high-voltage assemblies, releases its CMP2500 portable battery system. At the heart of the CMP2500 battery system are LiFePO4 lithium-iron phosphate cells. Each battery has a 2.5kWh capacity while the system provides up to 10 kWh capacity at 24 VDC or up to 5 kWh at 12 VDC. The batteries are housed in a rugged military-spec case that can be moved by one person, making it ideal for military and defense field and training applications including charging of drones, running simulations, targetry and silent watch. Users can set up in a field or training space without having to run a cable to a generator or back to the military installation. In addition, the quietness of the system when running is a main benefit for these types of applications.
“From start to finish, the CMP2500 battery solution is designed to provide power when and where you need it,” says Carol Brower, Vice President of Operations, Custom Electronics, Inc. “Simplicity of design, ease of use and safety are top priorities we focused on when designing all system components. The design allows for continuous, uninterrupted power.”
23 Feb 22. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is developing a digital replica of its flying CRJ testbed airframe and subsystems to take full advantage of digital engineering capabilities in the development of new product lines of mission systems. The company’s Digital Shadow testbed will enable faster and more agile development, modification and testing of new capabilities across programs. Digital Shadow will test digital representations of sensors, such as fighter radars, in a realistic virtual environment on the aircraft that simulates current and future capabilities and collects performance data.
“Our Digital Shadow testbed will enable the rapid iteration and assessment of various mission systems configurations and trades via digital models across the entire lifecycle,” said Roshan Roeder, vice president, airborne multifunction sensors, Northrop Grumman. “Extending the digital thread and developing a digital twin of our test aircraft allows us to rapidly collect valuable data of our mission systems all while reducing cost, schedule and risk.”
The company has been developing authoritative digital twins of its current and future capabilities across the enterprise to help reduce cost and accelerate development. These digital models and deep data stores enable engineers to answer questions with increased speed and agility. The Digital Shadow testbed, a virtual mission systems integration lab, provides the ability to correlate digital sensor representations with their physical design, further validating system and performance models and leveraging Northrop Grumman’s large repository of data collection.
By creating a digital version of the aircraft and the onboard mission system suites and rapidly reconfiguring and integrating sensors across the spectrum, the company can virtually fly scenarios and sensor combinations beyond the physical testbed limitations, thus increasing the breadth and scale of experimentation, and reducing timeline and flight test costs — ultimately extending mission capabilities for the warfighter. The company’s Digital Shadow testbed will enhance the ability to upgrade capabilities through software to stay ahead of evolving threats and reduce development and sustainment costs.
Northrop Grumman is integrating digital technologies to rapidly conceptualize, design, build and sustain value-driven solutions. For additional information about how Northrop Grumman is developing digital models through every step of the product lifecycle, visit Northrop Grumman.
20 Feb 22. The US Army’s top buyer wants to test limits of flexible software spending. Douglas Bush, the Army’s newly confirmed acquisition chief, wants to do more to reform how the service buys and sustains software. To improve how the Army funds software, the military branch’s new chief weapons buyer wants things to be as flexible as possible–within certain limits.
Douglas Bush, the Army’s newly confirmed acquisition chief, told reporters Feb. 17 that while he doesn’t yet have a “master plan” for accelerating how the service buys and funds software development, he wants to devise one focused on using flexible authorities.
Bush, who was a longtime congressional staffer, said he thinks the Army has the authorities it needs from Congress and that it’s “a question of using them well.” That includes other transaction authorities, which can help the Defense Department more quickly engage small businesses and tweak contract needs as they arise. But the main concern is being able to monitor their use.
“The primary issue is we have to make sure we have sufficient transparency and all the metrics Congress would expect us to have to know how those contracts are performing,” including cost trends or progress, he said. And while “broadly pleased” with how the Army is currently using OTAs, Bush said some oversight work needed to make sure they’re being used responsibly.
Additionally, the Army’s top buyer wants to explore the Defense Department’s colorless money pilot for software that’s often referred to as Budget Activity 8 or BA-08 programs. The Army currently has a program focused on defensive cyber software development enrolled, but Bush wants to do more.
