COTS Journal May 2020

May 2020, Volume 22 – Number 5 • cotsjournalonline.com

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

JOURNAL

Linking Definitional Models (SysML) to Executable Architectures

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf.

Terminology popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by SECDEF Wm. Perry’s “Perry Memo” that changed military industry purchasing and design guidelines, making Mil-Specs acceptable only by waiver. COTS is generally defined for technology, goods and services as: a) using commercial business practices and specifications, b) not developed under government funding, c) offered for sale to the general market, d) still must meet the program ORD. 2. Commercial business practices include the accepted practice of customer-paid minor modification to standard COTS products to meet the customer’s unique requirements.

JOURNAL

—Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for he U.S. Military, COTS is a procurement philosophy and does not imply commercial, office environment or any other durability grade. E.g., rad-hard components designed and offered for sale to the general market are COTS if they were developed by the company and not under government funding.

SPECIAL FEATURES 18

By Josh Reicher, Senior Engineer, Special Projects Lead AGI

COT’S PICKS 24

DEPARTMENTS

Linking Definitional Models (SysML) to Executable Architectures

Editor’s Choice for May

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Publisher’s Note How to fight a virus: Lessons from cybersecurity

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The Inside Track

Cover Image Col. David Smith, 158th Fighter Wing commander, speaks to Airmen and their families during a family day event celebrating the arrival of the F-35 Lightning II at South Burlington Air National Guard Base, Vt., Oct. 20, 2019. The 158th FW is the first Air National Guard unit to receive the Air Force’s most recent fifth-generation aircraft.

(U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Ryan Campbe

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The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

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ART AND PRODUCTION

COTS Journal | May 2020

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Yotam Gutman, Lt. Commander (Ret.) Israel Navy

How to fight a virus: Lessons from cybersecurity

There has been a great deal of conversation around the similarities between the spread of the Covid-19 virus and that of computer viruses. And indeed, as the first global pandemic to occur during the age of connectivity, this comparison is valid.

But while most focus on how we can leverage the knowledge gained in the “real world” in identifying and stopping the spread of plagues in the virtual world, I would like to offer another perspective.

Perhaps we in cybersecurity can return the favor. Perhaps the medical world can take the lessons learned in three decades of fighting “cyber viruses” and implement these in their fight to mitigate the Coronavirus?

History Originally, the type of computer software described as “a program that can infect other programs by modifying them to include a, possibly evolved, version of itself ” was named “Virus” by Fred Cohen in his 1986 Ph.D. thesis. Another biological reference made its way into the computer lingo when the first worm was unleashed (although the phrase was used in an earlier sci-fi novel).

In the last couple of years, computer viruses, or more widely the panoply of malware as we think of cybersecurity today, have undergone rapid evolution that has made them much more difficult to identify and mitigate: • More variants: 439,000 new malware variants were detected in 2019. That’s a 12.3% increase over the previous year.

• More capable: Modern malware threats are far more capable than the old viruses spreading through illegal copies of software distributed via floppy-disks. Today’s malware can steal passwords, exfiltrate sensitive data, encrypt and delete data, and much more.

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• Harder to detect: Malware authors work hard to make their software difficult to detect. This includes hiding it in legitimate documents (aka “weaponizing” Word, PDF and Excel documents), utilizing detection-evasion mechanisms (like avoiding execution in sandboxed environments), and using legitimate software update mechanisms, all to make the work of the defenders harder.

• More aggressive: Some malware types are extremely aggressive; they scan for open RDP ports, brute-force their way onto a device, and then move laterally within the organization’s network, abusing password-protected servers and seeking sensitive data, all without the knowledge of the victim.

• Fast: contemporary malware is extremely fast and works at machine-speed to bypass protection mechanisms and achieve its goals—ransomware like “Wannacry” disabled entire organizations in minutes.

Adopting Cybersecurity Response To Fight Covid-19 To mitigate today’s plethora of rapidly evolving cyber threats, the cybersecurity industry has developed several methodologies. These (after adaptation) could be used to reduce the spread of malicious software and to mitigate its effects. I will refrain from discussing the obvious virus/Antivirus analogy. Obviously, a vaccine for a computer “virus” would be the answer, but estimates suggest that such a vaccine would not be available in the next 12-18 months, and there’s a lot we can do until then: • Zero trust policy- A methodology that defies the traditional security assumption that everything inside the perimeter (protected by the firewall) is trusted. The main principle of Zero Trus is “never trust, always verify”. This means that every user is asked to verify their credentials every time they wish to “enter” the organization and that every file and process are being constantly monitored – even if they have been “authorized” to run on the computer.

In a similar manner, humans should consider that other humans are carriers, and only “trust” them after they have been tested negative (or at the minimum, have had their temperature taken).

• Detection beats prevention: following a similar line of thought, most organizations today operate under the “Assume a Breach” paradigm. Instead of striving to identify and mitigate 100% of threats 100% of the time, they assume that some threats would be able to infect them and concentrate their efforts on quickly finding these and stopping them before they could do more harm.

Similarly, it is prudent to assume that humanity would not be able to vanquish this virus, and we will be playing “whack-a-mole” with it for the foreseeable time. Given that this is the case, it’s prudent to invest in rapid detection of the infection (quick detection kits, even home detection kits), ensure those that are sick are given quick treatment, and continue to monitor the entire population for outbreaks.

• Segmentation; an important principle that limits the “movement” within the organization, so that intruders cannot move freely and infect other parts of the organization.

The real-life manifestation would be to identify infection “hot-spots”, lock these down and then tend to these infected rather than to lock-down entire countries.

• Risk modeling: it might be possible, perhaps, to provide 100% security, 100% of the time, but the cost to the organization would be detrimental; either the security costs would be through the roof, or the security restrictions imposed to maintain 100% security would cause the business to stand still. Instead, a CISO conducts risk assessments and prioritizes security spending to mitigate the most acute threats and secure the most valuable assets.

Healthcare officials should do the same and ensure that the most sensitive segments of the population (elderly, sick) are being shielded from the disease and if need be, are provided with better care.

• Intelligence intake: fighting a stealthy enemy is hard because you don’t know what to expect. Security professionals, governments, and those in the security industry have been formally and informally sharing information about malware, cybercrime groups, and data leaks for a long time.

This has proved to be immensely helpful in fighting and defeating cybercrime rings.

Such collaboration should also be adopted by global scientific, medical communities, governments, and healthcare organizations. As this threat is new to humanity, we should all share information about detection and treatment mechanisms, and notify others when we think we’ve made breakthroughs in finding a cure or a vaccine.

Conclusion We can debate the similarities between biological and computer “Virus” (which, some believe, more resembles a Bacteria than a virus), but the analogy is, for the most part, correct. Viruses are dangerous to the victims, and they spread quickly through the population until a cure, or a vaccine is found. The spread of the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our lives is nothing like the world has seen before. It spread almost at machine speed and overwhelmed countries and healthcare organizations. We believe that utilizing the lessons learned by the cybersecurity industry in the past 3 decades could help to thwart the Coronavirus pandemic.

...Viruses are dangerous to the victims, and they spread quickly through the population until a cure, or a vaccine is found....

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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base The Air Force Research Laboratory has set up the Air Force’s first high-energy laser weapon system overseas for a 12-month field assessment. The Air Force Strategic Development Planning & Experimentation (SDPE) Office located here is leading the project.

“The receiving combatant command will utilize this system as an operational asset against small unmanned aircraft systems for the duration of the field assessment,” said Dr. Michael Jirjis, the SDPE Base Defense Experimentation director.

During the 12-month field assessment, the Air Force will be evaluating five systems.

Field assessments began in January 2018 when the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Stephen Wilson, asked the Air Force to experiment with directed energy systems as an effort to transition game-changing capability to the warfighter.

