COTS Journal, August 2023

August 2023, Volume 25 - Number 8 • cotsjournalonline.com

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

JOURNAL How FPGAs Address the Radiation Challenges of Space and Aviation Systems Composable Infrastructure at the Edge

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 FEATURE 16

How FPGAs Address the Radiation Challenges of Space and Aviation Systems

DEPARTMENTS 6

The Inside Track

By Ken O’Neill, Space Systems Architect, AMD Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT 20

Composable Infrastructure at the Edge

By John Reardon, Publisher, COTS Journal

COT’S PICKS 23

Editor’s Choice for August

Cover Image Aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 7 fly over USS Dwight D. Eisenhower MEDITERRANEAN SEA, Aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 fly over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). Dwight D. Eisenhower is on a scheduled deployment supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Julia A. Casper/Released) COTS Journal | August 2023

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The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

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NRL Astronomers Track New Stellar Phenomenon The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Very Large Array (VLA) Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE) telescope has helped astronomers confirm findings of a new stellar phenomenon that challenges current scientific understanding of the physics of neutron stars. The object is believed to be an ultra-long period magnetar, a rare type of star with powerful magnetic fields that can produce powerful bursts of energy, a finding that was published today in Nature.

NRL’s VLITE was developed in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in 2014. VLITE operates on the VLA as a stand-alone instrument for ionospheric and astrophysical studies. VLITE’s 18 antennas collect over 6000 hours of data per year, archived at NRL. Initially, it was implemented to constantly monitor the Earth’s ionosphere to study disturbances that can affect it, such as geomagnetic storms, seismic events, and gravity waves. This constant surveillance can detect transient blips, bursts of radio waves from cosmic sources that are elusive without continuous observation. Understanding these phenomena may lead astronomers to a better

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understanding of the Universe.

In September 2022, an international team of astronomers, led by Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in Australia, discovered the stellar object (named GPM J1839-10) using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The discovery set off an intense worldwide effort to understand GPM J1839-10. NRL astronomers quickly reprocessed stored VLITE data, identifying previously hidden emissions from the stellar object. Armed with the VLITE results, astronomers scoured archives and traced the emission from the source back more than three decades, to 1988.

“This enigmatic object has been hiding in the data for decades – we just did not know we had to look for it until its discovery by the MWA,” said Dr. Simona Giacintucci, NRL Research Astronomer. GPM J1839-10 emits a five-minute pulse of radio wavelength emission every 22 minutes, and it’s been doing this for at least 33 years.

“Findings like this are exciting because

they highlight the gaps in our understanding of the physics of these extreme stars known as magnetars,” said Dr. Tracy Clarke, NRL Research Astronomer, and VLITE Project Scientist. “Current understanding says this object should not emit radio waves, yet we are detecting them across several decades and are not sure why. That is an exciting mystery.”

Astronomers believe GPM J1839−10 is a rare neutron star with extremely powerful magnetic fields. “Astronomy is one of those bizarre professions where we cannot go to our objects to study them,” Clarke said. “We are interested in how many of these are and where they are. That is directing future research.”

VLITE has exceeded its original mission fulfilling initial hopes of making discoveries like this. NRL astronomers will continue searching data sets produced with VLITE to lead future discoveries and a better understanding of the Universe with its fascinating objects. NRL’s instrumentation and cutting-edge research support the mission of the Navy and Department of Defense while continuing to contribute to science worldwide.

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Rheinmetall selects DO-178B certifiable PikeOS from SYSGO for A400M Project.

Rheinmetall Defence has selected SYSGO to participate in developing the Loadmaster Workstation equipment.

Due to its long-standing experience, Rheinmetall is the prime contractor for Airbus and is responsible for the Loadmaster Control System for the new A400M military transport aircraft.

Rheinmetall’s role in this program is the system’s responsibility for developing, manufacturing, and supporting the Loadmaster Control System as the electronic brain of the entire cargo hold. It essentially consists of the following components: • the Loadmaster Workstation (LMWS) • the Loadmaster Control Panel (LMCP) • eight Sidewall Lock Panels (SWLP) • a Remote Control Unit (RCU) for the cargo winches and the crane • the Entrance Area Light Panel (EALP) All these elements help the loadmaster perform its primary task: on the ground, it is responsible for loading/unloading operations and for mission adaptation of the cargo hold; in flight, it oversees everything that is not

cockpit-related. In addition to the loadmaster workstation’s primary workplace positioned in the forward area of the aircraft, a loadmaster control panel is provided in the ramp area. This panel offers largely the same functions as the LMWS. A remote control unit can operate the crane or winches needed to stow heavy loads.

The A400M is one of the world’s first aircraft with such a sophisticated system.

As part of the LMWS development, SYSGO supplies the DO-178B certifiable O.S. platform, PikeOS, and assists the development team in porting legacy code initially implemented for a former RTOS. SYSGO’s safe and secure multi-partitioning is necessary to manage the different levels of certification corresponding to the various applications running on top of PikeOS. These applications have a scope of functionality that goes from secure networking to safe support of graphical capabilities.

“The LMWS project is very important and strategic for our company,” states Mr. Bäcker, LMC Project Manager at Rheinmetall Defence.

“We had precise criteria for the selection of our supplier: the high quality and the robustness of the technology, of course, but also the experience in DO-178B certification, the knowledge of the type of application we develop, and a good track record of performance and commitment in supporting customers. The selection of SYSGO

was, therefore, consistent. Besides, SYSGO demonstrated their competency in assisting us in migrating from a previous solution.”

PikeOS is an innovative product providing an embedded systems platform where multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously in a secure environment. The secure virtualization technology allows multiple operating system APIs to run concurrently on one machine, e.g., an ARINC-653 application with Linux. The PikeOS microkernel architecture will enable it to be used in cost-sensitive, resource-constrained devices and large, complex systems. The simplicity and compactness of the PikeOS design have resulted in real-time performance that competes headto-head with conventional proprietary RTOS solutions. PikeOS is certifiable to the DO-178B standard and is also MILS compliant.

“We are very proud to see the level of trust Rheinmetall puts into our company,” said Michael Tiedemann, CEO of SYSGO. “We know that our success relies on the combination of two factors: the excellence of our PikeOS product and the excellence of our engineers in their support and participation in the development of the project. Our selection for this project is another important milestone in PikeOS acceptance in the very demanding avionics market.”

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General Dynamics Land Systems Awarded $258 Million by U.S. Army for 26 Additional M10 Booker Combat Vehicles

General Dynamics Land Systems announced today that it was awarded [defense. gov] a $257.6 million U.S. Army contract modification for the second phase of Low Rate Initial Production of the newly named M10 Booker Combat Vehicle, formerly Mobile Protected Firepower. This latest award calls up 26 additional Booker vehicles.

Designed by General Dynamics Land Systems, the highly lethal, survivable, and mobile direct-fire combat vehicle melds recently developed and battle-tested designs to dominate ground threats on the multi-domain battlefield. The Booker employs a four-person crew

and features an enhanced thermal viewer, a large-caliber cannon, a lightweight hull and turret, and a modern diesel engine, transmission, and suspension system. It has been designed for capability upgrades based on future operational needs.

“We are honored to continue to manufacture the M10 Booker Combat Vehicle,” said Gordon Stein, General Dynamics Land Systems vice president and general manager for U.S. operations. “The M10 provides enhanced firepower for the Army’s Infantry Brigade Combat Teams and has been purpose-built to give them decisive lethality, mobility, and survivability on current and future battlefields.

“We are proud that our years of innovation, research, development, and investment have led to this solution for U.S. Soldiers,” Stein said.

The M10 Booker is the US Army’s new light tank, even though the US Army calls it a Combat Vehicle, and was formerly known as Mobile Protected Firepower. The US Army has ordered a second batch of up to 26 vehicles.

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Mercury Completes Delivery of Critical Hardware for the U.S. Army’s NextGeneration LTAMDS Radars Mercury Systems, Inc. announced it had completed delivery of the processing hardware for the U.S. Army’s first six Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radars built by Raytheon, an RTX business.

LTAMDS is the Army’s newest air and missile defense sensor that will operate on the Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense network. LTAMDS is a 360-degree, Active Electronically Scanned Array radar that provides significantly more capacity and capability against a wide range of advanced lower-tier threats, including hypersonic missiles.