“We certainly need to, to the extent we can, further explore the BA-08 flexible funding pilot to show what we can do and maybe open the aperture with Congress for more authority and that way,” said Bush, who also noted that reimagining how to budget for software would be critically important.
“For example, I don’t believe the private sector distinguishes between [research and development] and procurement of software. But we do. So does that make sense anymore? I’m not so sure.”
In response to policy questions for his nomination hearing Bush listed capitalizing on cloud and data technologies as his top software priority because it “enables the Army to separate software and IT development from the management of hosting infrastructure, offering the opportunity to do both more efficiently, while also allowing the Army to leverage data to improve decision making, automate processes, and gain insights that would have otherwise gone unknown.
Reforming software development approaches was number two.
“We also have significant gaps in the software area. The Army needs to recognize that software is growing exponentially and develop strategies, skills and expertise to properly manage software intensive programs throughout the acquisition system lifecycle with a keen eye on reducing operational and sustainment costs,” he wrote.
“In the area of software, the Army has struggled at times to keep programs on budget and on schedule, often due to unclear requirements work up front or requirements creep during software development. In all these cases, I have found that the Army can find a path to success when the problems are clearly understood and all the appropriate stakeholders, including Congress, are involved in finding solutions,” Bush told lawmakers.
Bush also previewed that he would lean on the Defense Department’s software acquisition pathway to accelerate that change.
“We have six software efforts that are in that new [software] acquisition pathway. They’re smaller efforts. We’re hoping to learn from those,” Bush told reporters.
The subject, he said, will be “an ongoing discussion with Congress in terms of how we’re using that authority and whether they’re comfortable with a different approach where some funding might have to be more flexible, to allow us to do it that way versus the more traditional approach.”
But the new chief noted that flexible funding didn’t necessarily mean looking for more money to buy software.
“There’s efforts underway to look at enterprise business systems to try to achieve savings while modernizing. So I wouldn’t say it’s an area where there might be more money. Because there’s already a lot of money,” Bush said. (Source: Defense Systems)
23 Feb 22. KAI prepares for KF-21 first-flight milestone. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is on track to conduct the first flight of its KF-21 Boramae multirole fighter aircraft, buoyed by the completed development of the platform’s new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. A spokesperson from KAI told Janes on 21 February that the company is preparing a First Flight Readiness Review (FFRR) and is ensuring the preparedness of components and line-replaceable units (LRUs) for the event. The KF-21’s first flight is scheduled for July, the spokesperson confirmed. The preparation process is supported by continuing flight trials, undertaken by the KF-21 Combined Test Team (CTT) comprising KAI, the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF), and the country’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). The KAI spokesperson said that by June the CTT will be operating six flyable KF-21 prototypes and two structural prototypes for assessments. Of the six flyable aircraft, four are single-seat and two are twin-seat platforms. (Source: Janes)
20 Feb 22. Pentagon Inches Closer to Unleashing Two New Supercomputers. A storage capabilities supplier shared fresh details on the in-the-making systems. Two new and powerful supercomputers are set to enter production service for the Defense Department early this year—and when they do, they’ll be equipped with sophisticated, artificial intelligence-optimized storage capabilities for highly intensive workloads.
“DDN is supplying storage systems to both the Air Force Research Laboratory DOD Supercomputing Resource Center and the Navy DOD Supercomputing Resource Center as part of an overall solution with Penguin Computing to help the DOD advance their physics, AI and machine learning applications,” Jeff Jordan, DataDirect Network’s vice president of federal sales, told Nextgov on Wednesday.
The Pentagon first announced that it awarded California-based Penguin Computing two contracts worth a combined $68 million in September, to provide two high-performance supercomputers to the Navy and Air Force. Fresh software and machinery provided through the effort is anticipated “significantly enhance” DOD’s ability to tackle the most demanding and computationally challenging problems in fluid dynamics, chemistry and materials science, electromagnetics and acoustics, climate and ocean modeling and simulation—among other applications—officials noted at the time.
Each of the entities involved has been relatively tight-lipped about the systems since that news surfaced, but their newest-to-be-named partner DDN shed more light on the computers’ performance capabilities via its announcements this week.