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The Air Force will be evaluating the Raytheon High Energy Laser (HELWS), Raytheon High Power Microwave (PHASER), and the AFRL Tactical High Power Operational Responder (THOR) drone killer.

AFRL is especially excited about the THOR field assessment since it was developed in house.

“THOR is a directed energy game-changer,” said Dr. Kelly Hammett, AFRL’s Directed Energy director. “Drones are becoming more and more pervasive and can be used as weapons intended to cause harm to our military bases at long standoff ranges. We built the THOR weapon system as a deterrent against these type threats. THOR with its counter electronic technology can take down swarms of drones in rapid-fire. This capability will be an amazing asset to our warfighters and the nation’s defense.”

Leading up to the current field assessment, the Air Force SDPE Office successfully led operational experimentation events of laser and high power microwave testing events in the fall of 2018 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and the fall of 2019 at the Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment (MFIX) event held at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.

“The overseas field assessments are allowing us to understand directed energy as a capability against drones. This gives us a better picture of the military utility, reliability and sustainability, training requirements, and implementation with existing base defense,” Jirjis said.

According to Jirjis, the next 12 months will allow the Air Force Research Laboratory to shape how the Air Force wants to move forward with both high energy lasers and high power microwaves against small drones.

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Lynx and CoreAVI deliver GPU for F-35 Lightning II Panoramic Cockpit Display COTS releases Lynx and CoreAVI deliver secure virtualized GPU for F-35 Lightning II Panoramic Cockpit Display

Lynx Software Technologies and Core Avionics & Industrial Inc. (CoreAVI announced that they are providing key technologies to support the development of the next generation Panoramic Cockpit Display Electronic Unit (PCD-EU) for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. This development is a key element of the “Technology Refresh 3” (TR3) modernization program being led by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).

Lynx and CoreAVI are supplying Lockheed Martin with an integrated solution that includes the LYNX MOSA.icTM framework and CoreAVI’s safety-critical ArgusCore™ SC OpenGL® SC graphic drivers, HyperCore™ GPU virtualization manager, and EGL_EXT_Compositor FACE-aligned multi-windowing API.

The PCD-EU is the processing unit for the panoramic head-down display in the cockpit.

It features a special temperature screened version of a discrete AMD GPU that is available from CoreAVI. The system deploys multiple independent applications in secure partitions running on multiple separate displays using ArgusCore SC graphics drivers. LYNX MOSA.ic securely partitions the AMD device and HyperCore manages the use of the GPU across partitions, so that one GPU, with the use of the EGL_EXT_Compositor, can support multiple displays with mixed Design Assurance Level (DAL) requirements. The whole system will be certified to Airworthiness.

Will Keegan, CTO of Lynx Software Technologies, said, “LYNX MOSA.ic gives developers the ability to integrate complex software components, with precise control over how these components are deployed on multicore hardware. Lynx has collaborated with CoreAVI to run the HyperCore GPU virtualization manager in a separate partition on LYNX MOSA.ic, rather than as a driver running in a hypervisor so that safety-critical graphics

applications can benefit from the same elegant approach. By providing a simpler foundation for hosting safety-critical graphics applications, Lynx and CoreAVI are together lowering the cost, effort, and risk of multicore certification.”

Commenting, Dan Joncas, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at CoreAVI, added, “This project is the result of two companies, each with domain leadership working together and playing to their strengths. Lynx supplied the expertise and technology related to securely partitioning safety-critical and non-safety critical applications hosted on the same processor. CoreAVI technology manages the graphics display and sharing of GPU resources across the multiple guest operating systems running in secure partitions in a mixed-criticality environment. CoreAVI and Lynx have provided the program with value by delivering a complete safety certifiable stack based on open architecture and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology.”

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Sabrewing Aircraft Company to RollOut the Rhaegal during US Air Force’s Agility Prime Program

Sabrewing Aircraft Company, Inc., maker of the world’s first heavy-lift, long-range, unmanned cargo aircraft, will hold an on-line, public roll-out of its full-sized flying aircraft, the Rhaegal-A as part of the US Air Force’s “Agility Prime”.

Sabrewing is the first company to win a contract under the Air Force’s Agility Prime program under an AFWERX Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II contract.

Sabrewing’s production aircraft - the “Rhaegal-B” - is an eVTOL (electric vertical and takeoff and landing) aircraft, capable of carrying a Unit Load Devices (ULD) - the same type of cargo containers used by airlines and air cargo carriers. The Rhaegal can either carry two LD-1 containers, or four LD-2 containers, or two LD-3 containers. The eVTOL can take off and land like a helicopter as well as take-off and land like a conventional aircraft.

The “Rhaegal-B has a capacity of 5,400 pounds (2,450 kg) of payload to and from locations without any runway, bringing tons of cargo to the remotest parts of the world. It has a range of 1000 nautical miles at altitudes of 22,000 feet (6,700 meters) at speeds of up to 200

ing designed and built a VTOL cargo UAV that was not only the top of its class for drones, but it topped the class of manned aircraft as well.

“Our cargo UAV can take off and land like a helicopter with a heavy payload, as well as fly farther, faster and higher at a fraction of the cost of any other aircraft in its class,” he added.

knots (370 kph). Also, the Rhaegal can fly like a conventional aircraft, taking off from one airport and landing at another with a payload of over 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg). The aircraft uses electric motors to turn fans within ducts that provide lift during takeoff and landing but uses the main wing to provide lift during cruise flight.

– including casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) demonstrations with simulated casualties.

The Agility Prime evaluation of Sabrewing’s aircraft includes the aircraft’s Detect And Avoid system (DAA), as well as testing to determine if the aircraft can operate in an environment where accurate GPS signals are jammed or unavailable. Also, the evaluation included simulating payloads, locations, and evaluations of the performance of the aircraft

Saberwing’s Rhaegal-B

The contract, valued at $3.25 million, will test Sabrewing’s prototype aircraft and equipment in a variety of different ways.

“We are going to accelerate this market for domestic use in a way that also helps our military,” stated Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force For Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. “The Air Force is all in,” Roper stressed. Roper went on to say that the size of any future Air Force vehicle purchases would depend on the missions that eVTOL vehicles prove capable of carrying out. “If it’s helping us to do logistics at the edge, we could end up buying these in higher quantities,” Roper said.

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“After several years of market research and speaking with dozens of cargo carriers, we gain an understanding/knowledge of what was needed in a cargo aircraft,” said Ed De Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing Aircraft Company. Sabrew-

According to Air Force Col. Nathan Diller, Integrated Product Team Lead for the Agility Prime program, the contract with Sabrewing for demonstrations and development of aspects of the Rhaegal aircraft is following the principles of the Agility Prime program. “The initiative intends to help develop the industrial base through market stimulation to accelerate commercial and military fielding. This creates the additional capability for our operators while saving the taxpayer money,” he added.

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Los Angeles Air Force Base

The Space and Missile Systems Center’s next Space Based Infrared System satellite (SBIRS GEO-5) reached a major milestone on its road to launch when Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing began on April 16 at Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Sunnyvale, California.

SBIRS uses infrared surveillance to provide missile warning for national defense.

The system consists of a constellation of satellites in both Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) and Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO).

The newest SBIRS satellites, GEO-5 and GEO6, are based upon Lockheed Martin Space’s modernized LM 2100 spacecraft – an update that improves overall system resiliency to provide mission assurance to the warfighter.

SBIRS GEO-5 is a high-priority U.S. Space Force program that provides worldwide missile warning capability for the U.S. military.

SMC’s Production Corps and its industry partner Lockheed Martin Space work in close collaboration to achieve this major milestone for the program.