Mercury has provided radar processing systems to Raytheon for Patriot® radars since 2009.

In 2019, Raytheon was chosen by the Army to deliver the first six LTAMDS radars, and Raytheon tapped Mercury to develop an expanded suite

of advanced electronic systems that included the radar processing platform, the beamforming platform, ethernet switching hardware, and high-power amplifiers for the antenna array.

Mercury delivered the last of more than 160 hardware units in May that fulfilled its obligations under the proof of manufacturing contract.

“We are extraordinarily proud to meet our initial commitments to the LTAMDS program, which will play an enormous role in the safety and security of the United States and our allies for years to come,” said Mitch Stevison, EVP and President of Mercury’s of Mission Systems division. “The leading-edge processing technologies we pioneered for this program represent a major step forward for integrated air and missile defense.”

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Quality Time for Duke Energy with ViaLite GPS Links

Energy companies need to guarantee the reliability of their mission-critical I.T. systems and networks, and these need highly accurate timing and synchronization signals for them to function. For this reason, Duke Energy is now using fiber optic links from ViaLite to distribute its GPS-derived timing signals.

chassis cards can operate from 1 m to as far as 50 km.

easy to deploy thanks to its plug-and-play installation.”

“ViaLite’s ability to consistently provide electro-optical devices with state-of-the-art performance, superior quality, and high reliability is second to none,” said Craig Somach, ViaLite’s Director of Sales.

Duke Energy is a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., one of America’s largest energy companies, serving 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky.

It employs 28,000 people and collectively owns 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity.

Duke Energy said, “ViaLite’s equipment worked perfectly as designed and was very

The state-of-the-art R.F. over fiber (RFoF) links have the significant advantage that the signals can be sent over extremely long distances to inaccessible locations without suffering from the attenuation present with coaxial cables.

The GNSS/GPS links support a range of international standards for GPS and timing signals and are designed to be extremely low noise, as GPS signals are often very low intensity when they arrive at the rooftop antenna.

The equipment now in use includes three 1U rack chassis units, each with the capacity to house three card slots, allowing up to six channels per rack. The supplied GPS Link Tx and Rx

PCI-SIG® Exploring an Optical Interconnect to Enable Higher PCIe Technology Performance PCI-SIG establishes a new workgroup to seek industry feedback in developing an optical interconnect

PCI-SIG® announced the formation of a new workgroup to deliver PCI Express® (PCIe®) technology over optical connections.

The PCI-SIG Optical Workgroup intends to be optical technology-agnostic, supporting a wide range of optical technologies while potentially developing technology-specific form factors.

“Optical connections will be an important advancement for PCIe architecture as they will allow for higher performance, lower power consumption, extended reach, and reduced latency,” said Nathan Brookwood, Research Fellow at Insight 64. “Many data-demanding markets and applications such as Cloud and Quantum Computing, Hyperscale Data Centers, and High-Perfor10

COTS Journal | August 2023

mance Computing will benefit from PCIe architecture leveraging optical connections.”

“We have seen strong interest from the industry to broaden the reach of the established, multi-generational, and power-efficient PCIe technology standard by enabling

optical connections between applications,” said PCI-SIG President and Chairperson Al Yanes. “PCI-SIG welcomes input from the industry and invites all PCI-SIG members to join the Optical Workgroup, share their expertise, and help set specific workgroup goals and requirements.”

The

INSIDE TRACK ThoughtSpot Completes $200M Acquisition of Mode Analytics

ThoughtSpot, the AI-Powered Analytics company, today announced that it had completed its acquisition of Mode Analytics, the modern Business Intelligence (B.I.) platform that brings data teams and business teams together to drive impact in a $200M cash and equity transaction.

The acquisition strengthens ThoughtSpot’s position as the industry leader, bringing the next generation of collaborative, AI-first business intelligence (B.I.) to life. ThoughtSpot and Mode Analytics deliver a complete platform spanning modern B.I. needs, from ad hoc novel analysis with a code-first approach to natural language, self-service exploration, and AI-driven monitoring. With one comprehensive solution, data analysts and business users can extract maximum value from their data. Companies can quickly change from a code-first analysis to code-free data exploration without sacrificing speed and flexibility with governed, trusted, self-service analytics.

As a result of this acquisition, ThoughtSpot’s ARR will grow to over $150M, and with

DDC-I’s Deos RTOS Hosts G.E.’s Flight Management System DDC-I, a leading supplier of safety-critical operating systems and tools, announced that its DO-178C Design Assurance Level A Deos™ multicore real-time operating system (RTOS) has been selected by General Electric to host its new flight management system.

G.E.’s FACE-aligned TrueCourse™ Common Flight Management Application is hosted on G.E. touchscreen Open Display Platform (ODP), developed using the Deos RTOS and tools, employs applications leveraging CoreAVI OpenGL SC graphics, a ProtoLogic EDS display platform hardware and software and Ansys display software to deliver best-in-class multicore performance, reconfigurability, modularity, scalability, and reuse.

minimal customer overlap, new growth opportunities remain ahead for the combined company, including the potential to further scale its broad channel partner alliances and geographic footprint. ThoughtSpot is also committing to investing resources to expand Mode’s current offerings, giving data professionals even more capabilities to utilize code-first approaches across their workflows, including SQL, R, and Python.

“The demand for putting the power of A.I. to work is accelerating, and the joined forces of ThoughtSpot and Mode means data teams can confidently bring generative A.I. capabilities to business users – enter the new era of business intelligence. Bridging the gap between data teams and business users in a unified, dependable, governed way is something the market has needed for a long time,” said Sudheesh Nair, CEO of ThoughtSpot. “The beauty of this acquisition is we’ve tackled the same core problem in B.I. - making it useful to every technical and nontechnical employee from opposite ends. We are committed to continuing to push the boundaries on both ends of the spectrum. With the incredible talent keting at DDC-I. “We look forward to continuing working with G.E. and its partners to provide this world-class integrated, certifiable, FACE-aligned, multicore flight management

and knowledge Mode’s team brings, especially for data teams, we will leverage our combined R&D muscle to make Mode’s offerings even stronger for data teams.”

“In my two decades working in the B.I. space, now is the first time that we can finally deliver on the promise of true self-service analytics for any user. We’ve reached an inflection point with the rise of data teams at companies of all sizes, from digital natives to the global 2000; innovations in search pioneered

by ThoughtSpot that have served as the great unlock for business users; and the proliferation of generative A.I., which we’re collectively committed to infusing everywhere in our combined platform,” said Gaurav Rewari, Mode CEO. “No other technology, including the data visualization players that dominated the last decade of B.I., come anywhere close.

We’re uniquely positioned to help our customers make trustworthy, generative AI-powered analytics a reality.” platform that offers optimum performance, modularity, scalability, safety criticality, and display capabilities.”

“DDC-I has been at the forefront of the FACE standardization effort and has an unmatched pedigree with millions of hours of flight logged aboard commercial and military aircraft,” said Greg Rose, vice president of marCOTS Journal | August 2023

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PPM Provides the Power for Huge Satellite Test Chamber

RAL Space is the U.K.’s national space laboratory and an integral part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It aims to advance the understanding of Space and the environment for everyone’s benefit.

In support of this work, RAL Space has introduced a new thermal vacuum chamber for testing satellites – the largest in the U.K.!

The bespoke vacuum chamber is part of RAL Space’s National Satellite Test Facility, the first of its kind in the U.K., enabling larger and more complex spacecraft testing. It will be used to simulate the extreme vacuum and thermal conditions encountered in Space and consists of a 7m x 12m cylindrical vacuum vessel lined with temperature-controlled panels.

PPM Power, a leading U.K. specialist distributor of components and systems for high

voltage, pulsed power, and power electronics, was chosen to provide RAL Space with compact power units for the chamber’s heaters.

As the Space for instrumentation was strictly limited, the advanced design of the chosen TDK-Lambda UK Genesys+TM half-rack power supplies enabled all 140 required units to fit into the available volume within the chamber.

The programmable units are half the size of traditional single-rack power supplies.

PPM additionally provided specialist support so that the units may be recessed and angled to allow even tighter placement within the chamber’s setup. The high-density units also provide RAL Space with the benefit of being highly reliable and coming with an extended five-year warranty.

