Designing With MIL-STD-1553B Components

The interconnected backbone of a MIL-STD-1553B vehicle depends on the electrical and mechanical reliability of the components, the design, and the installation. With the vast array of MIL-STD-1553B...

Eliminating Electrical Arcing in Satellite Systems

In 1995, Boeing Satellite Systems introduced a new family of communication satellite buses, with bodies that contain power, control, and propulsion systems. They used a high-voltage bus...

Implementing Interconnected Generation in Future Civil Aircraft

In addition to providing thrust, the engines on conventional civil jet airliners generate power for onboard systems and ancillary loads in the form of pneumatic, hydraulic, and...

Optimizing High Reliability Power Distribution System Designs

As the performance requirements of avionics, military, and space electronic systems increase, so do the demands on the power supplies for these systems. Successful system designs...

Designing A New Generation of Rugged Military Electronics

The military electronics industry is reinventing itself as DoD budget cuts are creating a need for rugged solutions that deliver long-term viability. Despite reduced resources, the...

Testing Ethernet Based Avionics in Aircraft

Since the 1970’s, military aircraft avionics systems have communicated via the MIL-STD-1553 bus. This has proven to be a very effective method, and is still in widespread use today. MIL-STD-1553...

Mission Data Transmitted Successfully With Network Gateway

In the 1990s, when laying the groundwork for its missile defense shield, the Pentagon realized that if it wanted to provide an effective defense against ballistic missile attack, it...

Graphics Performance vs. Power Consumption in Embedded Systems Design

The rapid evolution of technology has given embedded developers more options than ever before in designing embedded graphics systems. The consumer electronics market, most...

Applying OpenVPX to Single Board Computers

For more than two decades, single board computers (SBCs) built on open standards have been largely based on specifications from two preeminent industry organizations, VITA and PICMG. For the 6U...

Stackable Computer Architecture Moves to 3rd Generation

Change is a concept that is well known in the computer industry. Designers and manufacturers alike have embraced this trend in an ongoing race to increase computing power while reducing...

Protection Schemes for Advanced Shipboard Electrical Systems

A research program has made progress toward the development of schemes for protection against faults in next-generation DC zonal shipboard electrical systems (DC SESs) and for...

Creating a Synthetic Virtual Instrument for Avionics Testing

The demand for fast evolution and increased flexibility of electronics systems in many different industries and applications has driven the trend for increasing software content of...

VPX: The Rugged Bus Architecture for Embedded Military Applications

For over two decades, the VMEbus has maintained its position as the open standard bus architecture of choice for defense and aerospace applications. While VME, a parallel...

Two-Processor Autopilot System for a UAV

A two-processor autopilot control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been proposed and partly developed. Relative to prior such systems, this would be a lightweight, inexpensive autopilot...