Author Archives: Todd Cates

June 21, 2018

Robust RFID Tags Track Firearms

New laws are calling for the dependable tracking of firearms, and modern RFID tags can be integrated with the metal components of firearms to monitor the use of guns. Ron Marino | Jun 20, 2018 Firearms are constantly subjected to regulations and legislation in attempts to control access and limit operation only to authorized users. Many efforts have been made to track the critical components of a firearm throughout its operating lifetime, with one of the most critical firearm components referred to as the receiver. The receiver contains the trigger and the bolt. The receiver is often the only portion of a […]

June 6, 2018

Tiny UAV Keeps Tabs on GPS-Denied Regions

One trend in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military use is an increase in capabilities in smaller aircraft. Perhaps the best embodiment of that trend is the Black Hornet 3 nano-UAV recently launched by FLIR Systems. The Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System (PRS) had been the world’s smallest combat-proven nano-UAV. The same company’s Black Hornet nano-UAV (see figure) has the capability to navigate in GPS-denied environments for effective operation even in the most challenging battle places, including indoors for surveillance missions. The Black Hornet 3 weighs just 32 g and has been fielded by more than 30 nations. It can cover a distance […]

May 25, 2018

COTS in Space: The Radiation Barrier

COTS in space: the radiation barrier May 16, 2018 By Dan Friedlander Retired following 44 years in component engineering The road from the use of space/military electrical, electronic, and electromechanical (EEE) components in space applications to the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in space applications is not smooth. Several barriers must be overcome, including: fear of risk, resistance to change, storage, obsolescence, counterfeits, and lead-free barriers. These manmade barriers were challenges also encountered by military users during the successful transition to the use of COTS components in military applications. The main natural space environmental barrier to be overcome is the radiation […]

May 23, 2018

Marines Want Armored Recon Prototypes By 2023

Marines Want Armored Recon Prototypes By 2023: F-35 On Wheels Or FCS Redux? By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. WASHINGTON: By 2023, the Marine Corps wants prototypes for a radically new scout unit they want to be the ground version of the F-3F-35 5 — scouting ahead into hostile territory, killing key targets, and feeding data back to the rest of the force. Though called the Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle, the project has evolved well beyond a straightforward replacement for the aging Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) into a networked family of manned vehicles, ground robots, and drones, collectively capable of not only reconnaissance but also electronic warfare and long-range precision strikes. Marine […]

May 23, 2018

Conference on Millimeter and Terahertz Waves

The 2018 43rd International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz 2018), Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz 2018) held from 9th to 14th, September, 2018 in Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya, Japan. The conference offers an excellent chance for interaction among participants, as well as the companies providing hardware, software, services, etc. on sciences and technologies of IRMMW-THz and related products. Based on the statistics of the past IRMMW-THz conferences, hundreds of researchers in this field are expected to participate. We strongly encourage the companies to be a sponsor or an exhibitor, an indispensable part of the conference, to […]

May 22, 2018

Southwest Microwave Millimeter Interconnects

SOUTHWEST MICROWAVE is the leader in high-performance interconnect products for microwave and millimeter wave applications. Southwest Microwave have added several new high-performance products to their line of precision field replaceable connectors, adapters, cable assemblies and end launch connectors. All of Southwest Microwave’s precision products are designed based on transmission line principles, which enables them to deliver superior interconnect performance that the RF and digital design communities have come to expect from their technologies

May 22, 2018

Pentek Quartz board taps Xilinx RFSoC FPGA

Pentek Quartz board taps Xilinx RFSoC FPGA to enhance resource integration, connectivity for radar, EW, DRFM May 21, 2018 By Courtney E. Howard Chief Editor, Intelligent Aerospace UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J. Pentek Inc. in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, is introducing the first product in its Quartz Architecture family: the Model 5950 eight-channel A/D and D/A converter, 3U OpenVPX board based on the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ radio-frequency system on chip (RFSoC) field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The low-latency benefits of the Quartz architecture support digital RF memory (DRFM) and radar applications that were previously not possible with earlier generation products, officials say. “The Zynq Ultrascale+ RFSoC FPGA […]

May 22, 2018

Lockheed Martin selects BAE Systems

Lockheed Martin selects BAE Systems to sustain F-35 electronic warfare systems By Courtney E. Howard Chief Editor, Intelligent Aerospace NASHUA, N.H. Lockheed Martin officials in Bethesda, Maryland, needed a trusted industry partner to help ensure the readiness of critical electronic warfare (EW) systems on the company’s F-35 Lightning II military fighter aircraft. BAE Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire, won a five-year contract to manage the supply chain and establish the infrastructure necessary to keep systems mission-capable and readily available to warfighters. The EW suite for the F-35, called the AN/ASQ-239 system, provides the pilot with situational awareness and protects the aircraft with advanced […]

May 22, 2018

Massive-MIMO Hybrid Beamforming

Algorithms to Antenna: Massive-MIMO Hybrid Beamforming Hybrid beamforming can be a practical option when it comes to massive-MIMO systems. This post examines the technology and the techniques employed for both multi-user and single-user systems. Rick Gentile I would like to build on my previous blog discussions related to hybrid beamforming, but this time I will look at how hybrid beamforming can be implemented in a massive-MIMO system. To start with, I will focus on hybrid beamforming at the transmit end of a massive-MIMO communications system, including techniques for both multi-user and single-user systems. We can then partition the resulting precoding […]

May 21, 2018

DOD wants drones to deliver blood

DOD wants drones to deliver blood on the battlefield BY ADAM MAZMANIAN Battlefield drones typically deliver weapons or spy out enemy positions. Now the U.S. military is looking for ideas on how to deliver blood and medical products to remote locations to treat wounded troops on the spot. The specs of the solicitation from the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental — the ability to deliver a 5-pound package over 100 kilometers in “austere environments” — strongly suggest that they’re looking at an unmanned aerial vehicle system that supports refrigeration or other means of temperature control. “These deliveries, ideally automated, will provide […]