The start of TVAC testing is a major milestone that drives the final testing and assembly of the space vehicle. Lockheed Martin Space overcame COVID-19 related challenges to maintain assembly and test operations with minimal impacts.

TVAC testing simulates the space environment by producing a near-vacuum and cycling through hot and cold temperature ranges that the satellite will experience through various stages of its orbit and seasonal cycles.

This critical testing verifies that all satellite components are operating correctly and meet strict requirements and standards under all conditions.

“TVAC testing represents the culmination of hundreds of thousands of hours of work by both the government and Lockheed Martin Space ensuring that we are giving the warfighter a national asset. I am proud of the men and women of the SBIRS program and their families for the years of sacrifice to get us to this point,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Laughton, SBIRS GEO-5/6 program manager.

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NVIDIA Completes Acquisition of Mellanox, Creating Major Force Driving Next-Gen Data Centers

Combined Company Provides Leading Expertise in Compute and Networking Technologies for HighPerformance Computing

NVIDIA announced the completion of its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, Ltd., for a transaction value of $7 billion.

The acquisition, initially announced on March 11, 2019, unites two of the world’s

leading companies in high performance and data center computing. Combining NVIDIA’s leading computing expertise with Mellanox’s high-performance networking technology, the move will enable customers to achieve higher performance, greater utilization of computing resources, and lower operating costs.

from processors to software, and significant scale to advance next-generation data centers. Our combined expertise, supported by a rich ecosystem of partners, will meet the challenge of surging global demand for consumer internet services, and the application of AI and accelerated data science from cloud to edge to robotics.”

“The expanding use of AI and data science is reshaping computing and data center architectures,” said Jensen Huang, founder, and CEO of NVIDIA. “With Mellanox, the new NVIDIA has end-to-end technologies from AI computing to networking, full-stack offerings

Eyal Waldman, founder, and CEO of Mellanox said: “This is a powerful, complementary combination of cultures, technology, and ambitions. Our people are enormously enthusiastic about the many opportunities ahead. As Mellanox steps into the next exciting phase of its journey, we will continue to offer cutting-edge solutions and innovative products to our customers and partners. We look forward to bringing NVIDIA products and solutions into our markets, and to bringing Mellanox products and solutions into NVIDIA’s markets. Together, our technologies will provide leading solutions to compute and storage platforms wherever they are required.”

The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to NVIDIA’s non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP EPS, and free cash flow, inclusive of incremental interest expense related to NVIDIA’s recent issuance of $5 billion of notes.

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New Wave Design and Verification Acquires FlightWire Two Industry Leaders Join Forces to Provide Comprehensive Design, Building, and Test of Aerospace and Defense Systems

New Wave Design and Verification, LLC. (New Wave DV), a leading provider of high-performance digital electronic interface solutions for the Defense/Aerospace market, announced today that it has acquired FlightWire Technology, Inc., a principal provider of 1394b AS5643 (MIL-1394) solutions. This acquisition combines two premier MIL-1394 companies, considerably expanding the resources, expertise, and offerings of MIL-1394 embedded, test, and maintenance products

and services by New Wave DV. “FlightWire is a recognized leader in the MIL-1394 sustainment and laboratory equipment market,” stated Richard Mourn, President of FlightWire. “By joining forces with New Wave DV, a recognized leader in MIL-1394 embedded and test interface hardware, we are creating endless potential in the aerospace and defense market. Together we will provide a one-stop-shop for sustainment and laboratory equipment, flight hardware, and FPGA IP along with testing, validation, and training services.” Mourn will join New Wave DV as the Product Line Director of MIL-1394.

“Richard has done a fantastic job building and growing FlightWire to become a tremen-

dous value for the industry,” stated Josh Dirlam, CEO of New Wave DV. “We are excited for FlightWire to join our team and to continue serving our critical partners with exceptional MIL-1394 solutions, support, and expertise.”

The acquisition of FlightWire aligns with New Wave DV’s focus on products and services for the Defense/Aerospace high-speed serial interface market. The FlightWire product line will continue to be offered and supported through New Wave DV. FlightWire staff will also transition to New Wave DV, including the Colorado office where FlightWire engineering and manufacturing are currently located.

The FlightWire line of products and services is available effective immediately and without interruption through New Wave DV.

Lockheed Martin photo by Andy Wolfe COTS Journal | May 2020

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INSIDE TRACK US Navy Awards Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) Contract

Navy awarded a contract to design and produce the next generation small surface combatant, the Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) today. The contract for detail design and construction (DD&C) of up to 10 Guided Missile Frigates (consisting of one base ship and nine option ships) was awarded to Marinette Marine Corp., officials announced.

The FFG(X) will have the multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations. Specifically, FFG(X) will include an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) radar, Baseline Ten (BL10) AEGIS Combat System, a Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), communications systems, MK 57 Gun Weapon System (GWS) countermeasures and added capability in the EW/IO area with design flexibility for future growth.

“I am very proud of the hard work from the requirements, acquisition, and shipbuilder

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teams that participated in the full and open competition, enabling the Navy to make this important decision today,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition. “Throughout this process, the government team and our industry partners have all executed with a sense of

urgency and discipline, delivering this contract award three months ahead of schedule. The team’s intense focus on cost, acquisition, and technical rigor, enabled the government to deliver the best value for our taxpayers as we deliver a highly capable next-generation Frigate to our Warfighters.”

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Artificial Intelligence Powers Novel ISR Capability For Operations In Denied Communications Environments U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® Team to Advance Warfighter Effectiveness in Contested Battlespace

“As a remotely piloted aircraft pilot, having the opportunity to test an emerging technology and see it perform functions required for operations in denied communications environments sparks the imagination of what is possible in future ISR systems.” -Capt. Josh Rountree, U.S. Air Force In partnership with the Air Force Test Pilot School, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Skunk Works® successfully demonstrated an autonomous Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) system to enhance operational effectiveness for the warfighter in denied communications environments.

“As a remotely piloted aircraft pilot, having the opportunity to test an emerging technology and see it perform functions required for operations in denied communications environments sparks the imagination of what is possible in future ISR systems,” said Capt.

Josh Rountree, Test Management Project Lead at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.

Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, the autonomous ISR system, integrated into an F-16 through a Lockheed Martin-developed pod solution, was able to

detect and identify the location of the target, automatically route to the target, and capture an image to confirm the target in a simulated, denied communications environment. Using an autonomous ISR system to penetrate contested environments and gather critical intelligence for effective decision making when standard communication between systems is not an option keeps the warfighter out of harm’s way while still achieving mission objectives.

“As the battlespace becomes increasingly contested, human-machine teams will enable operators to collect critical intelligence in denied communications environments, ensuring our warfighters get the information they need when they need it,” said George Hellstern, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® program manager for artificial intelligence solutions. “We are proud to partner to advance a novel capability, allowing the warfighter to adapt in a rapidly changing operational environment and still get critical data to perform the mission.”

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has decades of experience developing trusted autonomous and artificial intelligence technologies to help humans maximize safety, performance, and situational awareness across land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains. As new threats emerge, autonomous and artificial intelligence technologies will enable collaborative operations between the human-machine team to project power in the face of an increasingly contested environment.

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L3Harris recently completed a largescale field demonstration of the newly developed ANW2D waveform in Queensland, Australia at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA)

Over five days, significant mountain ranges, and steep canyons, the L3Harris team tested the ANW2D waveform for data capacity, scalability, and its ability to handle voice and data across an extended network. The objective – demonstrate to the Australian Army that the ANW2D waveform is field-ready to perform as a key asset in their future battlefield network, the LAND 200-2 Tactical Communications Network (TCN).

