New mission profiles in space mean that suppliers of radiation-hardened (rad-hard) and radiation-tolerant electronics are able to meet less stringent requirements. The end result: Lower cost and faster time to market for parts used in space applications.

Space missions requiring higher levels of autonomy and greater precision in navigation are becoming increasingly prevalent, and vision-based sensing systems are acting as a technology enabler for these application types. 

Embedded software in military, defense and aerospace programs is on an exponential complexity curve. Yet fail-safe reliability durability and security have always been paramount for the military and aerospace sectors, which excel at building systems including significant hardware and software components. 

CubeSats - miniature satellites no larger than a briefcase - are becoming increasingly popular all over the world. Economies of scale in components, subsystems, launch equipment, and logistics have already and will continue to enable many cost-effective new satellite launch ventures and projects.

Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) operating in the National Airspace System (NAS) continue to proliferate. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is issuing regulatory changes that will affect policy regarding safety certification of unmanned aircraft - military and commercial - that travel in the NAS. 

Commercial digital convergence has created converged media, information systems, smartphones and autonomous vehicles. Digital convergence now has a proven roadmap behind it and is enabling new technology breakthroughs in processing domains everywhere.

The recent introduction of Intel's first Xeon System-on-a-Chip (SoC) device, the Xeon-D (codenamed "Broadwell DE"), dramatically changes the range of options for designers of high-performance small-form-factor (SFF) mission computers.