JOURNAL
The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing
CONTENTS
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 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.
November 2014 Volume 16 Number 11
FEATURED p.10 Function Trumping Form for Rugged Box-Level Systems SPECIAL FEATURE Evolving SFF Box Systems and Standards
DEPARTMENTS
10 Function Trumping Form for Rugged Box-Level Systems
6 Editorial
16 Ensuring an EMI-Quiet Testing Zone Requires the Right Gear
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The Inside Track
40
COTS Products
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Marching to the Numbers
An Internet of Wings
Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief Alan Lowne, Saelig
TECH RECON FPGAs vs.GPGPUs for Signal Processing Systems 22 FPGA Board Advances Tighten Up System Capabilities Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT Costs and Capabilities of Pre-Validated Systems 28 Validated Compact Systems Reduce Costs and Development Cycles RJ McLaren, Kontron
Coming in December See Page 48 On The Cover: Small form factor (SFF) box-level systems are perfectly suited for platforms where size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints are high. Shown here an MQ-9 Reaper, armed with GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided munitions and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles flies a combat mission over southern Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force Photo / Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt)
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS High Rel Power Supplies Roundup 32 Power Supplies and Converters Help Reduce System SWaP Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief
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High Rel Power Supplies Roundup
Digital subscriptions available: cotsjournalonline.com
COTS Journal | November 2014
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