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Manned Systems

What’s the Best DC Motor for Your Commercial Aerospace Application?

This article presents common commercial aerospace applications that pose performance and environmental challenges for DC motors along with a summary of the stringent aerospace industry standards that the motors must satisfy.

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Application Briefs
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Five Missile-Tracking Satellites Launched

Five missile-tracking satellites designed and manufactured by L3Harris Technologies launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida in February, as part of the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program and the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 0 (T0) Tracking Layer program.

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Application Briefs
Aerospace

Airbus to Fly Prototype eVTOL This Year

The CityAirbus NextGen prototype electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft made its public debut during an unveiling ceremony in Donauwörth, Germany on March 7, 2024.

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Application Briefs
Defense

Flight Testing Microvanes and Riblets

The Air Force Operational Energy Office (SAF/IE), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) have partnered together in seeking well-developed, commercially viable technologies to reduce drag, and therefore fuel consumption, on a number of USAF legacy aircraft, including the C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules, and KC-135 Stratotanker.

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

Researchers Help Robots Navigate Efficiently in Uncertain Environments

MIT researchers developed a method that could help this robot efficiently reason about the best routes to its destination.

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Briefs
RF & Microwave Electronics

New, Portable Antenna Could Help Restore Communication After Disasters

Researchers at Stanford University and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have developed a portable antenna that could be quickly deployed in disaster-prone areas or used to set up communications in underdeveloped regions.

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Briefs
Materials

NRL Scientists Deliver Quantum Algorithm to Develop New Materials and Chemistry

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists published the Cascaded Variational Quantum Eigensolver (CVQE) algorithm in a recent Physical Review Research article, which is expected to become a powerful tool to investigate the physical properties in electronic systems.

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Briefs
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Evaluation of Additively Manufactured Ultrahard Steels

Recent advances in both alloy development and additive manufacturing have enabled the production of ultrahigh-strength steels in near net shape parts.

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Products
Electronics & Computers

New Products

See the new products, including Mercury Systems' Direct RF system-on-module, TT Electronics' LRMAH2512 surface-mount technology shunt resistors, General Micro Systems' 1U and 2U “Shorty 4” servers, Sigma-Netics' thin-walled metal tubes, and much more.

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Advances in Multi-UAV Operations

As technology matures and operational concepts evolve, MUM-T missions, synchronized flights, and the corresponding required advances in UAV flight control systems will undoubtedly become cornerstones of modern military strategies.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

COM Express: The Architecture to Support the Future of Robotics & Unmanned Systems

COM Express is a family of modular, small-form-factor computer-on-module (COM) specifications. The COM Express specification is one of many developed by PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG), whose goal is to translate desktop PCI standards to industrial applications.

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

RF-Cyber for Counter-UAS

Enabling the emerging associated drone-powered economy will require a new generation of counter-drone or counter-unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) to support the growth of safe and secure drone adoption.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Counter Unmanned Aircraft System

Looking ahead to the future, the threat of adversarial drones will only increase. Drones don’t necessarily recognize geographical borders or boundaries, and to protect service members and citizens from these impending challenges, the U.S. and its allies must look to CUAS technologies and scale effectively throughout their militaries and relevant civilian agencies.

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

10 Unmanned Ground Vehicles Being Developed and Tested Around the World

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), robot combat vehicles or autonomous vehicles, no matter what you call them, are increasingly being developed, prototyped and tested for future use in autonomous and teaming operations or scenarios with manned vehicles. This article provides updates on some of the latest prototyping, development, purchasing and deployment of 10 new military UGVs.

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Application Briefs
Electronics & Computers

Grip Tab Active Controllers

Advanced Technology International has issued a $2.67 million contract to AeroVironment for the production of its Tomahawk Grip Tab Active (Grip TA) controllers, that will be managed by the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL).

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Application Briefs
Aerospace

MQ-25 Vehicle Management Computer Upgrade

The MQ-25 is the Navy’s carrier-based unmanned aircraft that is tasked with performing aerial refueling missions that were previously managed by F/A-18 aircraft. The next generation vehicle management computer controls all flight surfaces and performs overall vehicle management duties for the MQ-25.