“We are delighted to provide a compact bespoke solution on this exciting project,” said David Thornton, PPM Power Business Development Manager.

Thornton also noted PPM worked closely with power supply manufacturer, TDK-Lambda UK, to deliver the demanding project on time.

The power supplies were specified and procured for RAL Space by STFC’s Technology Department teams, who were also responsible for executing the design, construction, and commissioning of the vacuum heater control systems.

When fully completed, the National Satellite Test Facility will provide the U.K. space sector with all the major testing facilities they need under one roof.

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Uncrewed Air Systems Provider Reduces Risk, Enhances Performance with AMETEK Abaco Systems and SYSGO Partnership

AMETEK Abaco Systems and SYSGO are now equipping an uncrewed air systems (UAS) developer with their joint certifiable mission computer hardware and software components. It comprises the hardware comprising Abaco’s SBC314C flight safety certifiable single board computer, SYSGO’s real-time operating system, and hypervisor PikeOS. The vertical takeoff and landing UAS uses; “fly-by-wire”; technology and is designed redundantly. The aircraft’s hardware and software package allows it to automatically perform missions in complex electromagnetic environments on land or sea. The certifiable technology solutions created in the collaboration between Abaco and SYSGO are giving the UAS developer increased aircraft development flexibility, openness, and efficiency. The equipment supplied to the UAS developer is the start of a long-term strategic partnership between SYSGO and Abaco.

Abaco’s SBC314C flight safety certifiable single board computer is available stand-alone or as part of the FORCE2C flight safety certifiable mission computer LRU. Both are engineered to meet airworthiness regulations per AMC 20-152A and are available with DO-178C and DO-254 supporting artifacts audited by an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER). They are suitable for a irborne and ground control station applications and compatible with certifiable commercial-off-the-shelf APIs and operating systems.

wide range of operational “guests” in the market, including Linux, certified POSIX, ARINC, OSEK, Ada, RT Java, and others.

“The technology partnership between SYSGO and Abaco increases the value and efficiency we can deliver to the UAS developer and other companies,” says Franz Walkembach, VP of marketing and alliances from SYSGO. “ Combining an innovative software solution with a sophisticated board support package is a plus for demanding mission-critical

Navistar Defense Receives Award for Common Tactical Truck (CTT) Prototype Phase Navistar Defense, LLC announced an award from the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC) for the prototype phase of the Common Tactical Truck (CTT) program for the U.S. Army’s PM Transportation Systems and PEO Combat Support / Combat Service Support (PEO CS/CSS).

“As an industry leader in Militarized Commercial Off-the-Shelf vehicles, Navistar Defense is strongly positioned to meet the CTT program’s mission goals of combining commerciality, commonality, and capability at the best value for the U.S. taxpayer,” said Ted Wright, chief executive officer, Navistar Defense.

Navistar Defense’s heritage traces back to the proven design, manufacturing, and logistics

embedded system applications. Also, with PikeOS , customers profit from ITAR-free an solution.”

support of commercial trucks. This enables the company to combine the best of commercial and military capabilities, offering capable, cost-effective, low-risk solutions with a strong commercial lineage.

“Navistar Defense is uniquely capable of balancing the Army’s force protection, survivability, and mission readiness requirements while leveraging the commercial industry’s rapidly advancing technological capabilities,” added Wright. “Our superior platforms are scalable to meet most of the Army’s Tactical Wheeled Vehicles vehicle applications and mission roles for their medium and heavy fleets.”

Navistar Defense will deliver Load Handling, Line Haul Tractor, and Off-Road Tractor prototype systems that will be assessed through government evaluations and Soldier Touchpoints (STPs) to achieve the U.S. Army’s desired characteristics.

“The UAS now has the most flexible and sophisticated combination of certifiable hardware, an open board support package, and embedded software,” says Alan Hislop, Abaco vice president of business development, sales, and marketing.

“Our partnership with SYSGO reduces the risk of any hardware and software mismatch as well as reducing time to develop new aircraft and take it to market.”

SYSGO’S PikeOS is an innovative real-time operating system and hypervisor, providing a platform where multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously in a secure environment. The Safe and Secure Virtualization (SSV) technology allows multiple operating systems APIs to run concurrently on one device. PikeOS provides a COTS Journal | August 2023

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Thales awarded significant orders to deliver handheld IMBITR radios for U.S. Army’s Leader Radio Program.

Thales has just been awarded its fifth order, valued at $100M, to deliver 4,000 handheld Improved Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radios (IMBITR) for the U.S. Army’s Leader Radio Program under the second full-rate production order (FRP2), bringing the total number of IMBITR to be deployed by the U.S. Army to 14,000—their joint venture with Leonardo DRS. The radio forms a critical element of the U.S. Army’s modern, resilient tactical network, giving warfighters increased flexibility in multi-domain operations through enhanced communication capabilities.

The IMBITR is the first handheld radio to use the U.S. Army’s latest Warrior Robust Enhanced Network waveform and can operate in challenging radio frequency (R.F.) environments, enhancing situational awareness and faster decision-making.

Thales announces its fifth order for the U.S. Army Leader Program, valued at up to $100 mil-

Aerojet Rocketdyne Successfully Hot Fires Large Solid Rocket Motor to Power Missile Defense Agency’s Next Generation MRBM Target Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed the qualification static fire test of the eSR-19, the advanced large solid rocket motor that will power the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) next-generation Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) target used to test our nation’s missile defense systems.

“I applaud the dedicated efforts by teams across Aerojet Rocketdyne to meet this important milestone,” said Eileen P. Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and president. “Our steadfast workforce and advanced solid rocket motor propulsion remain crucial to helping protect our nation and our allies.”

The successful qualification test, conducted by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Aerojet Rocketdyne personnel at AFRL’s test facility at Edwards Air Force Base, California, paves the way to deliver flight test motors later this year.

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lion, demonstrating continued success within the U.S. Army’s Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) Army Leader Radio Program.

In September, awards were made under the FRP-2 contracting effort and existing competitive, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. This most recent award represents an additional 4,000-plus AN/PRC-148D 2-channel IMBITR (Improved Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radios), bringing the total of IMBITR radios ordered by the U.S. Army to more than 14,000.

This contract demonstrates Thales’ ability to deliver mission-critical capabilities into the Army’s Integrated Tactical Network (ITN) and Capability Set formations. As a critical component of the Army’s unified network strategy, the Thales IMBITR system extends advanced networking capabilities to the tactical edge, allowing warfighters increased flexibility in multi-domain operations.

In partnership with the U.S. Army, Thales is delivering the latest WREN-TSM Mobile Ad-Hoc

The eSR-19 is a redesigned version of the SR-19 currently serving as the second stage of the nation’s Minuteman III strategic missiles. Featuring a lighter, filament-wound composite case and other performance-enhancing improvements, the eSR-19 will provide the propulsion for both stages of MDA’s air-launched, medium-range target vehicle, developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne subsidiary Coleman Aerospace.

The motor was designed and fabricated in

Networking (MANET) waveform and simultaneously critical narrowband, tactical line-of-sight, and beyond-line-of-sight communications capabilities. Together, these provide cryptographically modernized, assured, simultaneous networked voice, data, and video communications for improved situational awareness and real-time decision-making.

The Thales AN/PRC-148D IMBITR is the first handheld radio to field the U.S. Army Warrior Robust Enhanced Network (WREN-TSM™) waveform, which is a Type 1 robust, reliable, and scalable networking waveform capable of 800-plus nodes and operating in challenging radio frequency (R.F.) environments.

Currently, 8,400 IMBITR radios are operationally deployed, highly successful, and a preferred solution for the Security Force Assistance Brigade and Infantry Brigade Combat Team/ Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.

Aerojet Rocketdyne facilities in Huntsville, Alabama, and cast and cured in Camden, Arkansas.

The eSR-19 motors are later integrated into the target systems by the Coleman Aerospace team in Orlando, Florida.

This recent qualification test was the latest achievement in the evolution of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s legacy Large Solid Rocket Motor (LSRM) capabilities, including investments in a talented workforce and new modern LSRM facilities.

