Sandia National Laboratories researchers, as part of a group of National Nuclear Security Administration scientists, have wrapped up years of field experiments to improve the United States’ ability to differentiate earthquakes from underground explosions, key knowledge needed to advance the nation’s monitoring and verification capabilities for detecting underground nuclear explosions.

If there is a prime example of the need for friction-free, precise and delicate equipment movement in the aerospace and defense industries, satellite positioning during the testing cycle should be at the top of the list. Whether in a clean room or another environment, there is no margin for error when it's time to move the “bird” even a short distance. Anything short of a smooth relocation means unacceptable property loss and project delays if this most intricate piece of aerospace equipment is damaged. Disassembly is hardly an option.

In the recent past, military acquisition has shifted from being locked into large long-term contracts to developing complex systems in discrete increments that can be further optimized in future design cycles. These shorter design cycles allow for equipment to be deployed more rapidly, thereby mitigating the risk of subsystems going obsolete as increasing proportions of budget dollars go towards operation and support (O&S). This transition to evolutionary acquisition (EA) leaves a major opportunity for vendors to develop commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components that are military-compliant.

Curtiss-Wright Corporation
Ashburn, VA
703-779-7800
www.curtisswrightds.com

Curtiss-Wright's Defense Solutions division was awarded a contract by Tactical Air Support, Inc. (Tactical Air) to provide a cockpit accessible rugged data recorder and a pre-integrated mission computer to upgrade its fleet of F-5AT (Advanced Technology) Tiger II Military supersonic tactical fighters.

Mobile Workstation

Eurocom's (Ottawa, Canada) latest mobile workstation, the Tornado F7W, features a modular MXM 3.1 slot-based GPU allowing easy reconfiguration of GPU capabilities. The GPUs offered are ISV-certified, workstation-class NVIDIA Quadro P5200, P4200 and P3200 cards, which are suitable for CAD/CAE/CAM software such as Adobe, AutoCAD, CATIA and SOLIDWORKS. Over time, a user can choose to swap out the Quadro-based GPU and reconfigure the system to run a different MXM 3.1-compatible GPU (GTX-based cards, for example).

The scope of this research radically changed the way novel components are designed and fabricated for high-energy applications. This 3D Meta-Optics platform was, and is, essentially engineering the electromagnetic fields in 3D dielectric structures. The results have provided a class of transformational optical components that can be integrated at all levels throughout a high-energy laser system.

The design of avionics systems must balance several factors. First, engineers want to increase the performance of the systems installed in aircraft or spacecraft. Second, they want to reduce the size and weight of the equipment that must be carried. Third, they want to maximize the safety of the in-flight systems and maintain communication between the aircraft or spacecraft and other flight vessels and the command center, regardless of the circumstances.

Temperature Elements for Flight-Critical Equipment

FCI Aerospace’s (San Marcos, CA) AS-TE Temperature Element Series sensors utilize precision resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) to provide superior accuracy, repeatability and long-life. The AS-TE sensors are typically designed with Platinum RTD or MIL-T-7990 Nickel RTD sensors. The Platinum RTDs are available in several Ro (ice point resistance) values and in either two-, three- or four-wire configurations to ensure optimal performance and system compatibility.

Thermoset polymers are good electrical insulators that are used in applications ranging from electronics to composite armor. They are rather poor thermal conductors, however.

Even before the Trinity nuclear test in July of 1945, physicists predicted a transient electromagnetic signal would be caused by high-energy photons released from the detonation interacting with the air around the detonation. Predictions of these signals were difficult to make due to the complexity of the physics unleashed by the detonation.