JOHN MCHALE, GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements are pervasive throughout defense electronics platforms. Electronic footprints continue to shrink so much that traditional small form factors like 3U VPX or 3U CompactPCI are considered too big. So, it's not surprising that the VITA Standards Organization (VSO) is looking at new form factors, such as Short VPX. In this podcast, Jay Grandin, Vice President of Product Development at Annapolis Micro Systems discusses demand for small form factors, how Short VPX can meet that demand and how it fits into the Open VPX ecosystem. Grandin also explores what military applications would be best suited for the new standard and how it could potentially work within the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard, of which version 1.0 is expected to be completed this year.

JOHN MCHALE, GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Officials from Ametek announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Abaco Systems, Inc., a provider of mission-critical embedded computing systems for electronic warfare, radar, avionics, communications, and other military applications from Veritas Capital in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.35 billion.

JOHN REIS, ADVANTECH

The U.S. military is constantly in search of technology that will lead to improving military capabilities while minimizing the risk to the warfighter. The COM-HPC standard promises to increase the functionality of edge computing and usher in new applications that will forever change the way military operations are conducted. There exist multiple opportunities as well as some challenges related to the adoption of COM-HPC for military use.

EMMA HELFRICH, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Pentek, Inc., announced a development platform, the Model 8256, that is aligned to the SOSA Technical Standard. According to the company, the Model 8256 is a 3U VPX platform with IPMI and connectivity for RF and optical interfaces.

PAUL MEYER, RAYTHEON INTELLIGENCE & SPACE

In a recent congressional testimony, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks stated that as the United States faces growing security challenges, acquisitions of new technology should “increase warfighting effectiveness, enhance resilience, leverage commercial technology and innovation, and rapidly respond to future threats.” Hicks also called on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to seek “interorganizational collaboration” to address such challenges, while expressing concern regarding the barriers to entry for technology companies that want to do business with DoD. The reality is that Silicon Valley isn’t the only gateway to innovation within the DoD.

JERRY GIPPER, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

VITA, the trade association for standard computing architectures serving critical embedded systems industries, announced that Dean Holman has accepted a position as VITA VP and Assistant Executive Director, effective March 1, 2021.

JOHN MCHALE, GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

One of the keys to the success of the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) is that it was developed by aligning with current open standards and open systems architectures, including FACE, HOST, REDHAWK, MORA, OpenVPX, and similar specifications. The SOSA Consortium also works closely with such standards organizations as VITA, FACE, PICMG, IEEE, SAE International, Wireless Innovation Forum, and others. This webcast, titled "How SOSA Aligns with Current Open Standards," held Tuesday, May 11, covers how the SOSA Technical Standard has adapted to and aligned with open architecture standards and how it has impacted the design of SOSA-conformant hardware and software.

JUSTIN MOLL, PIXUS TECHNOLOGIES

Despite the fact that OpenVPX is an open standard architecture, there is a significant amount of variation of system platforms. The application needs for OpenVPX systems continue to evolve rapidly. New challenges brought by the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium’s efforts; new complementary VITA [VMEbus International Trade Association] standards; size, weight, and power (SWaP) concerns; the expanding number of backplane profiles; and SpaceVPX implementations are requiring a versatile approach by the backplane/enclosure developers.

CURTISS-WRIGHT

Cooperative Electronic Support Measure Operations (CESMO) data gives NATO coalition forces this visibility. When the CESMO protocol is used on its own, all coalition forces on the CESMO network know exactly what types of threats they’re facing and where they are.