SPECIAL FEATURE

How FPGAs Address the Radiation Challenges of Space and Aviation Systems

By Ken O’Neill, Space Systems Architect, AMD Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group Concerns about the radiation hardness of microelectronic components were once solely the domain of design teams working on spacecraft, satellites, and rockets. But today, the designers of many high-reliability, high-availability terrestrial applications must consider ground-level radiation effects when selecting components for their systems.

Advanced driver assistance systems in the field of automotive electronics, along with

applications in medical electronics, safetycritical industrial electronics, and high availability commercial applications such as data center servers and storage systems, all have emerging requirements to operate reliably in ground-level background radiation. This has encouraged some suppliers of microelectronic components to include some level of radiation hardening in their product designs.

Designers of aviation and space systems

have turned to field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), known for their reprogrammability and radiation-tolerance, to create on-board systems to meet the demanding performance needs of future missions. But to understand the suitability of these microelectronic devices in space we must first understand the types of radiation effects they’re up against and the role traceability plays in ensuring these systems maintain their integrity.

Types of Radiation Effects Radiation effects can be divided into two categories – single-event effects and total ionizing dose effects.

Single-event effects occur when a single sub-atomic particle interacts with a semiconductor. In ground-level and airborne electronics, single-event effects are most commonly caused either by alpha particles arising from impurities in the semiconductor material or the packaging materials surrounding the semiconductor or by neutrons in the atmosphere which are created by the bombardment of atmospheric gases by radiation from space, high in the atmosphere.

In space, single-events are caused primarily by protons and heavy ions. Unimpeded by the atmosphere, and concentrated by the earth’s magnetic field, protons and heavy ions encountered by earth-orbiting satellites are orders of magnitude more energetic and damaging than the neutrons and alpha particles encountered at ground level.

Figure 1: FET Cross Section during Radiation Single-Event 16

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Single-Event Upsets Single-event upsets (SEUs) occur when a flip-flop or an SRAM cell experiences a sudden small pulse of current due to the ionization and subsequent recombination of a region of semiconductor in the vicinity of a PN junction in the flip-flop or memory cell. This happens when a charged particle (alpha particle, proton, or heavy ion) passes through the semiconductor. Despite not having any electrical charge, neutrons cause

If an SEU occurs in a control register within an integrated circuit, it may cause a temporary malfunction of the integrated circuit.

this effect by colliding with a silicon atom in the semiconductor lattice, which causes a shower of charged particles to emerge from the collision and cause the ionization and recombination effect.

The SEU alters the content of the flip-flop or SRAM cell. For example, a memory element that contained a logic 1 would contain a logic 0 after experiencing an SEU. The effect will remain until new data is written into the flipflop or SRAM cell at the next clock cycle. At a system level, the result of an SEU could be relatively inconsequential.

For example, an SEU that occurs in a communications datapath may have no effect at all, because the data being processed is already protected by forward error encoding.

On the other hand, an SEU that occurs in a state machine that is controlling the flight control surface actuators in an aircraft may have disastrous consequences, if the state machine is not built with fault-tolerant design techniques. Each designer is responsible for understanding the safety-critical nature of their system and employing such fault-tolerant

design techniques as may be necessary.

Single-Event Functional Interrupts If an SEU occurs in a control register within an integrated circuit, it may cause a temporary malfunction of the integrated circuit. This special case is known as a single-event functional interrupt (SEFI).

An example would be an embedded microcontroller in a complex integrated circuit such as an FPGA. The function of the microcontroller includes power-on sequencing of functional blocks, crypto and security functions, and reprogramming. An SEU that occurs in a register of the microcontroller could cause the microcontroller to malfunction until the SEU is detected and the microcontroller is reset. Evidently, the consequences of a SEFI are potentially many times more severe than an SEU. To prevent the occurrence of SEFIs such as this in terrestrial and airborne systems, the Platform Management Controller (PMC) found within the FPGA-based AMD Versal product family features a triple-redundant hardwired

Figure 3: Configuration Scrubbing Software Running on Triple Redundant Platform Management Controller

MicroBlaze CPU with an SEU-optimized voting circuit. Radiation testing has confirmed that the probability of a SEFI in the PMC is effectively zero in ground-level and airborne applications, and roughly one in six years in geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO), where highly energetic heavy ions are prevalent.

Another example of a SEFI is where the configuration memory of an SRAM-based FPGA experiences an SEU. In 90% to 95% of cases, a configuration memory upset will not affect the functionality of the circuit, as most configuration bits are unused in any specific design. In today’s state-of-the-art FPGAs, the configuration memory is protected by error detection and correction encoding.

Each configuration word, comprising data and correction bits, is interleaved with other configuration words, physically separating bits in each word and effectively reducing to zero the probability that a single radiation event will cause uncorrectable errors in a configuration word. Software running on the triple-redundant PMC automatically corrects errors in the configuration memory.

Figure 2: Configuration Memory Interleaving COTS Journal | August 2023

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Single-Event Latch Up The third category is single-event latch-up (SEL). This is a potentially very dangerous phenomenon where a particle with sufficient energy causes a parasitic PNPN structure to become forward-biased, creating a lowimpedance current path between power and ground within the microcircuit.

In extreme cases, the microcircuit can be immediately destroyed. In other cases, the microcircuit can remain functional after the latch-up is cleared by cycling power, but the damage caused by the excessive current flow

may dramatically reduce the lifetime of the component.

Total Ionizing Dose Effects Total ionizing dose (TID) effects arise due to the long-term accumulation of radiation over the lifetime of the component. They are usually observed as a gradual increase in leakage current and a gradual deterioration in performance over the lifetime of the part.

Radiation Testing Some component manufacturers produce radiation test data for their products, and

Figure 4: SEFIs in SoC Processor System Showing Distribution and Test Coverage 18

COTS Journal | August 2023

this is sometimes supplemented by test data produced independently by space agencies, national laboratories, and other research institutions.

However, microelectronic components are becoming more complex, featuring multiple processors with multiple architectures, along with diverse memory structures, dedicated DSP resources, arrays of vector processors, gigabit transceivers and other functions. This creates enormous challenges for teams planning radiation test campaigns, as they must create efficient and effective test methodologies to exercise all aspects of the target microcircuit’s operation, while limiting their use of scarce and expensive radiation test facility beam time.

To address the challenges of radiation testing, AMD, for example, has developed a unique, innovative test methodology for the Versal adaptive SoC devices which exercises the many disparate functions of the SoC core.

A comprehensive self-checking validation tool causes large amounts of data traffic to move between processing elements, reaching high levels of functional coverage and achieving very efficient use of limited radiation beam time.

Traceability is Key How does the equipment manufacturer know that radiation test data collected months or years before component acquisition apply to the parts that are currently being purchased?

This is an important question, as radiation effects depend on multiple factors and not just the original design of the integrated circuit. Any drift in the manufacturing process can cause a variation in the TID effects. A change in the foundry can result in changes in design rules which can have a dramatic effect on the onset threshold at which SEL effects appear, possibly rendering a microcircuit unusable in a harsh environment such as GEO or mid-earth orbit, where high concentrations of heavy ions pose a significant threat to microelectronic systems.

Clearly, it is important that developers of space and aviation systems use components that have traceability at least to individual semiconductor fabrication lots. Some suppliers of microcircuits for space and aviation maintain traceability not only to the wafer lot but the specific location of the die in an individual wafer in a wafer lot.

Additionally, many suppliers of microcircuits

to space and aviation customers will maintain comprehensive change control systems, so that if any manufacturing change needs to be made, customers will be alerted in advance.

This level of traceability and change control is great assurance for developers whose system designs must function flawlessly in harsh radiation environments. As such, it is important to use parts from suppliers that offer that level of traceability.

Conclusion Modern FPGAs have become go-to solutions for space and aviation systems and must cope with radiation effects at ground level.

In some cases, this results in microcircuits that effectively tolerate radiation effects in airborne and space applications. Testing is critical before committing a space or airborne design to a specific integrated circuit, and the level of complexity of today’s leading components creates a significant challenge for organizations performing testing. Traceability and change control are essential to ensuring that test data gathered before the acquisition of flight components is relevant to the parts being sourced.