“These contracts were awarded as part of the DOD High-Performance Computing Modernization Program, or HPCMP,” Jordan explained.
Launched in the early nineties in response to Congressional direction to modernize the Pentagon’s computing capabilities, the HPCMP provides supercomputers, a national research network and computational science experts that collectively enable Defense laboratories and test centers to conduct research, development, testing and technology evaluation activities. DOD’s new systems at the Navy and AFRL DSRCs will rank among the world’s most powerful once they’re in operation. Users from across all of the department’s services and components will get to tap into the systems. At 8.5 petaflops of performance, the Navy’s machine will replace three older supercomputers in the DOD HPCMP’s ecosystem. It will be installed at a facility operated by the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The Air Force’s machine will be capable of 9 petaflops of performance. It will be deployed in a facility at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Supercomputers are generally measured in flops, or floating-point operations per second. A petaflop system is capable of computing one quadrillion calculations per second. Those added appliances for boost that DDN is supplying “are from its EXAScaler product line, which is a parallel file system product designed to supply efficient performance and cost-effective capacity for data- and compute-intensive workloads,” Jordan noted. DDN’s parallel file system solutions are essentially designed to complement systems like the one Penguin is deploying. Because of the nature of DDN’s scalable product, Jordan added, the solutions offered can be managed as a single pool of storage or set up in a multi-tenant configuration to handle multiple concurrent projects. The company recently announced further expansion of its federal division in an effort to better support the needs of all branches of the military, as well as other agencies such as NASA and the Homeland Security Department.
“These deployments, as well as others at the [Army Engineer Research and Development Center and Army Research Lab], are part of DDN’s ongoing engagement with the DOD to ensure that computing, storage, data security and data management needs are met for the modernization of their high-performance computing, physics research and AI needs,” Jordan said.
22 Feb 22. Airbus has signed a partnership agreement with CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines, to collaborate on a hydrogen demonstration programme that will take flight around the middle of this decade. The programme’s objective is to ground and flight test a direct combustion engine fueled by hydrogen, in preparation for entry-into-service of a zero-emission aircraft by 2035. The demonstration will use a A380 flying testbed equipped with liquid hydrogen tanks prepared at Airbus facilities in France and Germany. Airbus will also define the hydrogen propulsion system requirements, oversee flight testing, and provide the A380 platform to test the hydrogen combustion engine in cruise phase. CFM International (CFM) will modify the combustor, fuel system, and control system of a GE Passport turbofan to run on hydrogen. The engine, which is assembled in the US, was selected for this program because of its physical size, advanced turbo machinery, and fuel flow capability. It will be mounted along the rear fuselage of the flying testbed to allow engine emissions, including contrails, to be monitored separately from those of the engines powering the aircraft. CFM will execute an extensive ground test program ahead of the A380 flight test.
“This is the most significant step undertaken at Airbus to usher in a new era of hydrogen-powered flight since the unveiling of our ZEROe concepts back in September 2020,” said Sabine Klauke, Airbus Chief Technical Officer. “By leveraging the expertise of American and European engine manufacturers to make progress on hydrogen combustion technology, this international partnership sends a clear message that our industry is committed to making zero-emission flight a reality.”
“Hydrogen combustion capability is one of the foundational technologies we are developing and maturing as part of the CFM RISE Program,” said Gaël Méheust, president & CEO of CFM. “Bringing together the collective capabilities and experience of CFM, our parent companies, and Airbus, we really do have the dream team in place to successfully demonstrate a hydrogen propulsion system.”
CFM shares Airbus’ ambition of fulfilling the promise they made in signing the Air Transport Action Group goal in October 2021 to achieve aviation industry net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 by developing and testing the technology necessary to make zero emissions aircraft a reality within the ambitious timeline defined. Airbus has a long-standing relationship with CFM and its parent companies, GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines and, together, the partners have established a great track record of delivering high-performance products that meet the needs of airline customers.
21 Feb 22. DMTC leads piezoelectric research program. DMTC Limited and its partners have begun a series of projects in the Advanced Piezoelectric Materials and Applications (APMA) Program to accelerate the development of next-generation piezoelectric materials for defence applications.
