Perimeter surveillance of forward operating locations, such as Forward Arming and Refueling Points (FARPs), is crucial to ensure the survivability of personnel and materiel. FARPs are frequently located well outside the protective cover of the main forward operating bases. Therefore, they must provide their own organic perimeter defenses. Such defenses are manpower intensive. Research shows how cheap, remote, unattended sensors using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components can help reduce the manpower requirement for this task and yet not compromise the security of the operating location.

RF and Microwave Power Amplifier Accessories

Pasternack (Irvine, CA) has released a new series of RF and microwave power amplifier accessories that includes heat sinks, heat sinks with cooling fans, and power control cable assemblies. Pasternack offers eight different heat sink models that feature finned extrusion profiles with large baseplate mounting surfaces and AC or DC power supply options for models that support integrated cooling fans.

Seastema SpA, a company owned by Fincantieri (Genova, Italy), designs, develops, and supplies integrated automation systems for different areas of the marine industry. The company established an Innovation Division in Rome to verify the feasibility of an unconventional radar system by means of a demonstrator built as much as possible with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices.

A co-prime array uses two uniform linear subarrays to construct an effective difference coarray with certain desirable characteristics, such as a high number of degrees-of-freedom for DOA estimation. In this research, the co-prime array concept has been generalized with two operations.

Northrop Grumman Corporation
Falls Church, VA
703-280-2900
www.northropgrumman.com

Northrop Grumman Corporation recently received a $124.7 million award for production of AN/APR-39D(V)2 digital radar warning receiver and electronic warfare management systems. The award followed the successful completion of engineering and manufacturing development activities, including a series of rigorous tests that verified the system's readiness for production and the demands of combat operations.

The effective distribution of offensive weapon capabilities to naval units at the tactical edge is a critical focus for Navy leaders. A direct byproduct of this priority is the need to employ sensor and data collection systems that can effectively guide the targeting of that offensive capability. In the recent past, wireless sensor networks have received limited use in the maritime domain due to the exploratory nature of technology, high system complexity and the high cost of system deployment. With the Internet-of-Things revolution, commercially available hardware and software components can be used to build low-cost, reliable, disposable wireless sensor networks that can leverage in-network processing schemes to greatly expand the intelligence collection footprint.

Northrop Grumman Corporation
Falls Church, VA
+1 703-280-2900
www.northropgrumman.com/firescout

Fire Scout is a combat proven, autonomous helicopter system that provides real-time Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Target-acquisition (ISR&T), laser designation, and battle management to tactical users without relying on manned aircraft or space-based assets. Fire Scout has the ability to operate from any air-capable ship or land base in support of persistent ISR&T requirements.

DTS
Seal Beach, CA
+1 562-493-0158
www.dtsweb.com

Harsh, wet and dusty environments pose serious reliability issues for data collection. The SLICE IP68 data acquisition system is designed to measure physical signals in challenging test environments. With an ultra-small footprint of only 60 mm x 60 mm, the system can be embedded in most test articles with size and mass constraints. Its compact size means that it can be placed near the point of interest, eliminating the need for long cable runs, waterproof enclosures, or slip rings.

Unmanned vehicles for air, land, and water represent an increasingly-important capability for virtually all military services worldwide. Because each new generation of device technology promises capabilities and higher levels of overall performance for unmanned vehicles of all types, military customers expect these benefits in the latest UAV offerings. To meet these expectations, systems engineers must deal with increasingly difficult problems of thermal management, power budgeting, EMI emissions and susceptibility, weight, size, cabling, connectors, antenna management, and command/control functions. Several new technologies and innovative packaging concepts now provide better solutions to these issues.

Kittyhawk
San Francisco, CA
+1 415-598-7757
https://kittyhawk.io

Kittyhawk recently announced new features to its flight system software platform. Kittyhawk is adding an automated flight system to its Flight Deck feature set to work in conjunction with its recently released secure live streaming feature.