COTS Journal | August 2023

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

Composable Infrastructure at the Edge

By John Reardon, Publisher, COTS Journal The Atmos from Core The future of military vehicles excites the imagination. From fully autonomous to fully electrified, the future of tactical vehicles is shaping into a new frontier. The Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) in Warren, Michigan, has become the center for integrating advanced survivability and network solutions. As every vehicle within a battlefield has the potential of becoming a contributing part of a sensor array, the individual soldier becomes highly reliant on knowing their surroundings and having enhanced communications.

The Army has lofty goals to have a unified network by 2030 that will support a large-scale ground combat operation, near-peer adversaries, and globally distributed EW threats, all as the pace of technologies accelerates with an increasing speed. To do this, the Army relies heavily on industry stakeholders to offer COTS solutions.

The experienced team of engineers at Core Systems in San Diego, California, has developed solutions through the years to meet the rigors of advanced transportable. By building on this history, the engineers have developed an industry first with the Atmos, a 3 Node, high-performance computing solution.

The idea was to create a SWAP-C optimized solution with leading-edge performance that meets the rigors of the application and allows the user to remove critical data de-classifying the vehicle after each mission.

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connection that is familiar to many and can handle many possibilities.

Situational Awareness GVSC is advancing plans to deploy 360-degree video streams around the JTLV and the Bradley. This singular activity will compound the compute requirements and demands on system interactions. The first requirement is to use the video stream to protect the foot soldiers as they enter and exit the vehicle. But one can imagine how video streams might be fed into a sensor array for the coordinates of the enemy and, subsequently, the fire control system. Another might imagine how an anti-mine or predictive maintenance solution might require image processing abilities to detect concerns.

From the JTLV to the Abrams M1 Tanks, the need for comprehensive situational awareness has caused the integration of numerous otherwise discreet systems. The idea that everything from the fire control system to real-time video streams is to be combined into a single pane of glass was the inspiration for Atmos. The Atmos is a highly configurable tactical cloud solution that uses advanced processors, bringing data center performance in a package of less than 70 pounds to the edge.

The Atmos is a mission-enabling solution that employs the latest mechanical design to address enhanced communication needs. It uses high-end Xeon processors from Intel to leverage the newest technology in CCD Cameras, displays, drive-by-wire, UAV aerial-provided video, and improved communications.

The ease of use and the feature set of the Atmos will make our infantry more lethal and returns them home safely. By employing a Cisco 8 port Switch, the Atmos features a commercial data

The engineers at Core designed Atmos to be a transformative computing solution for all types of applications. Having three independent systems allows configurations that target applications with high reliability and redundancy needs. Its aluminum construction meets mil standards for “Rugged” and significantly reduces the payload of other systems.

The connected battlefield offers a very porous environment for security concerns. The Atmos can be easily removed if the vehicle is

Beyond this mission, critical data can be placed or removed from the vehicle as desired to de-classify the vehicle upon the completion of the mission.

COTS Journal | August 2023

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disabled, preventing data from falling into the wrong hands. Beyond this mission, critical data can be placed or removed from the vehicle as desired to de-classify the vehicle upon the completion of the mission. The system’s storage can support AES 256 encryption, FIP140-2, and DARE (Data at Rest Encryption).

The Atmos has a 12 TB NVMe capacity for capturing large data sets from multiple sources.

5G Leader Follower initiative The impact of 5G on the battlefield will increase the size of the data sets and facilitate composable infrastructure. By allowing UAVs that support 5G to low-earth orbiting satellites, the Army hopes to build a high-speed composable network. The idea is to provide real-time image and communications solutions through a stable 5G solution. This will advance the remote piloting of logistics vehicles and aid in affirming that the right compute assets are available to every node in the field of operations.

The proposed composable architecture from the Army will pool enterprise resources, reducing underutilization and overprovisioning in support of a more agile network. Through dynamic access to Software APIs, assets in the

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field won’t be burdened with understanding whether a critical software tool is available.

From an NLP (natural language program) to an encryption key, having software tools at your disposal in real time will be a game changer.

The deployment of 5G and the Sensor-to-shooter initiative, that everything contributes to the sensor array and the information gleaned results in an unexpected, asymmetrical response to an attack, increases the system requirements exponentially. Add the need for narrow AI solutions, and you require data center performance at the edge. To achieve high operational velocity, Atmos must support various workloads and contribute to the theater of operations without failure. It must have the computational bandwidth to support a broad number of resources from all branches of the government.

The Army has opened the door for a multinode solution by eliminating workload-specific environments and striving for a solution that supports numerous communication paths that can be provisioned in the field and takes advantage of commercially available advances that outperform the past’s discrete solutions.

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August 2023

COT’S PICKS Nexperia unveils the industry’s first coin cell battery life and power booster Delivers up to 10x battery life and range extension in IoT devices.

Nexperia, the expert in essential semiconductors, has just introduced the NBM7100 and NBM5100, revolutionary new types of battery life boosting ICs designed to extend the life of a typical non-rechargeable lithium coin cell battery by up to 10x compared to competing solutions while also increasing its peak output current capability by up to 25x compared to what a typical coin cell can deliver without a battery booster. This unrivaled extension in working life will significantly reduce the amount of battery waste in low-power Internet of Things (IoT) and other portable applications while making coin cells a viable power source for applications that could previously only operate from AA- or AAAbatteries.

ies have relatively high internal resistance and chemical reaction rates that reduce their usable capacity when under pulsed-load conditions.

To overcome this limitation, the NBM7100 and NBM5100 contain two high-efficiency DC/DC conversion stages and an intelligent learning algorithm. The first conversion stage transfers energy from the battery to a capacitive storage element at a low rate. The second stage utilizes the stored energy to provide a regulated (programmable from 1.8 V to 3.6 V) high pulse (up to 200 mA) current output. The intelligent learning algorithm monitors the energy used during repetitive load pulse cycles and optimizes firststage DC/DC conversion to minimize the residual charge in the storage capacitor. When not performing an energy conversion cycle (standby state), these devices consume less than 50 nA. Both devices are specified over -40 °C to 85 °C, making them suitable for commercial indoor and industrial outdoor environments. A ‘low battery’ indicator alerts the system when the

battery reaches its functional endpoint. In addition, brownout protection inhibits the charging of the storage capacitor when the battery is near the end of its life.

A system microcontroller includes a serial interface for configuration and control: I2C in NMB7100A and NBM5100A and serial peripheral interface (SPI) in NMB7100B and NBM5100B versions. Both devices can extend the lifetime of energy-dense Lithium primary batteries, including coin cells, Lithium Thionyl (ex: LS14250 1/2 AA), and emerging paper printed types, thus reducing maintenance by extending the time interval between battery replacements. In addition, the NBM5100A/B includes a capacitor voltage balancing pin for super-capacitor-based implementations.

Nexperia nexperia.com

“Introducing this battery life booster product signals Nexperia’s further expansion into battery management solutions,” said Dan Jensen, General Manager of Nexperia’s BG Analog and Logic ICs. “We are excited to unveil these innovative products complementary to our existing analog and logic products. The NBM7100 and NBM5100 significantly enhance coin cell performance which helps to help reduce battery waste in IoT, wearables, and other consumer applications.”

CR2032 and CR2025 Lithium coin cells have higher energy density and longer shelf life. As a result, they are commonly used in low-power applications, including devices with Low Power Wi-Fi, LoRa, Sigfox, Zigbee, LTE-M1, and NB-IoT transceivers.

However, these batterCOTS Journal | August 2023

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August 2023

COT’S PICKS RadioWaves Introduces Wi-Fi 6e/7 Point-to-Point Antennas

New Wi-Fi 6e/7 Point-to-Point Antennas Ensure Reliable Usage for Multiple Devices.

RadioWaves, an Infinite Electronics brand and a manufacturer of high-quality microwave antennas and accessories, has just introduced a new line of 6 GHz point-to-point antennas for accessing the newest Wi-Fi 6e or Wi-Fi 7 frequency bands.

RadioWaves’ new Wi-Fi 6e/7 point-to-point antennas feature type-N female and RP-SMA male connector options for MIMO applications.

The portfolio contains parabolic antennas ranging from 4.9 to 7.125 GHz, granting access to the latest Wi-Fi 6e and upcoming Wi-Fi 7 bands.

RadioWaves offers available collapsible and

mmTron Announces Low Noise, High Linearity RF to A/D Converter Interfaces mmWave semiconductor startup mmTron Inc. announced a family of MMICs for driving high-speed analog-to-digital (A/D) converters.

