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INSIDE TRACK Analytic Systems to Supply Power Products for Shadow UAV Ground Control Stations Analytic Systems has announced its largest order ever for a power system for AAI’s Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Figure 1), which are in service with customers including the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. For this project, Analytic Systems made use of its recently purchased Aegis Manufacturing Operations Software, which is designed to improve efficiencies and quality by streamlining and controlling process planning and launch, process tracking and control, and quality and test management. It improves reliability, flexibility and traceability in the production of important projects like this. Working with AAI’s Engineering team, Analytic Systems has modified their LIAC600 (US Army/USMC AC Lithium-Ion Battery Charger), their LIDC600 (US Army DC Lithium-Ion Battery Charger), and their PWS1510MS ruggedized power supply to work as a complete power system for AAI’s next-generation Universal Ground Control Station. AAI’s UGCS is the next generation of AAI’s proven One System Ground Control Station (GCS) technology, which is in service today with the U.S. Army, Army National Guard and Marine Corps unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) units. It provides information exchange capabilities for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or C4ISR.
Figure 1
Analytic Systems, Delta, British Columbia, Canada. (604) 946-9981. [www.analyticsystems.com].
A UAV crew with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team wheels out a Shadow 200 UAV for a flight in Afghanistan.
Army Orders MUOS Upgrade for AN/PRC-155 Manpack Radios
in a far distant location. The MUOS waveform, based on the communications interface found in commercial cellular networks, will deliver highspeed voice and data communications and ten times greater capacity than the military’s current Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications system. With a smartphone-like f low of information, the upgraded PRC155 radios will allow soldiers to access the MUOS communications system wherever they are deployed, on foot or from land vehicles, ships, submarines and aircraft.
The U.S. Army ordered kits to upgrade 100 Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) AN/PRC-155 twochannel radios to enable them to communicate with the military’s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite communications system. This MUOS channel upgrade, comprising a field-replaceable power amplifier and supporting software, will allow secure voice and data communication with the MUOS system. The order is valued at $5 million; the kits will be delivered in the fall of 2013. The two-channel PRC-155 Manpack radio (Figure 2) also runs the essential waveforms 8
COTS Journal | March 2013
Figure 2
AN/PRC-155 Manpack radios in production at the General Dynamics radio factory in Scottsdale, Arizona. One hundred of the AN/PRC-155 radios built by General Dynamics will be upgraded with the MUOS satellite communications kit. from the defense department library. With the MUOS capability in the PRC-155, a network of soldiers can be interconnected with others
General Dynamics C4 Systems Scottsdale, AZ. (480) 441-3033. [www.gdc4s.com].
Mercury Systems’ Digital Receivers Tapped by Naval Research Lab Mercury Systems has been awarded a 3-year indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Tactical Electronic Warfare Division (TEWD). Worth up to $16.7 million, the contract calls for Mercury to supply advanced mixed signal digital receivers for prototype electronic warfare applications on airborne and surface shipboard platforms. Mercury’s array of mixedsignal offerings delivers ultra-fast tuning, high dynamic range and extreme data processing. The Naval Research Laboratory, commissioned in 1923 by Congress for the Department of Navy, serves as the Navy’s corporate