Military Embedded Systems

President-elect Donald Trump says he is looking to disrupt government and eliminate waste and no department will go untouched, especially the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Aligning with billionaire and well-known cost-cutter Elon Musk, along with entrepreneur and erstwhile presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, he is forming the Department of Government Efficiency, what is planned to be a presidential advisory commission, to enact this promise.

61st AOC INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM & CONVENTION, NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Engineers at AMD in Santa Clara, California, looking to bring digital signal-processing performance as close the antenna as possible, announced the launch of the Versal RF series, which has high compute performance in a single-chip device with integrated direct RF-sampling data converters. The announcement was made at the AOC International Symposium in National Harbor, Maryland, this week.  

This week the 61^st Annual AOC International Symposium & Convention is being held at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Electronic warfare (EW), spectrum dominance, and signals intelligence (SIGINT) and the RF, microwave, and signal-processing technologies behind them are key components of both the conference and the exhibition. The theme of this year’s event is “Electromagnetic Spectrum Warfare – The Great Power Competition.”

For a preview of AOC event and a look at the RF and microwave trends in EW and military communications, applications, I sat down with Mike Jones, a Senior Systems Integration Engineer at Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). Following are several excerpts:

WASHINGTON. Officials at goTenna joined hands with experts from EVERYWHERE Communications to leverage commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) encryption technologies to enable global connectivity for shared situational data for the warfighter while operating in hazardous environments. goTenna is showcasing the technology this week at AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington.

WASHINGTON. Members of the Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Consortium today at the AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington announced that to date, that about $228 million in Army programs of record have specific SOSA requirements. While they say that number is growing, they are seeking more participation and feedback from program managers.

WASHINGTON.  During U.S. Army’s Vanguard demonstrations that took place in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, on Sept. 17–18, 2024, a GA-ASI Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) provided by the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) showcased new capabilities, such as the integration of an Expeditionary Cyber Chassis (ECC) for C5ISR and Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) with communications intelligence (COMINT) and mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) radios from Silvus Technologies.

WASHINGTON.  Officials at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and Wind River joined hands in an expanded strategic partnership to deliver industry-leading technologies to government customers by easing mission-oriented integration, speeding development, and enhancing functionality in systems, for the U.S. Army and other government entities, including cabinet-level departments and independent agencies. The announcement was made at the AUSA Annual Meeting in Washington this week at the Washington Convention Center.

For the U.S. military and its allies, domination of the electromagnetic spectrum will be how future battles are won. Enabling this superiority will revolve around how well these forces manage spectrum-sharing and foster innovation in RF [radio frequency], signal-processing, and testing solutions.

When I said I wanted to be a journalist and a writer, my dad, John McHale, Jr., told my mother, “Oh no, he’ll never make any money and we’ll have to support him forever.” That was more than 30 years ago, and I ended up doing OK. The best accolade I ever got wasn’t an award or a grade – it was my father asking me for my skills, requesting that I write family obituaries and eulogies. Last month I wrote his. He passed away on August 11, aged 81, surrounded by me, Mom, my brother, and our wives.

Multifunctionality at the component level is enabling multispectral, multifunction-type sensors, Jake Braegelmann, Vice President of Business Development at New Wave Design, told me in a recent McHale Report podcast. We discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are impacting designs and discussed the proper definition of AI at the edge. Braegelmann’s definition: The edge is where the sensor collects the data and AI can enable the filtering of that data in real time to get actionable intelligence to decision-makers. We also covered the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) modular open system approach (MOSA) mandate, being aligned to the Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Technical Standard, and more. Edited excerpts follow.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Chris Bishop – Chief Growth Officer, Ultra Intelligence & Communications, will keynote the CJADC2 [Combined Joint All Domain Command & Control] At The Edge Virtual Summit, being held September 12, 2024, at 11 a.m. EST. Other sessions include: Enabling Trusted Networks and Systems for CJADC2; How AI Enables CJADC2 Capabilities; and Leveraging Data Connectivity Solutions for CJADC2.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama. Officials at The Open Group Future Airborne Capability Environment, or FACE, and Sensor Open Systems Architecture, or SOSA, Consortia announced that the next FACE and SOSA Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) will be held September 16, 2024 in Huntsville, Alabama.

As space becomes the next domain for weapons and military threats, designers of radiation-hardened electronics are seeing more requirements for greater radiation-resistant components. In this conversation with Sean D’Arcy, Senior Director, Aerospace and Defense/IR HR at Infineon Technologies and Josh Broline, Senior Director of Marketing and Applications at Renesas, we discuss this challenge as well as the hottest applications for military space, the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and if open architectures may be leveraged in spacecraft designs.

One of the reasons I chose a career in aerospace and defense media is my love of space technology. Our June issue is annually one where we run much of our space content, from radiation-hardened electronics trends to satellite technology – with even more coverage of artificial intelligence (AI).

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. During his Day 1 keynote address at the MOSA Industry & Government Summit in National Harbor, Md., Dr. David Honey, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, said that modular open systems approach (MOSA) initiatives like the SOSA [Sensor Open Systems Architecture] Technical Standard creates opportunities for innovative small companies.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Dr. David Honey, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, spoke at the MOSA Industry & Government Summit in National Harbor today: While discussing the impact of open architecture initiatives like SOSA [Sensor Open Systems Architecture], he also mentioned a new initiative called Open Access Radio (OAR).

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. CoreAVI experts will showcase the company’s Safe AI and Accelerated GPU Compute solutions in booth #128 at the MOSA Industry & Government Summit & Expo this week in National Harbor, Maryland.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Defense industry and government experts discuss the challenges of certifying modular systems with open standard interfaces to meet airworthiness and security requirements on the "How can MOSA better support certification of safety- and security-critical systems?" panel at the MOSA Industry and Government Summit and Expo on June 17 at 3 pm EDT at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

How artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge is defined often depends who you are speaking with and their market. For military electronics I think the best definition comes from Jake Braegelmann, Vice President of Business Development at New Wave Design, who says the edge is where the sensor collects the data and AI can enable the filtering of that data in real-time to get actionable intelligence to decision makers. In this podcast he and I discuss that concept in depth as well as the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) modular open system approach (MOSA) mandate. Jake talks about what it means to be aligned to the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard and dives into some common misconceptions about the standard.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) experts on open architectures and modular open system approach (MOSA) strategies from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) PMA-209, Army DEVCOM C5ISR Center, PEO Aviation, and the Air Force ACC will gather on the "You Had Me at Title 10 (MOSA) – Leading Open Standards (FACE, HOST, CMOSS, SOSA) Charge Forward" panel at the MOSA Industry and Government Summit and Expo on June 17 at 1 pm EDT at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.