The TMC161 family converts a single-ended RF input to a differential output to drive A/D converters for direct-sampling applications from L/S/C- into Ku- and Ka-Band. The TMC161 provides low noise, high linearity (low IMD2 and IMD3 distortion) amplification, and anti-alias

rigid parabolic antennas with 1-foot, 2-foot, and 3-foot sizes. These parabolic antennas are engineered with dual slant and V/H polarization with quick adjustments.

“Our customers need to access the latest 6 GHz bands, including those used in Wi-Fi 6e and Wi-Fi 7, to handle the increasing demands of multiple devices operating at once, without sacrificing their network performance. That’s why we’ve designed these point-to-point antennas − to help their networks reach greater channel bandwidth, increased AP capacity, and more efficient bandwidth sharing,” said Kevin Hietpas, Antenna Product Line Manager.

RadioWaves. radiowaves.com

filtering.

Increasing data converter Nyquist sampling rates and instantaneous bandwidth have enabled a simplified RF front-end architecture to be adopted by many applications.

System benefits include more straightforward frequency planning; high spur-free dynamic range (SFDR); reduced latency; low analog phase and amplitude uncertainty; simplified channel synchronization; and smaller size, weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C).

are enabling direct digital conversion at ever-increasing bandwidths, making the quality of the RF signal presented to the A/D converter critical to maximizing the system’s dynamic range and sensitivity,” said Seyed Tabatabaei, mmTron’s CEO and founder. “Our skilled team designed the TMC161 family to provide high SFDR and low noise amplification with low IMD2 and IMD3 distortion while converting a single-ended RF input to the differential signal required by high sample-rate A/D converters.

The integration provides SWAP-C advantages for software-defined radios.”

“Higher A/D converter sampling rates EW systems must simultaneously track multiple targets and instantaneously tune across a wide frequency range to implement complex sweeping and hopping patterns. The TMC161 and its companion TMC160 digital-to-analog (D/A) converter interface extend the frequency range of direct digital processing in these systems into Ka-Band.

In addition to EW, the TMC161 simplifies the design of software-defined radios for instrumentation, radar, satellite communications, and 5G, enabling the receiver to process a much wider instantaneous bandwidth in less time than previous solutions. mmTron mmtron.com

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August 2023

COT’S PICKS SOSA-aligned, Cybersecurity-enabled U-C8500 from Aitech is ideal for High Performing Applications in SWaP-C Environments Aitech Systems has announced that its SOSAaligned U-C8500 3U VPX SBC has passed environmental qualification testing.

Aligned with The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard, Aitech’s U-C8500 is based on Intel’s ground-breaking SWaP-C optimized Tiger Lake UP3(TGL-UP3) SoC, which combines a high-performing CPU with a strong internal GPU and an advanced Image Processing Unit. The SBC also incorporates highly integrated memory technology (LPDDR4X) for better graphics processing performance and high-speed PCIe Gen4 and 10 Gbps Ethernet.

Combining the U-C8500’s high-performing technologies facilitates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) processing capabilities in various rugged military and aerospace data-sensitive applications.

and image processing, as well as signal intelligence (SIGINT) and electronic warfare (EW).

The U-C8500 is part of Aitech’s U-C850X series that combines the three pillars of modern data processing on the same board: CPU, iGPU, and optional large FPGA. Potential future enhanced vari-

ants include the U-C8501 (with PCIe Switch for enhanced Expansion Plane and XMC connectivity), the U-C8502 (with integrated Xilinx MPSoC FPGA), and the U-C8503 (with integrated TSN Endpoint).

Aitech Systems aitechsystems.com

Alex Trigoub, Director of Board Level Product Line for Aitech, noted, “AI in military electronics continues to grow in complexity. Developed specifically with faster memory, PCIe, and Ethernet connectivity, as well as to optimize SWaP-C and align with DoD MOSA initiatives, the U-C8500 is capable of processing large amounts of data without any loss of performance while staying within an optimized power envelope. This combination ensures the SBC can meet the demands of military systems today and makes it capable of handling the needs of next-gen military technology tomorrow.”

Designed from the ground up with security in mind, the U-C8500 provides a comprehensive cybersecurity framework – AiSecure, which includes both standard and advanced system protection. The inherent security features enable both firmware and data protection and prevent reverse engineering and tampering with system integrity while allowing secure transmission and storage of sensitive data.

Now that the U-C8500 has completed successful environmental qualification testing, the SBC can be effectively incorporated into several harsh military and aerospace applications that need highly integrated functionality and unique SWaP-C optimization to provide reliable data processing. These environments include unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles (UAV/UGV), cockpit/display and mission computers, digital signal COTS Journal | August 2023

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August 2023

COT’S PICKS Powermat launches a 600W wireless power platform to reduce the costs of deploying wireless industrial, micro-mobility, robotics, medical, and telecom systems

both maintenance and wired charging, lowering total costs of ownership (TCO).

Powermat created its next-generation 600W wireless power platform to make it more affordable for OEMs to develop this cable-free, wirelessly-powered system for industrial and Powermat Technologies, the global wireless other mid-power applications. Two things lowpower pioneer that brought wireless charging to er the OEM’s system cost: Powermat’s unique smartphones, cars, and coffee shops, today an- licensing model and an optimized reference denounced its PMT350 600W wireless power plat- sign that’s ready for production. The sub $100 refform, the next generation in its family of plat- erence design provided with the PMT350 license forms based on the Company’s SmartInductive™ can reduce OEM capital expenditures by 10x and hybrid inductive/resonance technology. Building includes complete production files such as BOM, on the Company’s innovation legacy and previ- schematics, integration support, and system ous-generation 40W, 200W, and 300W platforms, pre-certifications.

Powermat’s powerful new 600W platform is opti“Delivering the first affordable wireless mized for mid-power industrial, micro-mobility (e-bikes, e-scooters, golf carts), robotics, medical power system designed for Industry 4.0 is a game changer for powerful systems that are notoriand telecom applications. ously expensive to implement,” said Powermat’s Removing charging cables and replacing CEO, Kfir Abuhatzira. “Industrial equipment them with Powermat’s wireless power technol- often vibrates or moves, so replacing charging ogy creates autonomous, efficient systems free cables which can break or dislodge with wirefrom exact alignment or docking restrictions less power technology eliminates the expenand able to reduce the expensive downtime of sive downtime of both maintenance and wired

New High-Performance ATR Enclosures Aligned with the SOSA™ Technical Standard Announced by Pixus Pixus Technologies, a provider of embedded computing and enclosure solutions, has released new 1/2 to 3/4-size ATRs aligned with the SOSA Technical Standard. These chassis support multiple 3U OpenVPX in various slot profile configurations.

The new Pixus ATRs come in versions that hold VITA 48.2 conduction-cooled boards in up to 12 and 10 slots, respectively. Depending on the application environment, they have supplemental airflow over the fins inside the sidewalls for enhanced cooling up to 100W/slot. The airflow is achieved with dual MIL-grade fans or via an interface to the platform’s air conditioning system. Backplanes are available in various sizes and configurations for multiple OpenVPX/ SOSA profiles and speeds up to 100GbE and PCIe Gen4 (higher speeds are optional upon request).

The Pixus ATRs are designed to the latest MIL 810, MIL 461, DO-160, and related specifications. There is space below the backplane 26

COTS Journal | August 2023

for routing RF and fiber interfaces to the front panel along with Pixus’ standard SHM300 SOSA Aligned chassis manager. Tempest and special filtering are optional. Pixus tailors each solution to the customer’s application requirements by leveraging these proven platforms.

Pixus offers SOSA Aligned chassis platforms in ATR, MIL rugged rackmount, and lab/ test formats. Cooling configurations are available in conduction, airflow over conduction fins, Air-Flow-Through (AFT), Air-Flow-By (AFB), and liquid cooling. With SOSA backplanes, enclosures, chassis managers, and partners for power supplies and plugin cards, Pixus can provide a complete SOSA Aligned solution for customers.

Pixus Technologies pixustechnologies.com

charging to lower total cost of ownership.”

The new high-performance PMT350 platform delivers a total power of 600W with up to 58V input and output and up to 12.5A current.