The APMA Program delivered by DMTC represents a coordinated, collaborative, long-term vision to establish a strategic national capability in advanced piezoelectric materials and their application. Support from Defence’s Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF) and StaR Shot missions, managed by DST Group, is geared towards technology advancement in support of realising the integrated undersea surveillance system capability envisioned in the Defence Strategic Update 2020.
The reduced weight and power requirements, and enhanced electro-mechanical interactions of the emerging class of third-generation piezoelectrics examined under the APMA program could deliver order-of-magnitude capability gains in areas such as undersea surveillance and sonar systems. DMTC Limited and its partners, including Defence scientists, will work under a five-year collaboration plan.
The first phase of the APMA Program is focused on fully characterising and understanding the properties that will enable piezoelectric technology to be utilised to efficiently produce single crystals of a size required for advanced transducer devices. This will remove the current reliance on imported single crystal and ensure security of supply for both sovereign Australian and export opportunities.
The Program extends along the entire pipeline from education and training, to research and development, to providing Australian industry with a world-leading capability to design and fabricate piezoelectrics for sonars. The Program is making strategic investments in industrial and research infrastructure.
“The APMA Program creates an overarching framework through which DMTC will bring together research and funding mechanisms under one umbrella,” says DMTC’s CEO, Dr Mark Hodge. “It extends a range of transformative projects that DST Group, DMTC and its partners, including Thales Australia and ANSTO, have been working on for many years. This is another example of DMTC working collaboratively with DSTG to develop sovereign industrial capability that align with Defence priorities.”
ANSTO has been a lead researcher in the field of piezoelectrics working with Thales Australia. Universities around Australia have also been brought on board, including UNSW Sydney, the University of Sydney, the University of Wollongong, Monash University, RMIT and the Australian National University.
Australian startup business Critus Pty Ltd will work with DMTC to develop piezoelectric characterisation instruments that will provide unique and rapid insights into the structural properties and performance of piezoelectric material samples.
In line with DMTC’s track record of achieving innovation breakthroughs across traditional Defence domains, the developments in this area are also expected to translate to enhancements in sensors for aerospace platforms. (Source: http://rumourcontrol.com.au/)
22 Feb 22. UMEX 2022: Tawazun, L3Harris Technologies sign term sheets on tech centres. Tawazun and L3Harris Technologies signed term sheets on the establishment of two technology centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 22 February at the UMEX trade show in Abu Dhabi. The Intelligence Software Center (ISC) will be delivered through L3Harris Technologies’ joint venture with the UAE’s Atlas Telecom and will develop and provide software for the “ingestion, analysis, and visualisation of multi-source and sensor data from UAE customers”. The customers for the software will be able to utilise the platform to distil and synthesise intelligence from large amounts of data that may be in varying formats using artificial intelligence. (Source: Janes)
21 Feb 22. Babcock International, the aerospace, defence and security company, has opened a new state of-the-art Additive Manufacturing centre today as part of a new partnership with Plymouth Science Park (PSP).
The facility will allow Babcock to ramp up its advanced technology capabilities to address critical needs across the engineering and defence support industry and will include the development of a digital and data skills programme in collaboration with PSP. The facility will enable the company to direct print metal parts for the first time as it needs them, increasing efficiency and sustainability.
The centre was launched at an industry event and was attended by other technology collaborators including Kingsbury, Renishaw, AMFG and GOM. Local MP, Johnny Mercer was invited to view the facility and switched on the first printing machine.
He said: “Really delighted to open the new Additive Manufacturing centre and see real innovation being delivered, right here in Plymouth, as part of this new partnership between Babcock and Plymouth Science Park. The advanced technologies and research that will be carried out at the centre will go beyond Plymouth I’m sure, and undoubtedly benefit some of our most critical areas, such as defence and health.”