“The digitalization of the TCN offers us that advantage and similarly when we get into weapons integration of the battle management system that the TCN enables [it] is a real game-changer,” said Colonel Deane Limmer, Director, Land Command, Communications, and Control Program, Australian Army. “The TCN becomes the glue in which we connect broader land capability.”

The demonstration involved 25 Australian Army Mercedes G-Wagon 6x6 vehicles, kitted

“Tiny Homes” for NASA Supercomputers Suit Silicon Valley’s Climate To grow its famous grapes, California’s wine country along with the state’s north coast benefits from the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean and the dry summers characteristic of the region. That same climate also supports a very different “crop” nearby: NASA’s newest supercomputers and the fruitful research they make possible.

Specifically, it’s perfect for the individual units of the Modular Supercomputing Facility, or MSF, at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. By cleverly using climate to cool high-powered computers naturally, water use is reduced by 96% and electricity used for cooling by 91%, compared with running the same computer resources installed in a traditional data center.

out with AN/PRC-158 radios, and utilizing a customer developed data analysis tool. During each activity serial, the vehicles were both mobile and static, simulating three combat teams and enabling the Army to test performance against six technical objectives: scalability, waveform ID performance, waveform queue management, capacity, network leave/join times and quality of service. In total, the technical objectives gave the Army a “real world” assessment of the ANW2D waveform’s performance.

“I think the collaboration working together with the ADF and companies, and in this case, L3Harris, is critical to the success of the program,” said Alan Callaghan, President and Managing Director, L3Harris Communications Australia. “We relish the opportunity such as the field exercises where we get with the end-users and we can both sort of investigate and address issues and challenges as a team which is what it should all be about – being one team.”

More than 20 L3Harris Australia employees provided radio installation, operation, training, and field support. The Australian Army involved more than 40 uniformed and civilian personnel to provide logistics and direct technical support. top of the coolers draw outside air over pipes located directly behind the brown-colored material, called the evaporative media, transferring the heat in the water into the air and dissipating it into the environment. When the outside air exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the evaporative media is soaked with water that lowers the temperature of the air just before it blows over the pipes, improving the heat transfer on warm days.

The facility, which opened in August 2019, uses self-contained modules to house its ma-

Working together over 10 days, numerous exercises simulated realistic deployment patterns.

The combination of static and mobile nodes spread across a wide area, with varying terrain, stretched the network. The field activity successfully demonstrated the adaptability of the ANW2D waveform in different deployment scenarios and capabilities, such as simultaneous voice and data.

While no doubt there will be similar exercises as the Australian Army builds its future battlefield network, the field demonstration provided the Army with validation that the ANW2D waveform will perform as expected and demonstrated exceptional cooperation between L3Harris and the L200-2 Project Office. In a continuous pursuit of excellence, the demonstration also yielded helpful technical data and other takeaways that L3Harris will use to refine the L200-2 TCN. “Digitizing the army is a very difficult thing to do…certainly the TCN tactical communications networks are at the heart of that challenge and certainly it is the core enabler for taking the next step in the Army’s digitization journey,” Limmer said. chines – think “tiny homes” for big computers. People who participate in the tiny house movement choose for their living space to be small, with low energy demands, allowing them to save money and use fewer environmental resources. And the goals are much the same here.

So, while the MSF is leading the way in enhancing NASA’s high-performance computing, it’s also dramatically reducing the amount of power and water needed to cool a supercomputing facility.

Water that is heated by the computers in the module housing the Aitken supercomputer flows to the coolers, at the Modular Supercomputing Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Fans on COTS Journal | May 2020

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Linking Definitional Models (SysML) to Executable Architectures

By Josh Reicher, Senior Engineer, Special Projects Lead AGI Through this example, we intend to demonstrate the current capability of linking formal, definitional models (SysML) to executable architectures, providing bidirectional traceability from specifications and requirements to system performance and deployed systems.

This framework provides the architecture to integrate software development into the modeling environment, allowing the SysML to orchestrate the model and software generation activities (whether machine or human-created). The result is a more robust product, truly reflecting the design intent, that has been rigorously validated in mission simulations continuously throughout the development lifecycle (Figure1).

The integration and extension of Commercial of the Shelf (COTS) tools allow us to construct the framework described previously. The act of integrating executable models directly into the formal descriptive models gives users the ability to track performance impacts of system design modifications as they occur and more tightly couples the Systems Engineering and Software Development phases.

Our vision is to enable a fully connected Digital Thread with a consistent physics-based mission environment at the core. By executing formal model-based System-of-Systems interactions in this mission environment, the true Mission Digital Twin is created. As system mod-

Figure 1 - Linking Definitional Models (SysML) to Executable Architectures Throughout the Product Lifecycle 18

COTS Journal | May 2020

els evolve throughout the product lifecycle, they can be re-exercised and reevaluated within the common mission environment alongside other systems. This enables continuous (and automated) assessment of the impact each change has on the overall mission objectives. Integrating the mission environment and operational objectives into the Digital Thread early and throughout the entire product, lifecycle provides an opportunity to discover and resolve critical issues in a timelier fashion.

To illustrate the workflow, consider the example of a CubeSat space weather experiment and how it progresses through the engineering lifecycle. This paper will demonstrate the value

of bidirectional traceability by connecting the requirements to the analytical models through the descriptive model. The ecosystem for this demonstration will contain a SysML modeling environment (NoMagic Cameo), a tool orchestration layer (Phoenix Integrations ModelCenter and AGI UFOS), and a mission simulation environment (AGI STK).

There is also an underlying Architecture Ontology employed (Figure 3), a formal represen-

tation of the knowledge of concepts within and across the architecture’s domains, in addition to

Every new program is initiated by a need for a new mission capability. Our example CubeSat mission is motivated by improving awareness of the atmospheric conditions and their relation to climate change. That need shapes our initial concept, dictating a variety of requirements (in our case: orbit geometry, payloads, etc.). We capture that through the MBSE process. SysML has the responsibility for being the authoritative system model, providing the traceability from requirements, through architecture, to behaviors and performance. A rigorous MBSE process requires that the model is true, such that the model can be relied on for all questions about the construction or performance of the system.

The CubeSat project begins with a formal model description in SysML (Figure 2):

Figure 3 - Underlying Architecture Ontology

Figure 2 - CubeSat SysML Model Description COTS Journal | May 2020

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the relationships between those concepts. This includes Types, Associations, Events, Behaviors, and Instances. The ontology serves as a foundation for several key elements in this framework.

First, it will formalize the nomenclature in the Architecture so that it is consistent. Second, the ontology’s formalisms enable its execution.

Last, it enables the utilization of any appropriate tools to be integrated into this framework.

Currently, AGI’s COTS ontology has evolved to provide formal models for Space and Core domains. Its standards-based approach enables Customers to modify or write their models.

To ensure future DevSecOps software strictly adheres to the model, a link is established from the SysML to the executable environment through an “orchestration layer”. This link extends traceability to the system’s performance and back to requirements, completing the feedback loop.

ModelCenter is the orchestration layer integrated into the SysML environment (Cameo).

It provides a common interface for wrapping tools and algorithms (commercial and custom/ proprietary) and then orchestrates custom workflows by linking those tools and passing information. These workflows are the executable models that are linked to the SysML model through ModelCenter’s MBSE extension. From within Cameo, the interface of each diagram is matched with the corresponding interface in the ModelCenter workflow. The SysML diagrams already describe any relationships that exist between components, values, and requirements. This allows the ModelCenter interface to discover relationships between evaluation parameters in an executable diagram back to any requirements they satisfy (Figure 4). These

Figure 5 - STK Simulation of a Candidate CubeSat Mission

requirements can now be evaluated through executing the workflow and computing the system performance – the interface compares the result to the requirement and displays the pass/ fail criteria as well as the margin.

