Departments
Features November 2006
Volume 8
7.......Publisher’s Notebook
Number 11
11......The Inside Track
Main Feature
64.....COTS Products Power Conversion
14
Power Converters Evolve to Suit the FPGA Era
16
Component Module Approach Wins for Custom Military Power Supplies
22
Fuel Cells Invade Next-Gen Mobile Equipment
Jeff Child
78..... Editorial. Engineering the DoD’s Future
Keith Nardone and Mark Connolly, Vicor Ted Prescop, UltraCell
Coming in December...
Tech Recon
...See Page 77 Stand-Alone Rugged Boxes
30
Stand-Alone Rugged Boxes: The Newest COTS Hardware
36
Open Architectures Enable Fully Integrated Systems
42
Rugged System-Level Solutions Streamline Prime Supplier Costs
Ann R. Thryft
Cover Story.................. Page 30 The USS Ohio (SSGN 726) is shown here on its return last year to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Facility in Bremerton, WA, after completing sea trials. Ohio was the first ballistic missile submarine to complete conversion to the new class of guided missile submarines (SSGN). SSGNs will serve as platforms to develop and test new weapons systems, sensors and operational concepts that could further transform naval warfare. These payloads will include large unmanned undersea vehicles and off-board sensors.
Laura Cooper, Next Computing
Dave Wessing, GE Fanuc Embedded Systems
System Development JTRS HMS Design Considerations
56
JTRS HMS Radio Designs Wrestle with Size, Weight and Power Challenges Jeff Child
Porting Waveforms to the JTRS HMS Domain
Mark Hermeling, Zeligsoft
Technology Focus Fibre Channel Boards
60
Turbulence May Lay Ahead for Fibre Channel Boards
63
Fibre Channel Boards Roundup
David B. Cotton
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. ——Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for the 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.
Courtesy: (U.S. Navy photo by Mr. Rick Chaffee)
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