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Application Briefs
Aerospace

New Satellite Connectivity for Air Force Research Aircraft

Intelsat will supply new satellite connectivity terminals on several different U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) aircraft, according to a Feb. 14 announcement by the satellite network operator.

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Briefs
Robotics, Automation & Control

New Realistic Computer Model will Help Robots Collect Moon Dust

Working with their industry partner, Thales Alenia Space in the U.K., who has specific interest in creating working robotic systems for space applications, the team investigated a virtual version of regolith, another name for Moon dust.

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Briefs
Aerospace

AI Co-Pilot Enhances Human Precision for Safer Aviation

Meet the Air-Guardian, a system developed by researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. As modern pilots grapple with an onslaught of information from multiple monitors, especially during critical moments, Air-Guardian acts as a proactive copilot.

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Briefs
Unmanned Systems

One Person Can Supervise a Swarm of 100 Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

Research involving Oregon State University has shown that a “swarm” of more than 100 autonomous ground and aerial robots can be supervised by one person without subjecting the individual to an undue workload.

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Briefs
AR/AI

New Cyber Algorithm Shuts Down Malicious Robotic Attacks

Australian researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds. The algorithm, tested in real time on a replica of a U.S. Army combat ground vehicle, was 99 percent successful in preventing a malicious attack.

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Products
Electronics & Computers

New Products

See the new products, including SWIR Vision Systems' short-wavelength infrared imaging technology, Fischer Connectors' expanded set of cable assemblies for the KEYSTONE tactical hub, Interface Concept's 3U VPX Single Board Computer, Microchip's updated software design tools, and more.

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Articles
AR/AI

Revolutionizing Electronic Warfare: Unleashing the Power of High-Performance Software-Defined Radios

In the ever-evolving landscape of electronic warfare (EW), the imperative for technological prowess has never been more pronounced. At the vanguard of this evolution stands a technological marvel — high-performance software defined radios (SDRs).

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Articles
Software

Deterministic and Modular Architecture for Embedded Vehicle Systems

The next generation of Army ground vehicle systems aim to provide the warfighter with advanced capabilities while ensuring cyber resiliency. One key technology, Ethernet, has enabled the modernization of military ground vehicles by providing a broad range of beneficial features. Read on to learn more.

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Articles
Energy

Approximating the Material Stresses and System Requirements for Hypersonic Flight

The challenges associated with hypersonic flight are significant in that the drag forces, temperatures, and heat flux put large demands on materials. First and foremost is managing the exposure to high temperatures that will be in excess of 1,000 °C.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

Design Approaches for Established and Emerging RF Receiver Architectures

Traditionally, heterodyne architectures have been the preferred choice for radio frequency (RF) and millimeter-wave (mmWave) receiver architectures, excelling in noise performance, dynamic range, frequency coverage, selectivity, and reduction of EMI. However, recent advancements in high sample rate analog to digital converters (ADCs) and embedded signal processing have prompted a reassessment of both architectures.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Rydberg Technologies Shows Potential of Long-Range RF with Quantum Sensor at NetModX23

Rydberg Technologies demonstrated the use of an atomic receiver for long-range RF applications during the NetModX23 event. Shortly after the completion of the NetModX event, Aerospace & Defense Technology caught up with Rydberg CEO David Anderson to discuss the demonstration of their atomic receiver prototype and the future potential of quantum sensing in real-world military RF applications.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

Certified Machine Learning-Based Avionics

Over the past few decades, aircraft automation has progressively increased. Advances in digital computing during the 1980s eliminated the need for onboard flight engineers. Avionics systems, exemplified by FADEC for engine control and Fly-By-Wire, handle lower-level functions, reducing human error.

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Application Briefs
Aerospace

Predictive Engine Maintenance

The Army has designed the T901 Improved Turbine Engine to be compliant with Prognostic and Predictive Maintenance (PPMx) technologies. PPMx, a predictive maintenance strategy based on relevant data, helps to increase operational readiness by identifying potential maintenance issues and part failures before they occur.

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