The architecture described here requires an underlying physics-based environment for modeling the interactions between the assets as dictated by the formal models. Typically, a systems engineer must not only create the functional model for the component he or she is designing, but also for the environment to stimulate that component model. This necessitates constant updates to the environment model to align with the current fidelity of the component model or as components are integrated into a larger system. Each update has the potential to add uncertainty to the results, obfuscate insight

into the process, and increase timelines of the development lifecycle.

STK provides a flexible, high fidelity, physics-based modeling environment where formal system models can be exercised with other system models regardless of their current fidelity requirements (Figure 5). Much like Test Driven Development, where the test cases are constructed upfront and the code is developed to pass the test, STK provides Mission-Driven Engineering where mission requirements can be captured through very specific “scenarios” and systems or components can be engineered until requirements are satisfied. The environment supports models as they grow in complexity from low fidelity “stand-ins” for components lacking complete definition (in our CubeSat example the geometric field of view, great arc vehicle routes, etc.) to full fidelity hardware-based simulators and/or actual DevSecOps code. The utilization of a consistent modeling and simulation environment throughout the lifecycle ensures that changes in system performance metrics are due to modifications in the system design, not inconsistencies in the underlying modeling environment.

After the concept development stage, there is already an integrated mission simulation environment with executable system/component models embedded into the SysML model. This full loop connectivity provides the architecture for the remainder of the engineering lifecycle activities.

Figure 4 - Relationship Discovery Between Evaluation Parameters and Requirements 20

COTS Journal | May 2020

The first of such activities are requirements derivation. Following the concept stage, the initial CubeSat project goals are to be refined into specific requirements. This is an iterative process to explore the trade space of system designs.

With the model fully connected, we can orches-

Figure 6 - Connected Model Enhances Bidirectional Requirements Derivation & Traceability

trate large-scale trade studies on all spacecraft subsystems (Figure 6): vehicle sizing, power requirements, payload selection, data management, command and control options, etc. More importantly, through the connected model, the impact of any design change on the adjacent systems is immediately traceable. The results of those trades and optimization studies feed directly back to validating and/or updating the requirements, enhancing system design strength.

Advancing in the engineering lifecycle, the system model gains complexity, and the system software elements grow accordingly. In the CubeSat project, communication models are improved from a basic line of sight link model (at the start of the project) to a complex communications link budget analysis (as the project matures) that employs custom antenna models, with transmitter power, frequency and filter modeling and propagation, loss models. Power budgets are improved from initial estimates

to detailed solar panel studies and sensor/ payload/communications power load analysis.

Eventually, that detail grows to include DevSecOps software to drive the logic of individual systems – for example, the CubeSat onboard systems will have to make decisions when to collect data versus when to downlink, based on available power and storage. The software is developed as an integrated component in the model, immediately testable in the mission environment. The ModelCenter MBSE link enforc-

COTS Journal | May 2020

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Figure 7 - Validating Mission Capability Throughout the Digital Mission Thread

es consistency between the model and software – as either the descriptive model or the software matures, it forces that update to be reflected in the other to remain connected and executable.

Eventually, the engineering phase transitions to the development and deployment of physical systems. As individual hardware or software components are constructed, their software is extracted from the latest model. In this way, we have now extended the traceability even further, beyond just simulated performance and now into functional systems. As hardware or software components are developed, their functionality and performance can be tested “in-the-loop� using the embedded simulators that are part of the Digital Thread (Figure 7). Our SysML-based Digital Thread has effectively been translated into deployed systems hardware and software.

hardware and software level and assess the potential mission impact.

Providing operators access to this model formally includes them in the engineering process and completes the feedback loop. The follow-on development requirements will have direct input from the end-users who may often contribute to the solution as well.

It is well understood that the lifecycle management of hardware and software systems is a complex problem but some steps can be taken now with available tools and processes to bridge the

gaps and connect the entire digital engineering enterprise. Those steps are Couple formal descriptive models with mission simulations; use the output of the simulations to inform/update the models, and use them both to drive functional and performance requirements. The development team builds software integrated into the modeling environment, directly linked to those requirements. The formal model is continually executed, calling the development software and models, testing components, and verifying requirements. The code is assembled for delivery from the model. The system delivered is guaranteed to match the system described in the model.

An added benefit of the fully connected Digital Thread is that it effectively becomes its virtual test harness. As the earlier stages of development were connected to the authoritative model, the hardware will necessarily support the same software interfaces. This enables a connection from the hardware back to the virtual test scenarios employed in the software development phases.

Similarly, user interfaces and physical controls can be tested in full mission simulations.

Finally, the system is fielded and enters the sustainment phase. Operators frequently overlook the value of the engineering models or are not provided access to them. In cases where anomalies are experienced, there is infinite value in having a true digital twin available for the fully deployed system. This model makes possible the forensic analysis of observed behavior or troubleshooting and discovery of potential solutions.

Also, mission parameters tend to change more rapidly than new systems are deployed; operators are consistently challenged by using existing resources in new and innovative ways. The executable system model framework lets operators experiment with systems down to the lowest COTS Journal | May 2020

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May 2020

COT’S PICKS OmniVision Unveils Nyxel® 2 Technology, Extends Lead in No-Light, Near-Infrared CMOS Image Sensing Performance for Machine and Night Vision

OmniVision Technologies, Inc. announced Nyxel® 2—the second generation of its revolutionary near-infrared (NIR) technology for image sensors that operate in low to no ambient light conditions.

Despite launching the first generation more than two years ago, competing mass-produced CMOS image sensors are still failing to achieve comparable NIR performance. Meanwhile, OmniVision’s R&D team has continued to refine its novel silicon semiconductor architectures and processes to achieve new records in quantum efficiency (QE), with Nyxel 2 now providing a 25% improvement in the invisible 940nm NIR light spectrum and a 17% bump at the barely visible 850nm NIR wavelength.

These sensitivity improvements enable image sensors to see even better and farther under the same amount of light, further extending the image detection range. Nyxel 2-based camera systems also require fewer LED lights, thus reducing overall power consumption and extending battery life. These added benefits make Nyxel 2 an ideal technology for surveillance systems, automotive in-cabin driving monitoring systems, and the burgeoning under-display sensors in mobile devices.

“Nyxel 2 technology further extends OmniVision’s leadership in NIR image sensing,”

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COTS Journal | May 2020

said Lindsay Grant, senior vice president of process engineering at OmniVision. “Pushing the envelope of NIR performance opens new possibilities for applications that operate in near or total darkness, including more accurate driver-state monitoring, better surveillance capabilities for security systems and new under-display sensing applications for mobile devices.”

Machine and night vision camera applications rely on NIR technology because NIR light illuminates objects with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum, avoiding any interference with the surrounding environment. Additionally, because the night sky contains more NIR photons than visible photons, greater NIR sensitivity allows for higher-resolution image capture with fewer power-hungry LEDs, which is highly desirable for battery-powered and night vision security camera applications. Before the introduction of Nyxel technology in 2017, other NIR detection approaches fell short of the performance requirements for next-generation mobile and AR/VR products with embedded machine vision applications, as well as automotive and security cameras that require higher NIR sensitivity.

Competing CMOS approaches for NIR image sensing continue to rely solely on thick silicon to improve NIR sensitivity. However, this results in cross-talk and reduces the modulation transfer function (MTF). Attempts to overcome this by introducing deep trench isolation (DTI) often lead to defects that corrupt the dark area of the image.

With Nyxel 2, OmniVision has further refined its revolutionary approach to NIR imaging that

combines thick-silicon pixel architectures with careful management of wafer surface texture to improve QE, along with extended DTI to retain the MTF levels of the first generation without affecting the sensor’s dark current.