The partnership builds on Babcock’s strong relationship with the academic and technology community across the South West, and the local community around Babcock’s Devonport dockyard. Recent initiatives include a polymer manufacturing capability which produced personal protective equipment for the local air ambulance service during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Babcock will use PSP’s new facility to expand its capabilities in additive methods, such as direct metal laser sintering, which enables high priority parts to be produced by a 3-D printer, and as a training facility to strengthen its expertise in digital and data technologies.
Dr Jon Hall, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer for Babcock, said: “This collaboration will accelerate Babcock’s R&D and real-world application of additive technologies. It provides a step change in how we’re advancing our own expertise and our partnerships to benefit our customers and the communities we operate in.
“The challenge of obsolescence and support chain resilience is key for engineering businesses. That’s especially true for Babcock where we maintain complex and critical equipment over long lifecycles. Having a manufacturing capability that allows us to direct print what we need, when we need it, in direct collaboration with our customers, means we will be able to create parts at scale, in a more efficient and sustainable way – wherever there is a demand, in any part of our business.
“Partnerships are fundamentally important to the work we do at Babcock – because when we collaborate we can make a real difference in solving some of the biggest challenges facing us today, and we’re really excited about the benefits this partnership can bring, to Babcock, our customers and of course, our people.”
Ian McFazden, Chief Executive of PSP, said: “We are proud to work with companies and individuals who are leading the way in solving some of the world’s most urgent needs. We are delighted to be expanding our work in the advanced engineering, defence and security sectors through a new and innovative partnership with Babcock.
“Babcock will be the first company to use our new additive manufacturing facilities to strengthen their engineering and technical expertise in digital and data technologies, and through the partnership we will ensure engineers and apprentices develop new digital and data skills to enhance innovation adoption and increase productivity in the region.”
17 Feb 22. Bell urges UK to wait for ‘next-generation’ 525 for NMH.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) should wait for the Bell 525 Relentless so as to field “a next-generation rotorcraft capability” for its New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement, Joel Best, director of EUMECAA global military sales and strategy, told Janes on 16 February.
Speaking at the IQPC International Military Helicopter conference being held in London from 15–17 February, Best said that Bell absolutely intends to bid its 525 for the UK NMH requirement, and with its current certification process with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on track to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2022 (subject to all FAA submittals and approvals being returned in a ‘reasonable’ timeframe), the MoD would not need to delay for long. (Source: Janes)
17 Feb 22. Pierce Aerospace Expands into the UK with Iceni Labs. Pierce Aerospace, a US-based supplier of commercial and government Remote Identification technology, announced a new partnership with London, United Kingdom-based Iceni Labs. Iceni Labs focuses on mission-critical science and frontier technology development and commercialization. Iceni Labs advances frontier technology with early adopters in the government and commercial sectors – leading the way in introducing novel solutions to challenging problems in the U.K. and beyond.
“We met Iceni Labs at a National Security Innovation Network [NSIN] hackathon and have worked with them ever since,” said Aaron Pierce, CEO of Pierce Aerospace. “Iceni Labs has proven to be a capable and trustworthy partner as we expand Pierce Aerospace’s Remote ID capabilities and overall global footprint. Having trustworthy friends is critical, especially as we expand our capabilities to service allied government and commercial markets around the world.”
Through the Partnership, Iceni Labs and Pierce Aerospace intend to partner on U.K. government and commercial business opportunities, including research and development, systems integration, engineering & scientific support, and fielding of Pierce Aerospace technologies in the U.K.
The partnership provides the opportunity to integrate and advance UAS Remote ID innovations that Pierce Aerospace originally developed in the United States with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the state of Indiana. As strategically aligned small businesses, the two companies intend to work together on critical government technologies for the U.K. and the U.S.
Flight Portal ID, Pierce Aerospace’s UAS Remote ID technology suite, consists of Remote ID receivers, broadcast modules, software, integration capabilities, and remote administration services. Flight Portal ID offers market-leading Remote ID solutions and has an integration service record with eight DoD command and control (C2) and C-UAS systems. Commercial and government solutions are available for integration with C-UAS, UAS OEMs, and UTM providers.