It also works with lower-power applications and can be configured in multi-module mode for applications requiring more than 600W. Powermat’s SmartInductive wireless power technology features embeddable software implemented on COTS hardware for maximum affordability. A transmitter (Tx) sends energy wirelessly to a receiver (Rx), which converts it to power to power a device or recharge its batteries. SmartInductive combines the best of short-range inductive and resonance wireless charging to eliminate exact placement restrictions and provide freedom of alignment between the Tx and Rx charging coils up to eight inches. SmartInductive can penetrate eight inches of walls and windows and, beyond power transmission, can also transmit data between the coils to control edge devices.

Powermat powermat.com

August 2023

COT’S PICKS Supermicro Adds 192-Core ARM CPUBased Low Power Servers to Its Broad Range of Workload Optimized Servers and Storage Systems

experience increased performance for various workloads and lower energy use. We continue to design and deliver a range of environmentally friendly servers that give customers a competitive advantage for various applications.”

Supermicro, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing several new servers to its already broad application-optimized product line. These new servers incorporate the new AmpereOne™ CPU, with up to 192 single-threaded cores and up to 4TB of memory capacity.

Applications such as databases, telco edge, web servers, caching services, media encoding, and video gaming streaming will benefit from increased cores, faster memory access, higher performance per watt, scalable power management, and the new cloud security features. Additionally, Cloud Native microservice-based applications will benefit from lower latencies and power usage.

As part of the ARM ecosystem, these new servers incorporate OpenBMC for industry-standard server management, which enables the integration of these new Supermicro servers into on-prem and hyperscale data centers.

“Supermicro is expanding our customer choices by introducing these new systems that incorporate the latest high core count CPUs from Ampere Computing,” said Michael McNerney, vice president of Marketing and Security, Supermicro. “With high core counts, predictable latencies, and up to 4TB of memory, users will

Supermicro’s ARM-based MegaDC servers are an innovative extension to the Ampere® Altra® CPU, ranging from 32 to 128 cores, and with AmpereOne™, with up to 192 cores. The AmpereOne ™ based servers include PCIe 5.0 and DDR5, as well as more memory and I/O bandwidth with a significant performance enhancement to the previous generation systems, resulting in faster overall application performance. Customers can leverage Supermicro’s Building Block Solution architecture to support various application workload requirements for more memory bandwidth and capacity, more PCIe expansion slots, and CPU performance with less power consumption.

Supermicro supermicro.com

Keysight Introduces SoftwareDefined Handheld Analyzer Keysight Technologies, Inc. is expanding its FieldFox portfolio with the new N9912C FieldFox Handheld Analyzer, a software-defined radio frequency (RF) testing platform offering field engineers more than 20 vector network analyzer (VNA), cable and antenna tester (CAT), and spectrum analyzer (SA) options for upgrade and download.

Field engineers conduct routine maintenance on and troubleshoot RF, microwave, and millimeter wave (mmWave) systems.

During their work, they need to accurately measure a variety of devices or signals, including cables, antennas, and over-the-air (OTA) signals, to ensure robust signal quality and uninterrupted service. To make all of these crucial measurements in the field, engineers need multiple expensive networks, spectrum analyzers, and flexible equipment that can meet rapidly emerging test and measurement challenges.

The Keysight N9912C FieldFox Handheld Analyzer addresses this challenge by enabling engineers to mix and match software applications for their specific analysis needs on a single, handheld device. As a truly software-defined instrument, the FieldFox N9912C is fully upgradable with license-key activated maximum frequencies, analyzer types, bandwidths, and software applications.

Keysight Keysight.com

COTS Journal | August 2023

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August 2023

COT’S PICKS Wearable Devices Debuts Mudra Licensing, a New Program for Businesses

The licensing program enables leading anufacturers to customize Mudra technology touchless control for their products.

Wearable Devices Ltd., a technology growth company specializing in AI-powered touchless sensing wearables, announced the launch of its licensing program for the B2B market.

The program provides for a royalty-based license agreement where original equipment manufacturers will have the right to customize a reference design version of the Company’s award-winning Mudra gesture technology to meet the specific needs of their business.

The Company’s proprietary technology is at

SiTime Endura Super-TCXO Delivers 100x Higher System Reliability for Aerospace and Defense SiTime Corporation, the precision timing company, introduced a new member to its field-proven Endura™ MEMS ruggedized Super-TCXO® family—the SiT5543. This temperature-controlled oscillator redefines the TCXO landscape for aerospace and defense systems with unmatched stability in challenging environments. SiTime’s new, ruggedized SiT5543 Super-TCXO offers unprecedented ±5 ppb frequency stability over temperatures from -40 °C to 95 °C, even during fast temperature transients and under vibration. The SiT5543 delivers an impressive 20x improvement in stability over existing

the forefront of gesture recognition, using AIbased touchless sensing wearables to control devices with hand gestures.

With the launch of the Mudra licensing program, Wearable Devices is positioned to significantly expand its addressable market by enabling businesses to develop their own co-branded touchless control products.

“Mudra licensing is a significant leap forward for the entire industry,” said Asher Dahan, Chief Executive Officer of Wearable Devices Inc. “Our revolutionary technology is not just about what we can create, but what the entire industry can create together. The Mudra licensing program is set to democratize this crucial technology, allowing businesses of all sizes to take their products to the next level with touchless controls. This open-market, quartz-based TCXOs, which cannot provide stability better than ±100 ppb.

Before the advent of SiTime’s Super-TCXOs, designers had to use oven-controlled crystal oscillators (OCXOs) to achieve ±5 ppb stability in aerospace and defense systems. However, quartz-based OCXOs pose several drawbacks.

They are notoriously expensive, bulky, fragile, and power-hungry. The SiT5543 overcomes these challenges and offers designers of ruggedized systems a remarkably better option that matches the temperature stability of conventional OXCOs. It provides 100x higher reliability, 2x lower power consumption, and 40 percent smaller size than quartz OCXOs, making the SiT5543 an ideal replacement for OCXOs in demanding applications such as high-speed data communications, military n etw ork s, electronic systems, and avionics.

T h e SiT5543 S u p er -TC XO significantly reduces bit error rate, sys-

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COTS Journal | August 2023

is an opportunity for businesses to innovate and build on the foundations we’ve laid.”

The Company invites businesses to tap into the power of Wearable Devices’ robust, AI-powered technology through the Mudra licensing program. Licensees will benefit from a head start in the competitive touchless control market, with the ability to innovate and design their unique products while benefiting from the support and guidance of Wearable Devices’ expert team.

Wearable Devices wearabledevices.co.il

tem size, and power consumption while enhancing reliability and operational performance in harsh conditions. The technical specifications of this MEMS-based Super-TCXO enable a new level of secure, timing-dependent encryption technology to protect military radios, GPS receivers, navigation, and guidance systems from jamming events. This new Endura Super-TCXO provides stability over temperature and under vibration required for high-speed networks that form the backbone of today’s aerospace and defense systems. The SiT5543 reduces risk, cycle time, and cost in meeting tough operational requirements due to the superior robustness of MEMS technology over legacy quartz alternatives.

The SiT5443 Super-TCXO reduces design cost and complexity due to its small 7 mm x 5 mm surface-mount footprint, low power requirements, and unique ability to mitigate the effects of harsh operating conditions. Since it is factory-programmable to support output frequencies ranging from 1 to 60 MHz, it eliminates the high cost, risks, and delays of custom oscillators. The SiT5543 is available with I2C digital control for on-the-fly frequency tuning or for advanced user-defined compensation. Digital control provides noise-insensitive frequency adjustment with smooth frequency shifts.

SiTime sitime.com

August 2023

COT’S PICKS Juvare Announces Launch of Juvare Unified Command Platform™ for Federal and Defense Clients FedRAMP ® High authorized solution supports digital modernization efforts while ensuring national data’s integrity.

Juvare®, the leader in situational awareness and critical incident preparedness and response technology, announced the launch of the Juvare Unified Command Platform™ (UCP), part of its new Juvare Federal & Defense (JFD) business unit. The platform enables federal and defense agencies to improve real-time situational awareness, facilitate secure interagency collaboration, and digitize workflows as part of public sector digital modernization efforts. The FedRAMP® High authorized version of UCP is available on the FedRAMP marketplace through Juvare Federal Cloud.