With these refinements, OmniVision’s Nyxel 2 can now achieve 50% QE at 940nm—a 25% improvement over the first generation, as measured using data from a 2.9-micron pixel. At the 850nm NIR wavelength, Nyxel 2 can provide 70% QE, which is not only a 17% improvement over the first generation, but it is now on par with the QE levels of top RGB sensors that operate with visible light. The results of these Nyxel 2 technology improvements are even higher and still unrivaled image quality, greater image-detection range, and a further reduction in light source requirements for even lower power consumption and extended battery life.

Nyxel 2’s performance improvements provide a range of new possibilities for designers. For surveillance systems, the number of IR LEDs around security camera lenses can be further reduced to save on both cost and power consumption, or the same number can be used to increase the brightness of captures taken in total darkness. For automotive driver monitoring systems, accuracy can be increased while placing fewer LEDs in harder-tosee places within the cabin. For smartphones, the LEDs can be reduced to aid in the never-ending quest for extended battery life, while squeezing more components into compact form factors that both enable design innovation and reduce BOM costs.

May 2020

COT’S PICKS congatec presents new cooling solutions for 100 Watt edge server ecosystem

for 24/7 operation. We are now presenting three of these solutions for the first time at Embedded World 2020,” explains Andreas Bergbauer, Product Line Manager at congatec.

congatec – announced three cooling solutions for the new 100 Watt edge server ecosystem that is being built around AMD EPYCTM Embedded 3000 Series Processors. With rugged cooling solutions and processor modules for 24/7 operation from a single source, OEMs no longer need to think about how to design in a processor waste heat management system. Recommendations for system ventilation design are also often included so that the thermal design effort at the system level is significantly reduced. Perfectly matched cooling solutions

“The AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 Series Processors allow for a wide range of embedded edge server designs. It is great to see that companies such as congatec invest in offering a complete ecosystem with Server-on-Modules and all required accessories, such as these powerful cooling solutions, which will help simplify designs and help end customers get systems faster,” explains Stephen Turnbull, director of product management and business development, Embedded Solutions, AMD.

are essential for the 100 Watt edge server ecosystem, as overheating can lead to rapid aging and system failure. Edge servers with real-time requirements also need optimum protection against thermally induced performance degradation to ensure deterministic behavior, which further underscores the importance of high-performance cooling systems in industrial computer systems.

The congatec cooling solutions for the 100watt ecosystem around the AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 Series Processors come in three variants, all based on the COM Express heatspreader specification that has been standardized by the PICMG, i.e. heatspreader with heatpipe adapter; heatspreader with integrated heatpipe; and an active cooling solution. Together with standard COM Express heatspreaders, OEMs can now choose between four variants that cover the entire range of processor cooling solutions.

“The AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 Series Processors provide a new level of high-performance computing for embedded edge server systems. But with such embedded system designs, it is critical managing the thermal envelope of any high-performance part. That’s why we’ve worked hard to create a 100 Watt ecosystem for high-performance COM Express modules that meets the rugged design requirements

Heatpipe adapter for COM Express heatspreader The conga-B7E3/HPA heatpipe adapter absorbs the waste heat from the heatspreader via up to four heatpipes and directs it, for example, towards other passive heat sinks mounted on the housing. This allows the design of extremely powerful passively cooled systems for up to 100 Watt.

COM Express heatspreader with integrated heatpipe The solution with integrated heatpipe, with the product name conga-B7E3/HSP-HP, was developed primarily for particularly flat embedded systems where a standard height COM Express heatspreader must be coupled to the housing. Here, the integrated heatpipe distributes the waste heat from the processor evenly over the entire heatspreader so that no hotspots are created, even in applications with a TDP of up to 100 Watt.

Active cooling system for rugged 24/7 operation The fan-based active cooling system conga-B7E3/CSA-HP is specifically designed for 24/7 operation in harsh industrial environ-

ments. In this complete cooling system for COM Express Computer-on-Modules the fans are not only mounted extra securely, but also specifically fixed to reduce wear and tear. In addition, the bearings are equipped with a special seal and additional cover to provide maximum protection for mechanics and lubricant. With a high-performance synthetic oil as a lubricant, the fan has an MTBF of several decades – and this in the industrial temperature range from -45 to +85°C and with industrial-grade shock and vibration resistance. The functional scope of this fan-based active cooling system is rounded off by the additional integration of a heatpipe to distribute the waste heat from the processor even before it reaches the active fan. congatec www.congatec.com

COTS Journal | May 2020

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May 2020

COT’S PICKS Xilinx Launches Industry’s First SmartNIC Platform Bringing Turnkey Network, Storage and Compute Acceleration to Cloud Data Centers

Also unveils OCP 3.0 form factor XtremeScale™ Ethernet adapter; proof of concept for world’s first FPGA-based OCP Accelerator Module Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) announced the industry’s first SmartNIC platform delivering true convergence of network, storage, and compute acceleration functions on a single device. The Alveo™ U25 SmartNIC is designed to bring greater efficiency and lower TCO benefits of SmartNICs to cloud service providers, telcos, and private cloud data center operators struggling with increasing networking demands and rising costs. The U25 combines a highly optimized SmartNIC platform with a powerful and flexible FPGA-based engine that supports full programmability and turnkey accelerated applications. The U25 delivers a comprehensive SmartNIC platform to address the industry’s most challenging demands and workloads such as SDN, virtual switching, NFV, NVMe-oF, electronic trading, AI inference, video transcoding, and data analytics.

Also, Xilinx announced its first XtremeScale™ Ethernet adapter card in the Open Compute Project (OCP) Spec 3.0 form factor and a proof of concept for the world’s first FPGA-based OCP Accelerator Module (OAM).

“The SmartNIC market is forecast to surpass $600M and comprise 23 percent of the worldwide Ethernet adapter market by 2024,” according to Baron Fung, research director at Dell’Oro Group. “As cloud service providers scale capacity upwards, they are increasing their deployment of SmartNICs to free up valuable CPU cores for business applications, optimizing server utilization. The telco service providers, another market with strong growth potential, are looking to integrate SmartNICs from the core to the edge of the network for applications such as NFV and AI inferencing. FPGA-based SmartNICs such as the Alveo U25 are well-positioned to address this growing market opportunity.”

Converged SmartNIC Platform for Accelerated Clouds

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COTS Journal | May 2020

As network port speeds continue to increase, tier 2 and 3 cloud service providers, telcos, and private cloud data center operators are facing mounting networking challenges and costs. Still, the significant R&D investments required to develop and deploy SmartNICs have hindered broader adoption. The Alveo U25 SmartNIC platform addresses these barriers by providing true plug-andplay capabilities that make SmartNICs accessible for more widespread deployments.

Powered by Xilinx’s industry-leading FPGA technology, the Alveo U25 SmartNIC provides higher throughput and a far more adaptable engine than SoC-based NICs to allow cloud architects to accelerate a wide range of functions and applications quickly. The platform enables ‘bumpin-the-wire’ network, storage, and compute offload and acceleration functions for maximum efficiency by avoiding unnecessary data movements and CPU processing. This dramatically reduces the CPU burden and reclaims resources to run more applications. Embedded ARM processors provide unique and critical control plane processing to support emerging bare metal server use cases. The baseline NIC delivers ultra-high throughput, small packet performance, and low-latency. Standard full-featured NIC functionality and drivers, including Onload® application acceleration software, can reduce latency up to 80 percent and improve transmission control protocol (TCP)-based server application efficiency by up to 400 percent in cloud-based applications.

