Logos Technologies has begun delivery of the first two electro- optical/infrared Kestrel wide-area persistent surveillance systems to the U.S. Army for deployment on aerostats at forward operating bases (FOBs) in Afghanistan. Replacing interim, day-only Kestrels rushed to the battlefield last October, the new persistent surveillance systems will now offer sensor operators on the ground round-the-clock coverage of a forward operating base’s environs. This means greater protection for the warfighter in and around “the wire.”

Engineers from SSAI (Support Systems Associates, Inc.) have selected commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) 3U CompactPCI technology from North Atlantic Industries (NAI) in Bohemia, NY to be used in the replacement Loader Weapon Control Panel (LWCP) and Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for the AC- 130U gunship. The LWCP provides user interface for gunner control of the 40-mm and 105-mm weapons installed on the gunship. The ECU takes the mission computer commanded position and senses feedback on actual gun position to control the dynamic aiming of the AC-130U trainable gun mounts.

One of the greatest dangers to aircraft — playing a role in numerous destructive and fatal accidents around the world — comes in the form of droplets of water. In clean air, cloud droplets can exist in liquid form down to temperatures as low as -40 °C. These subfreezing, liquid clouds are referred to as being “supercooled.” As soon as supercooled droplets contact an aircraft ascending or descending through the cloud cover, they form layers of ice on any unprotected surface, including the leading edges of wings and rotor blades, tails, antennas, and within jet engines. This ice accretion can cause engine damage and dramatically affect the aerodynamics of the aircraft. On the leading edge of a wing, an ice layer about as thick and rough as a piece of coarse sandpaper can be responsible for as much as a 30% decrease in lift and a 40% increase in drag. This can lead to reduced performance and even catastrophic loss of control.

The Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) is a worldwide network of ground stations that supports a variety of users from NASA to the National Recon naissance Office (NRO). The network performs tracking, telemetry, and commanding (TT&C) for these users. Users, located at Satellite Operations Centers (SOCs), must compete for time on the AFSCN (see Figure 1).

As PC/104 celebrates its 20th anniversary as an open standard this year, it continues to grow in terms of new design-ins, applications, and integration of the latest technology. In today’s fast paced, throw-away world, this is a remarkable achievement. PC/104 users typically demand a long product life cycle of seven years or more, so for two decades, these small, stackable, embedded computer systems have found applications in military, medical, industrial, transportation, communications, pipelines, mining, utilities and a host of other industries. However, as technology changes and becomes more powerful and complex, challenges arise in implementation. This has never been truer than for the different implementation strategies for PCI Express on PC/104 size modules.

The COM Express specification was first released in 2005. Its main target was, and still is, to define the mandatory requirements of COM Express modules and carrier boards as far as it is necessary to ensure interoperability between the products of different vendors. Nevertheless, with continuous technical progress, there is also the need for adjustments of the common interface — that being the COM Express connector.

A broad operating temperature range, fuel resistance and long-term reliability are some of the unique properties of fluorosilicones that make them useful in aerospace applications. To demonstrate their effectiveness, NuSil recently compared fluorosilicones to standard dimethyl silicones in a series of tests.