Op-Eds

Unmanned

Enabling live video feeds in UAVs - Blog

June 30, 2016

As the president of a technology company, I have seen my share of equipment innovations and trends, some which can be used across a wide spectrum of users. Drones ? to be more specific, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) ? fit that description perfectly. Used broadly, the term can apply to toys that can be used to annoy the family cat in a YouTube video, or it can apply to military and industrial reconnaissance and situational awareness applications that are often matters of life and death. There are some obvious reliability and durability factors that must be in place for the latter.

Comms

War on terrorism - Blog

June 29, 2016

Ray Alderman

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: Previously, we took a cursory look at the warfare capabilities of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran in a potential war with the U.S. All these enemies would wage conventional third generation warfare (3GW) conflicts for the most part. Now, let?s take a look at the war against terrorism, or GWOT (Global War On Terrorism), a term first coined by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Cyber

Choosing an OS for military IoT systems - Blog

May 31, 2016

Ishu Verma Red Hat

OPEN SOURCE WAY BLOG: The parameters for choosing an operating system (OS) for IoT deployments vary significantly from those for embedded systems of the past. These embedded systems served a specialized function, often having proprietary interfaces to other devices through custom hardware and software that included the operating system. In contrast, IoT systems are open by design, composed of standard building blocks, and connected to other devices using open interfaces. Obviously, not all IoT systems are built the same way, but the core technologies are similar.

Avionics

New technology helps multicore meet safety-critical standards - Blog

May 31, 2016

Jay Thomas LDRA Technology

CODE QUALITY Blog: With industry's drive to reduce the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of embedded systems, multicore systems are becoming the go-to for military and aerospace fields.

Comms

War with Iran - Blog

May 28, 2016

Ray Alderman VITA Technologies

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: Previously, we looked at the military capabilities of our primary conventional enemies: Russia, China, and North Korea. Now, let?s take a look at our final conventional enemy, Iran. Iran stands accused of being the state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, through their support of terrorist groups in Iraq (Taliban), Afghanistan (al Qaeda), Yemen (Houthis), Lebanon (Hezbollah), and the Palestinians (Hamas).

Cyber

Avionics standards and cybersecurity highlighted Aviation Electronics Europe - Blog

April 27, 2016

Alex Wilson Honeywell

As an Advisory Board Member for the Aviation Electronics Europe show it is always a fun time when the show finally arrives -- seeing the results of our committee's work and preparation. Pre-registration for the event was up this year and we put together an exciting program. The exhibit floor was also well represented by the avionics industry.

Comms

War with North Korea - Blog

April 27, 2016

Ray Alderman VITA Technologies

WARFARE EVOLUTION BLOG: Previously we've looked at what wars with Russia and China might look like. Now, let?s look at a war with North Korea.

Comms

War with China - Blog

March 29, 2016

Ray Alderman VITA Technologies

EVOLUTION OF WARFARE Blog. In the last installment, we looked at how we stood in a war with Russia. Now, let?s take a look at China, from publicly available information.

Avionics

Solving the safety certification challenge for multicore? - Blog

March 09, 2016

Jay Thomas

CODE QUALITY Blog: It?s no secret that multicore systems have continued to be an attractive option for the military and aerospace fields. With the drive toward reducing the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of embedded systems, the push to rely on multicore systems continues.

Comms

In a war with Russia - Blog

February 26, 2016

Ray Alderman

EVOLUTION OF WARFARE Blog. In my previous posts I've discussed the different generations of warfare and where the U.S. military falls today and how it clearly is still the most powerful military. That said Russia has been flexing its muscle in Eastern Europe the last couple years and I thought it would be good to do an analysis of their military capability and see which generation of warfare their capability falls under. We will start by looking at the basic stats.

Cyber

Real hardware, real software, real-time performance: Real-Time Linux - Blog

February 25, 2016

Russell Doty Red Hat

Interactions with the physical world can be tricky ? even dangerous! Let's say you have an Internet of Things (IoT) application controlling a chemical process - perhaps exotic chemicals for an aerospace mission. The IoT devices include sensors for temperature, pressure, flow rate, and tank levels and actuators for pumps, heaters and valves ? including a dump valve ready to vent high pressure. In this situation it's likely you would have analysis and reporting software running, be receiving sensor readings, and have control of the various pumps, heaters and valves. With IoT, computing can be pushed to the edge via gateways and controllers often running sophisticated applications.

Comms

Defining Abaco - Blog

February 18, 2016

Bernie Anger Abaco Systems

As I write this we are on our seventh week ?being Abaco.? If you haven?t heard of Abaco Systems, we?re a brand new company formed when GE spun out its rugged embedded computing business. In the mil/aero market, we were known as GE Intelligent Platforms for the past decade. Our roots go back thirty years, to companies like Radstone Technology, VMIC, SBS Technologies, and Condor Engineering. We?re also a company in transformation - a company that is channelling the energy that comes from acquiring a new identity and new ownership to raise the bar for ourselves, with a laser focus on serving customers.

From The Editor

Remembering the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion - Blog

January 29, 2016

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems

Televisions were rolled into classrooms at our high school when the news spread about the crash of the Challenger Space Shuttle. We watched the coverage all day, the launch, the explosion, and President Reagan’s speech. Seeing the pictures of Christa McAulliffe on the news casts yesterday morning that were commemorating the 30th year anniversary of her death along with 6 NASA astronauts when their spacecraft disintegrated moments after liftoff, brought it all back.

Avionics

Intel integrating Wind River subsidiary even more in 2016 - Blog

January 29, 2016

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems

Earlier this month Fortune magazine reported that Wind River's run as it's own brand under the Intel umbrella will end as the company absorbs it completely. The news is not surprising as Intel is finishing up it's acquisition of FPGA-maker Altera and doing away with that brand as Altera is becoming Intel the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).

From The Editor

Will gender neutral job titles introduce change in a culture? - Blog

January 15, 2016

Mariana Iriarte - Technology Editor, Military Embedded Systems

Navy Secretary, Ray Mabus ordered the review of Navy job titles and a report to be completed no later than April 1, 2016. This comes after two West Point alumni graduated Ranger School back in August of last year, therefore breaking standards that once were thought impossible. This particular event, I believe, allowed the opening of all combat roles to women. Now, the Navy begins its long process of assessing and more than likely changing certain job titles to be more gender neutral.