“Today’s cloud infrastructures suffer from critical data bottlenecks caused by server I/O,” said Donna Yasay, vice president of marketing, Data Center Group at Xilinx. “With up to 30 percent of data center compute resources allocated for networking I/O processing, overhead

continues to grow along with CPU cores. Xilinx is addressing the challenges resulting from the increased demands on networking by providing an easier to deploy SmartNIC with turnkey accelerated applications and out-of-the-box capabilities that go far beyond fundamental networking.”

Out-of-the-Box Accelerated Applications for Faster Time-to-Market The Alveo U25 SmartNIC platform enables turnkey accelerated applications that make it easier for non-tier-1 cloud data center operators to deploy SmartNICs and quickly reap the benefits.

The U25 SmartNIC supports turnkey applications from both Xilinx and independent software vendors. The programming model supports high-level network programming abstractions such as HLS and P4, as well as compute acceleration frameworks such as the Vitis™ unified software platform to enable Xilinx and third party accelerated applications.

The first out-of-the-box accelerated application available on the Alveo U25 SmartNIC is support for Open vSwitch (OVS) offload and acceleration. The plug-and-play solution will offload over 90 percent of OVS processing from the server to improve packet throughput by over 5X. Future turnkey solutions from Xilinx are planned for security functions such as IPSec, SSL/TLS, AES-256/128, and distributed firewall as well as AI inference acceleration.

Xilinx, Inc. www.xilinx.com

May2020

COT’S PICKS Envistacom Announces its Transport Virtualization Ecosystem

As an independent integrator of solutions, Envistacom’s transport virtualization ecosystem will benefit both users and waveform companiess Envistacom, LLC, outlined its plan to develop a “Transport Virtualization Ecosystem” which will enable customers to benefit directly from gaining access to leading technology applications all in an open architecture environment and provide a distribution reducing time to market for waveform companies.

As recently cited in the US Space Force’s Enterprise SATCOM Vision document, the Space Force identified five key attributes of future SATCOM networking to achieve their objective for “Fighting SATCOM”: 1. Rapid, resilient, sustainable, and global access to SATCOM capabilities. This includes the ability for all DoD users to quickly obtain and maintain satellite communications through all operating environments relevant to their mission.

2. Terminal and modem agility. This allows terminals to operate on a variety of waveforms over varying frequencies, with quick transition or, when possible, simultaneously.

Pixus Now Offers All-Metal Slim Handles for OpenVPX Boards Pixus Technologies, a provider of embedded computing and enclosure solutions, has announced new handles for OpenVPX or custom embedded computer boards in an all-metal design.

The Pixus All-Metal Slim Type X Handle features a long thin metal lever for maximum leverage.

The design is ideal for the high insertion forces of 3U or 6U OpenVPX applications. The thin lever is 4.05mm wide and is justified to the left side of the

3. Network agility. This enables users to maintain their networks when transitioning to a different beam, antenna, satellite, or system.

4. Cyber, link, and operational security. This will provide cyber resiliency for warfighters, protecting their information and control systems in the face of a determined and sophisticated attacker.

5. Data interoperability with joint command and control systems. This is the ability of warfighters and space enterprise C2 systems to effectively exchange information.

Envistacom’s Transport Virtualization Ecosystem will enable the US Space Force and commercial service providers alike to realize their vision of ubiquitous connectivity without forcing standards which have traditionally constrained innovation by creating common denominator specifications or consuming lengthy development cycles resulting from common standards review and certification processes.

“We are pleased our transport virtualization technology and strategy concepts align with the Department of Defense as well as our commercial customers,” said Michael Geist, Envistacom’s Senior Vice President of Strategy & Technology. “We are poised to enable our technology partners to

Michael Geist, Vice President of Strategy & Technology deliver truly resilient connectivity in preparation for the intersection of terrestrial and space-based networking referred to as 6G.” Envistacom’s virtualization efforts build upon the company’s recently announced technology patents leading to the establishment of this open-architecture Transport Virtualization Ecosystem. The Ecosystem is an environment where real-time continuous processing application technologists can bring their latest developments to be tested, and ultimately available in the marketplace faster than through the traditional development and integration of purpose-built hardware.

Envistacom, LLC www.envistacom.com

front panel so that I/O interfaces are not blocked.

Supporting approximately 850N of insertion/extraction force, the Type X handle is sold standard with 3U or 6U EMC faceplates in the 5HP (1.0”) wide size.

Pixus also now offers a push-button Type IVsm all-metal IEEE handle. The design is very similar to the Pixus Type IVs push-button handle with its famous metal engagement “claw”. The Type IVsm features a zinc alloy die-cast design.

Pixus Technologies https://pixustechnologies.com

Type X Handle Diagram with 6U OpenVPX Panel

COTS Journal | May 2020

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May 2020

COT’S PICKS Lynx unveils LynxOS v7.1, providing a migration path for existing deployments

Lynx Software Technologies unveils LynxOS v7.1, supporting long term Lynx customers in maintaining their deployments. Lynx is also planning to announce significant adoption behind LYNX MOSA.ic™, the software framework for the development and integration of complex multi-core safety or security systems, and a broadening of the operating system and processor choice for LynxSecure at the event.

platforms in service for longer.”

Pavan Singh, Vice President of Product Management at Lynx, added, “For many of these customers, LynxOS or LynxOS-178 will continue to be one of the critical software components on which their systems rely. Other customers are seeking to maintain and support their existing LynxOS deployment. Our goal with this release is to support all of our existing LynxOS customers, while they go through their very specific product journey.”

The primary objective of LynxOS 7.1 is to

give LynxOS customers a simple migration path to the latest version of the operating system including all of the latest patches as well as upgrading the toolchain giving access to the most recent simulation environments. Customers that prefer to remain on older versions of LynxOS will have the opportunity to remain on their existing version of the operating system and receive longterm support, which encompasses point patches, service pack updates, and customization services.

Lynx Software Technologies www.lynx.com

Ian Ferguson, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Alliances at Lynx said, “We are looking forward to meeting our customers and partners at Embedded World. LynxOS and LynxOS-178 are critical components in millions of devices in the aerospace, defense, industrial, and consumer markets. Lynx has always committed to offering its customers a controlled migration path to improved functionality and bug fixes for their deployments, investing in the maintenance its customers need to keep these established

Mercury Systems Announces Industry’s First SOSA-Aligned Ultra-Wideband Dual Microwave Upconverter Innovative technology improves electronic warfare system interoperability while reducing development costs Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com announced the SpectrumSeries™ RFM3103s ultra-wideband dual upconverter, designed to align with the emerging sensor open systems architecture (SOSA) technical standard for demanding electronic warfare (EW) environments. By creating a common architecture that streamlines system integration, the rugged, compact upconverter pioneers system interoperability and upgradeability, supporting an increased and more diverse range of unmanned systems on various platforms including ground, airborne, and subsurface.

“Mercury solutions are designed to be the most rugged, long-lasting, and highest performing available to meet the rigorous demands of military and commercial customers,” said Neal Austin, Vice President and General Manager of Mercury’s Embedded Sensor Processing group.

“Our new purpose-built dual upconverter delivers 28

COTS Journal | May 2020

on these demands while aligning with snapshot 3 of the SOSA reference architecture technical standard. Additionally, it is the first in a new series of RF solutions that enable users to better mitigate electronic threats with the rapid deployment of innovative and secure technology. It’s another proof point of how Mercury is making commercial technology profoundly more accessible to aerospace and defense.”

The standard configuration of the RFM3103s unit consists of two transmit modules installed on two OpenRFM™ module sites, with parameters such as instantaneous bandwidth, frequency range, and

output power able to be adjusted at the module level. This, combined with the modularity for an up/down converter, allows for easy design modifications, rather than full product redesigns, reducing system cost and time to market.