“UCP demonstrates our commitment to deliver modern and secure technology solutions that improve collaboration and operational efficiency while simultaneously strengthening our nation’s cyber infrastructure,” said Robert (“Bob”) Watson, CEO of Juvare. “Not only does the platform meet the highest

AdaCore Announces GNAT Pro for Rust AdaCore announced the early-access availability of GNAT Pro for Rust. For the the first time, AdaCore’s GNAT Pro subscribers will be able to develop safety- and security-certifiable embedded applications using Rust while benefiting from the stability, security, dependability and support customers have come to expect from AdaCore.

Interest in and usage of Rust is growing in industrial applications. However, safety- and security-critical markets, such as aerospace, defense, and automotive, face significant obstacles

standards in information security, it does so while also delivering modern, easily adaptable, user-friendly software.”

UCP delivers pre-built workflows such as case management, evacuation, communication coordination, law enforcement availability pay, paper and policy tracking, protective detail assignments, and scalable exercise simulation and facilitation that can be easily configured by each agency.

This accelerates speed to value by ensuring that agency time and resources are spent meeting goals instead of solving recurring workflow problems.

“UCP is much more than just a workflow and visualization application,” said Patrick Macfarlane, Juvare Federal & Defense Chief Operating Officer.

“It’s a single solution that replaces manual processes with automated, secure, and scalable workflows. By collecting data from multiple sources and providing an aggregate view on a single pane of glass, UCP enables swift and informed decision-making and

preventing the adoption of Rust for developing certifiable software. These critical barriers include the rapid evolution of the Rust language, its associated tooling, its runtime environment, and the need for commercial guarantees of its software supply chain. Moreover, developers in this field require industrial-grade support tailored to the needs of the safety- and security-critical industry for the Rust language and tools, longterm support for selected toolchain versions, and general support for a broader range of embedded platforms.

GNAT Pro for Rust addresses each of these barriers head-on. With GNAT Pro for Rust, customers won’t have to worry about the unanticipated evolution of the language.

The platform offers yearly updates to the Rust programming language and its associated tools, aligning with the update cadence of the other programming languages supported by GNAT Pro. GNAT Pro for Rust also offers extensive support for a wide range of embedded platforms, ca-

ensures that agencies have AI-ready data for further analysis and augmentation.”

In addition to pre-built workflows, UCP incorporates a dynamic set of integrations and plug-ins designed to support data visualization, collaboration, and predictive analysis. Integrated within the UCP are powerful components such as Juvare Exchange® (JX) for robust collaboration and networking, JX Analyze for in-depth business intelligence, JX Connector for enhanced interagency data integration and aggregation, and world-class geospatial capabilities that support advanced predictive modeling for assessing the potential impacts of weather events.

Juvare Juvare.com

tering to the specific needs of security- and safety-critical applications. GNAT Pro for Rust is an industrial-grade toolchain with guaranteed software supply chain integrity.

Rust support is also offered through GNAT Pro Assurance, which provides long-term support via sustained branches for the complete toolchain for as long as customers require. Lastly, every GNAT Pro subscription comes with AdaCore’s best-in-class professional support, Connecting customers directly with the experts who develop and maintain the product.

Quentin Ochem, Chief Product Officer at AdaCore, stated, “Our customers have expressed a strong desire to use Rust but have been unable to do so due to the limitations of existing Rust toolchains. This is particularly true in certifiable security- and safety-critical embedded software.

GNAT Pro for Rust addresses these concerns by removing the key barriers that have hindered the adoption of Rust. With GNAT Pro for Rust, our customers can confidently embrace Rust and move forward, equipped with the necessary tools for success”.

AdaCore adacore.com

COTS Journal | August 2023

29

August 2023

COT’S PICKS High AI performance in a tiny, rugged housing

SolidRun has announced the world’s first rugged system design that combines 8-core AMD Ryzen 7040 series processors with multiple Hailo-8 AI accelerators to create its Bedrock R7000 Edge AI for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

This new member in SolidRun’s Bedrock family of fanless modular industrial PCs is specifically designed to meet demanding vision-based situational awareness in harsh environments.

The new system integrates with the AMD Ryzen 7840HS processor, a state-of-the-art 4nm APU with 8C/16T Zen4 CPU, and an integrated RDNA 3 Radeon 780M GPU. The 20 native PCIe Gen4 lanes and up to three Hailo-8 AI accelerators can be fully utilized with NVME Gen4x4 storage, dual 2.5 Gbit Ethernet, and 4x4K displays. The CPU and all de-

vices are passively cooled by the innovative fanless cooling system of the Bedrock R7000 in an industrial temperature range of -40ºC to 85ºC. Demand for such high-performance Edge AI box-PCs is growing in all embedded market segments, including Industry 4.0, robotics, autonomous guided vehicles, healthcare, transportation, smart cities, retail, agriculture, defense, and utility.

“Efficiency and scalability are key factors in advanced edge AI,” said Irad Stavi, IPC Product Line Manager at SolidRun. “Bedrock R7000 stands out as the first fanless IPC based on the ultra-efficient AMD Ryzen 7040 processor and the innovative modular design which enables out-of-the-box integration of 3 Hailo-8 AI accelerators, each with

Tagore Technology Introduces Compact, High Power, HighPerformance Single Channel HighPower Receiver Module for 5G Macro Base Stations

the TSL8029N, a high-power receiver module with an integrated receiver protection switch and low noise amplifier in a single package. The new compact, high-performance receiver module is designed to address many challenges in 5G macro base station implementation.

Tagore Technology Inc., a pioneer of high-power GaN-based RF switches, announced

The TSL8029N integrates a high-power GaN RF switch and GaAs low noise amplifier (LNA) to harness the advantage of the high-power handling

26 Tera Operations per Second (TOPS), or even more with a simple customization.”

“An important feature of Hailo-8 AI accelerator and Hailo AI Software Suite is linear scaling of the inference performance simply by adding modules,” said Dima Caplan, Product Manager at Hailo. “SolidRun’s new Edge AI platform exhibits ample system resources which enable high AI performance at perfect scaling.”

SolidRun solid-run.com

capability of GaN and the low noise capability of GaAs process technology. The fail-safe switch can handle 100W average power with 8dB PAPR in Tx mode. The LNA consists of two stages, with bypass mode for the second stage to improve the overall dynamic range of the receiver. The Rx mode has NF of 1.3 dB with 33 dB of gain at 3.6 GHz with an output third-order intercept point (OIP3) of 33 dBm when the part is tuned for 5G Band n77. Bypass mode has 14dB LNA gain.

p o -

Klaus Buehring, Tagore nology’s Chief Sales and Marketficer, said: “This is the first modthe industry where a high-power safe switch and an LNA are inteinto a small 5mm x 5mm package.

TSL8029N significantly improves ceiver performance and shrinks board space requirement while cally reducing design time for our tomers compared to traditional ode-based solutions that require external passives, high-voltage ing, and high bias current. Morethe new device can be tuned for ferent 5G frequency bands with a change in BOM to simplify comnent supply chain management”.

Tagore tagore-

Technology tech.com

Te c h ing ofule in failgrated T h e r e total drasticusPIN dimany biaso v e r, d i f -

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COTS Journal | August 2023

COTS COTS

ADVERTISERS

Index

Company

Page #

Website

AIM .......................................................................

9

.......................................... www.aim-online.com

Annapolis Micro Systems ......................................

19

........................................ www.annapmicro.com

Behlman Electronics .............................................

IFC

............................................. www.behlman.com

Commercial UAX EXPO ...........................................

BC

............................................. www.expouav.com

Core Systems ........................................................

15/18

..................................... www.core-systems.com

Great River Technology .........................................

4

..................................... www.greatrivertech.com

Holo Industries ......................................................

5

................................................ www.holoind.com

Interface Concept .................................................

12/IBC

................................ www.interfaceconcept.com

MPL ......................................................................

9

........................................................ www.mpl.ch

OTEK ......................................................................

19

............................................. www.otekcorp.com

PICO Electronics, Inc ............................................

8/IBC

................................... www.picoelectronics.com

Pixus Technologies .................................................

25

................................ www.pixustechnologies.com

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