“Iceni Labs is diverse in both the depth and nature of their disciplines, their resources, and swift execution of capabilities,” said Pierce. “They’re a great partner to bring our dual-use Remote ID technology into the United Kingdom, where we already have commercial relationships in place with great companies like Altitude Angel. Their diversity also means that our joint team is readily capable of serving U.S. and U.K. needs in areas of critical technology cooperation.”
“Since first meeting through the NSIN hackathon, we’ve been discussing how we can work more closely together and I’m delighted that we now have the opportunity to do so,” said Alexander Giles, Chief Commercial Officer, Iceni Labs. “Pierce Aerospace is a company after our own heart, technology led, entrepreneurial and with a passionate leadership team. We are excited to be able to work with them to offer their suite of drone identification products, including counter drone integration products in the U.K. There is a growing awareness that solutions such as this are vital to our national security.”
“The collaboration between Pierce Aerospace and Iceni Labs demonstrates the tremendous impact the NSIN ecosystem has in producing valuable results.”
said Greg Bernard, Acting Director at NSIN.
“We’re very grateful for NSIN taking a leadership role in fostering collaboration amongst startups working in the national security sector,” said Pierce. “If it weren’t for NSIN we would not have met our great partners at Iceni Labs.” (Source: UAS VISION)
17 Feb 22. IOT Chip Announcement. Orca Systems, a fabless semiconductor company today announced its first wireless system-on-chip (SoC) solution for the satellite Internet of Things (IoT), the ORC3990. The company, which focuses on cost-effective, low-power wireless solutions for IoT applications, designed and developed the fully integrated ORC3990 SoC to meet the demands of satellite IoT connectivity. Orca Systems’ new SoC solution provides enabling RF technology for Totum, an innovator in IoT connectivity, enabling direct-to-satellite, indoor operation over Totum’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network.
Founded in 2004 as a digital RF intellectual property (IP) and semiconductor design engineering services provider, Orca Systems transitioned to a fabless semiconductor business model in 2018. This pivotal transition was enabled by Orca Systems’ development, refinement and integration of an extensive set of IP technologies critical to RF and digital communications applications. Orca Systems’ technology assets in the RF, analog, digital transceiver and power management domains served as SoC building blocks and key elements of the ORC3990 design. These core competencies, combined with Orca Systems’ innovative systems architecture and semiconductor design/integration expertise, has enabled the company to support partners like Totum with highly integrated digital RF solutions offering the highest performance, lowest total system cost and lowest power consumption.
“By rapidly delivering successful first silicon to meet our project deadlines, Orca Systems enabled Totum to quickly demonstrate communication from the ground with our SoC-based endpoint to our satellite network in record time,” said Ted Myers, CEO of Totum, “The ORC3990 SoC, with its high level of integration and low power requirements, enables the lowest cost bidirectional endpoints in the industry with a 10-year battery life. This is game-changing technology for satellite IoT connectivity.”
A Totum satellite technology based terrestrial endpoint for a LEO network using the ORC3990 SoC requires a minimal bill of materials (BOM). External components are reduced to a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO), passive filters and switches, a PCB antenna and a battery. For simple, compact “tracker-on-a-chip” applications supporting global connectivity and positioning, a sub-$10 endpoint solution is possible based on the ORC3990 SoC – a cost point expected to drive high-volume demand. (Source: Satnews)
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley offer a range of Military Marine NVG friendly LED lighting that includes navigation lights and controls, flight deck landing lights and interior compartment lighting. Our lighting products are used by Navies around the world including our own Royal Navy on UK Aircraft Carriers, Canadian Frigates, Swedish Submarines, Australian Surface vessels and Submarines, on board French Naval Carriers and in Naval Gun Turrets.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-r/
The technology is extremely energy efficient and built robustly, with proven long life. The lighting is NVG friendly, dimmable and programmable to allow for operations with aircraft pilots using military night vision goggles. They offer superior design giving high reliability for the most demanding environments with high sealing and the ability to meet the most stringent EMC standards.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-y/
Oxley are proud to say that we are working in partnership with SeaKing to enable a control panel to be offered with our LED Navigation Lighting. All of Oxley navigation lights have been specifically developed for vessels over 50 metres.
Contact Marcus Goad on 07850 917 263 for more information or to arrange samples.
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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