Mercury Systems, Inc. www.mrcy.com

May 2020

COT’S PICKS New Universal Input Display Transmitter/Alarm Features ExtraLarge Digits for Big and Bright Indication of Processor Temperature Values

Acromag’s new line of panel meters provides process current transmitter output and limit alarm relays for current, voltage, or temperature inputs.

The first release from Acromag’s new Vertu™ brand of innovative instrumentation is the VPM3000 Series of universal input displays with transmitter and alarm capabilities. These instruments combine the digital indicator function of a panel meter with optional signal conditioning for 4-20mA transmitter output and/or alarm trip solid-state relays. The big and bright 1.2 inch (31mm) high numerals are clearly visible from far away, even in bright sunlight. Field-selectable inputs accept process current/voltage and temperature sensor signals including 4-20mA, ±20mA, 0-10V, ±10V, Pt RTDs, and most common thermocouple varieties. For additional versatility, units can provide power to drive a 4-20mA transmitter and other instruments. Modbus RTU serial communication is also supported.

Carrida Technologies presents its Universal ALPR solution Carrida Technologies presents its software engine for automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) at the ISC West exposition. The powerful OEM software library integrates plates from most countries in the world and covers a wide range of different

The VPM3000 displays are easy to set up and install.

Units are configurable using the front-panel pushbuttons, free Windows software, or a copy function from other units.

Models are available for operation from 85-265V AC or 12-36V DC power sources. AC units can provide single or dual isolated 24V DC supplies to power a 4-20mA transmitter or other instruments. A shallow-depth 1/8 DIN enclosure with a NEMA 4X front panel simplifies installation. UL/cUL listing meets industrial control equipment safety requirements.

“These versatile signal conditioners can satisfy requirements for a process or temperature transmitter, alarm trips, and high-visibility display with a single unit” asserts Robert Greenfield, Acromag’s Business Development Manager.

Other advanced capabilities add further value. In addition to converting sensor signals to a scaled 4-20mA current for retransmission to controllers or recorders, units can also perform flow computation functions. The applications from access control and fleet management to toll systems and red-light enforcement, as well as ITS and smart city applications. It is thus a truly universal ALPR solution. The Carrida software suite includes an AI tool for Make&Model recognition employing deep learning to ensure high recognition rates for vehicles from all over the world.

This feature increases recognition accuracy in ALPR applications. Delivering very fast processing speeds of typically 15 to 20 ms per frame, it reads license plates of vehicles traveling at up to 240 km/h (150 mph) with typical recognition rates >99 % under real-world conditions. The Carrida software is easy to integrate into existing security and surveillance applications. It is fully hardware and vendor-independent and runs on Windows and Linux PCs and ARM architectures on Linux and Android. The software can be used with any C and C++ projects via an application program interface (API). The most recent news announcement from Carrida Technologies is an Android-operated software development kit (SDK). Even mid-range Android devices can easily read full HD images.

Carrida Technologies www.carrida-technologies.com

square root function can linearize the signal from a differential pressure transmitter to display flow rate in engineering units. A lowflow cutoff feature sets a user-defined threshold that forces the display to zero for slow flow rates that often produce unsteady output from a differential pressure transmitter. A pushbutton easily toggles the display of min/max values.

Dual relays enable a variety of alarm trip configurations for high/low, high/high, and low/low limit triggers. They can also be used for process on/off control and pump alternation applications. For desktop monitoring and data acquisition applications, the free software can display and log data from multiple meters on your PC. Acromag https://acromag.com

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May 2020

COT’S PICKS

Curtiss-Wright Expands IndustryLeading Family of PCAP Touchscreen Rugged Displays with New Compact 7” Single Input Design 7” SVDU-M 1920x1080 touchscreen display supports intuitive smartphone-style multipoint navigation and control

Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division has announced the further expansion of its family of rugged displays designed to meet the unique requirements of deployed military and civil aircraft and ground vehicles. The introduction of the new SVDU-M 7” rugged mission display brings intuitive superior Projected Capacitive (PCAP) multipoint touchscreen technology to a compact, single DVI-input, size, weight, and power (SWaP) optimized unit.

With support for 1920x1080 pixel screen resolution, the SVDU-M combines advanced features in a compact display, including optically-bonded glass and LED backlighting for enhanced daylight viewing, and dual-mode LED backlighting to support MIL-STD-3009 NVIS B night vision goggle (NVG) use. Designed for optimal performance in harsh environments, the display’s DVI video input and USB interfaces are supported via a highly rugged MIL-DTL-38999 connector. The SVDU-M’s PCAP touchscreen delivers high reliability and responsiveness even when the operator is wearing gloves or when the screen is wet. This compact, high-resolution display is ideal for integrating touchscreen

Certification authorizes the SeaFIND (Sea Fiber Optic Gyrocompass Inertial Navigation with Data Distribution) system for navigation Northrop Grumman Corporation’s SeaFIND Inertial Navigation System has been type-approved by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), formally certifying its use as a shipboard gyrocompass system for navigation for nations that need the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) compliance.

Northrop Grumman’s SeaFIND Inertial Navigation System Receives Type Approval Certification by US Coast Guard SeaFIND™, Northrop Grumman’s Next Generation Inertial Navigation System is now type approved by the USCG. Following a rigorous process of test and evaluation, the USCG has officially type-ap30

COTS Journal | May 2020

display capabilities onto airborne (rotary and fixedwing), civil (police, search and rescue), and military ground vehicle platforms to enhance situational awareness and support critical missions.

“While some deployed video display applications require high-end performance and integrated PCs, there are many airborne and ground platforms for which a small, less complex touchscreen display hits the sweet spot,” said Lynn Bamford, President, Defense, and Power. “Our new SVDU-M display packs numerous advanced features into a compact 7” rugged design, that combines multi-touch screen navigation with high-resolution 1920x1080 pixel imagery to deliver the accuracy and clarity needed to deliver enhanced situational awareness during critical missions in harsh environments.”

SVDU-M Performance Features: Anytime readability Very high brightness Night Vision compatibility Multi-touch PCAP touch screen capability Single DVI input USB interface Fully ruggedized and sealed unit About PCAP Technology Projected Capacitive (PCAP) multipoint touchscreen technology enables operators to use familiar smartphone interface techniques to annotate, draw, and manipulate screen images. In contrast, traditional resistive touch screens are only able to respond to the touch of a single fin-

proved the SeaFIND system, proving its compatibility and conformity to the IMO’s requirements for a gyrocompass system in addition to its capabilities as an inertial navigator and navigation data distribution system for ships. The USCG certification includes the European Community’s (EC) Mark of Conformity (wheelmark) under the mutual recognition agreement between the U.S. and the EC for type approval.

“In addition to SeaFIND’s low size, weight and power (SWAP), affordability and reliable performance in a GPS denied environment, being type-approved make it very attractive to customers throughout the world,” said Todd Leavitt, vice president, maritime systems & integra-

ger. What’s more, in harsh aerospace and military environments, resistive touch panels typically have lower resistance to shock and shorter lifecycles, when compared to rugged PCAP displays. Additional benefits of PCAP include improved brightness and contrast, a thinner and lighter display head, and reduced costs compared to resistive technology-based alternatives.

Capacitive touchscreen displays work by detecting a change in capacitance on the screen and require no pressure to be applied. Of the two types of capacitive touchscreen technologies, projected and surface, PCAP displays have more accurate touch sensing. PCAP uses a conductive grid to create an electrostatic field that enables SVDU-M users to very accurately control their visual data with the touch of one or multiple fingers, or via the use of a conductive stylus.

Curtiss-Wright http://curtisswright.com

tion, Northrop Grumman. “This certification demonstrates that the system is compliant with a common standard and benchmark.”

Northrop Grumman Corporation www.northropgrumman.com

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