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Defense

Developing an Auto-Synchronized Multi-Avionics Protocol Data Bus Acquisition System

A modern aircraft includes multiple intelligent subsystems that aid in communication, navigation, and surveillance. These subsystems, called line replaceable...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Flexible Skin Traps Radar Waves and Cloaks Objects

Iowa State University engineers developed a new flexible, stretchable, and tunable metamaterial skin that uses rows of small, liquid-metal devices to cloak an object from the sharp eyes of...

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Application Briefs
Electronics & Computers

Satellite System

301-428-5539 http://defense.hughes.com Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) recently unveiled a new HM Satellite System, engineered around its novel software-definable modem (SDM) technology and scrambled code multiple access...

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Articles
Aerospace

Making AESA Radar More Flexible

A modular, building-block approach brings greater design flexibility to Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar technology, simplifying system integration, and permitting rapid first-line repair with no...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Developing Secondary Surveillance Radar Automated Test Equipment

Unlike primary radars, Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) calculates the range and azimuth of a target, such as an aircraft, using a bidirectional communication link to gather...

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Articles
Aerospace

Enhance EMC Testing with Digital IF

Modern electromagnetic interference (EMI) receivers and spectrum analyzers used for compliance and precompliance testing employ digital intermediate-frequency (digital IF) processing technology for signal...

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NASA Spinoff
Test & Measurement

Radio Relays Improve Wireless Products

In order to transmit communications through Earth’s atmosphere, satellites and space vehicles need radio equipment that can operate at higher frequencies than on Earth. These higher frequencies, until...

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INSIDER
Test & Measurement

Crash Test Helps Improve Emergency Response

NASA’s Langley Research Center hoisted a Cessna 172 aircraft 100 feet into the air by cables and released it. The plane plummeted onto a slab of dirt in a violent but controlled experiment that will...

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Articles
Defense

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Communications Relays

The need for a high-bandwidth communication link to carry multiple video channels from a mobile robot (unmanned ground vehicle, or UGV) back to a control station requires using high-frequency RF...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

System Generates and Simulates Skin-Echo Pulses for Radar Testing

One of the methods for radar testing is the simulation of an environment where there are dynamic or static objects that are scanned by the radar under test. In particular,...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Next-Generation Phased Radar Systems Lead to Hardware Improvements

Meeting the performance needs of the next generation of radar systems that will be deployed by the military is spurring the development of more efficient and sensitive hardware...

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Articles
Aerospace

Electronic Warfare Development Targets Fully Adaptive Threat Response Technology

When U.S pilots encounter enemy air defenses, onboard electronic warfare (EW) systems protect them by interfering with incoming radar signals — a technique known...

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Application Briefs
RF & Microwave Electronics

Radar-Based Threat Detection

Rapiscan Systems Torrance, CA 310-978-1457 www.rapiscansystems.com Rapiscan Systems recently announced the addition of CounterBomber, a radar-based threat-detection technology, to its portfolio of security products....

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Quantum Radar Detects “Invisible” Objects

A prototype quantum radar has the potential to detect objects that are invisible to conventional systems. The new breed of radar is a hybrid system that uses quantum correlation between microwave...

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INSIDER
Communications

Army Equips Stryker Unit With New Communications Technology

The Army's Stryker vehicle, designed to quickly move soldiers into a combat zone, is swift and mobile. Now its communications equipment will be, too.

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Articles
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Wireless Sensing — the Road to Future Digital Avionics

The performance of avionics systems is dictated by the timely availability and usage of critical health parameters. Various sensors acquire and communicate the desired parameters. In...

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Articles
Software

New RF Strategies for Software Radio

Software defined radio system engineers can now exploit new technology to perform digital signal processing much closer to the antenna than ever before. Various strategies include the latest wideband data...

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Application Briefs
Communications

Tracking WiFi Signals to Passively See Through Walls

University College London (UCL) researchers are investigating passive radar technologies that can see through walls using WiFi radio waves. The novel research required a real-time, passive...

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INSIDER
Communications

Air Traffic Lab Answers Questions About Future Flying

The holiday season is upon us and that means crowded airports and delayed flights. Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center are working to change that. They are conducting studies to...

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INSIDER
RF & Microwave Electronics

Foldable Material Can Support Many Times its Weight

Researchers at Drexel University and Dalian University of Technology in China have chemically engineered a new, electrically conductive nanomaterial that is flexible enough to fold, but strong...

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Articles
Aerospace

Enhancing Mission Readiness with Rugged Portable Instruments

To support warfighters in the field, engineers and technicians install, maintain, troubleshoot, and repair a wide range of mission-critical radar and communication systems. These...

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Articles
Aerospace

RF Photonics for Avionics Signal Processing

The maturity of RF photonic components has reached the point where fiber optic links are being system-tested to replace traditional copper coax links on avionic platforms. Many demonstrations of RF...

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Technology Update
RF & Microwave Electronics

Small, Sensitive Antennas

Researchers create metamaterials by carefully designing and fabricating novel structures to exhibit patterns of electromagnetic properties—specifically, dielectric permittivity and/or magnetic permeability—at the micro-or nano-scale. This special spatial arrangement of elements ensures that the volumetric arrays...

INSIDER
RF & Microwave Electronics

3D Audio Research Helps Make Cockpit Safer

Imagine yourself in a cockpit, flying a mission, listening to a multitude of critical voices delivering vital messages, all at the same time and from the same direction. Now imagine the same...

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News
Defense

U.S., India to Collaborate on Mars Exploration, Earth-Observing Mission

While attending the International Astronautical Congress, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation...

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INSIDER
Communications

Tiny Wireless Sensing Device Alerts Users to Telltale Vapors Remotely

A research team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has developed a small electronic sensing device that can alert users wirelessly to the presence of chemical...

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INSIDER
RF & Microwave Electronics

Agile Aperture Antenna Tested on Aircraft

Department of Defense representatives were in attendance during a recent event where two of the low-power devices, which can change beam directions in a thousandth of a second, were demonstrated in an...

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INSIDER
RF & Microwave Electronics

DARPA Teams With Industry to Create Spaceplane

DARPA has created an Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) to create a new paradigm for more routine, responsive, and affordable space operations. In an important step toward that goal, DARPA has awarded...

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INSIDER
Defense

Army to Get New IED Detector Technology

Detecting improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan requires constant, intensive monitoring using rugged equipment. When Sandia researchers first demonstrated a modified miniature synthetic aperture...

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