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Welcome toyour Digital Edition ofAerospace & Defense

TechnologyApril 2015

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Fanjet Evolution — the Next Steps

Electronic Warfare Technology

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April 2015

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Aerospace & Defense Technology

ContentsFEATURES ________________________________________

6 Electronic Warfare6 Electronic Warfare Technology

12 Data Security12 Cloud Security & Compliance

16 Small Form Factor Computing16 MicroTCA Computing for Mil/Aero Applications

21 Propulsion21 Fanjet Evolution – the Next Steps

26 Composites26 Dry Drilling Composites Using Carbon Dioxide Cooling

30 RF & Microwave Technology30 Next-Generation Phased Radar Systems Lead to Hardware

Improvements33 Electronic Warfare Development Targets Fully Adaptive Threat

Response

35 Tech Briefs35 Damping Measurement for Wafer-Level Packaged MEMS

Acceleration Sensors36 Sensing Suspicious Powders Using Noncontact Optical Methods 38 Isotope Beta-Battery Approaches for Long-Lived Sensors39 Selective, Sensitive, and Robust Electrochemical Detection of Anthrax

DEPARTMENTS ___________________________________

41 Technology Update43 Application Briefs45 New Products47 Advertisers Index48 What’s Online

ON THE COVER ___________________________________

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6 www.aerodefensetech.com Aerospace & Defense Technology, April 2015

Electronic Warfare TechnologyOvercoming TWT Limitations with GaN Solid State Power Amplifiers

Military electronic warfare(EW) systems including nav-igation, radar guidance, ter-rain mapping and others, re-

quire lightweight compact components,with radio frequency (RF) output powerlevels to several kilowatts typicallyneeded to meet system requirements. AsGaN transistor technology advances infrequency and power output, solid statepower amplifiers (SSPAs) have begun re-placing traveling wave tubes (TWTs) atfrequencies up to 6 GHz. The utilization

of this technology results in a lower costand greater efficiency over the life of aproduct.

Available TWT TechnologyTWTs are available in two basic config-

urations: the cavity and the helix. CavityTWTs are capable of very high powers—into the megawatt region—and are phys-ically larger than helix TWTs. With theirsmaller size, helix TWTs lend themselvesto a miniature traveling wave tube(MTWT) configuration to provide a com-

pact, lightweight solution for UAV andother EW applications where size andweight are major issues. Yet, helix TWTshave output powers limited to approxi-mately 2.5 kW, which is much lower thanthe required output for many high powerapplications.

While the helix TWT is operating, theheated cathode is the source for the elec-tron beam. Electrons are accelerated to-ward the collector by the anode andchanneled into a narrow beam by thefocus electrode. An RF input signal isthen applied to the helix by an input RFcoupler. As the RF signal travels down thehelix wire, it absorbs energy from theelectron beam providing gain and in-creased power as the RF moves along thehelix wire. The RF output is coupled off ofthe helix coil by the output coupler.

Decreasing Risk through SSPAsReliability and life of a TWT fall into

three major categories:

ime Between Failures (MTBF)Figure 1. Conceptual drawing of TWT. Major components of a helix TWT include the heater, cathode, anode,focus electrode, attenuator, helix wire, collector and RF input and output couplers.

Photo: U.S. Army CERDEC

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Electronic Warfare

Infant MortalityGenerally an issue with all electronic

hardware including solid state power am-plifiers, infant mortality is controlled byamplifier burn-in at the manufacturingfacility. TWTs also have an additionalconcern if they are stored for a long pe-riod of time. Specifically, there is the po-tential for damage when first turned onafter an extended storage period. To min-imize damage risk, an 8 to 24 hour heaterburn-in is recommended before cathodevoltage is applied. SSPAs eliminate therisk associated with immediate turn-onafter extended storage periods.

Cathode ExhaustionA second reliability advantage of re-

placing a TWT with an SSPA is eliminat-ing cathode exhaustion. Although thereare steps that can be taken to extendcathode life in a TWT, it cannot be elimi-nated, resulting in the system having a fi-nite operating lifetime. However, an SSPAeliminates the cathode exhaustion issuealtogether, significantly extending thesystem’s operating life.

MTBF An SSPA also enhances system integrity

by eliminating single point failuresources associated with older TWT tech-nology. Since the TWT relies on energytransfer from the electron beam into theRF signal traveling along a helix wire, allcomponents in the tube are potential sin-gle point hard failure sources.

In contrast, the replacement SSPA usesparallel combined transistors that pro-vide a soft fail configuration. Parallelpower sources in the SSPA provide the op-portunity to monitor amplifier health atmultiple power stages.

Increasing Performance TWT amplifiers meet the output power

and size requirements for compact air-borne systems; however, using a TWT hassome disadvantages including a finitelifetime, single point failure sources, andlow reliability in harsh environments.

Recent advances in GaN transistortechnology have made solid state powertransistors through Ku-band frequenciesavailable. A 100 W CW GaN device at X-band is the building block for the 1 kWMTWT replacement, and the SSPA re-

placement has a major impact on mi-crowave power module (MPM) reliability.

Comparative AnalysisThe comparison below shows how an

SSPA can operate over the 9.2 to 9.75GHz frequency band with 1 kW peak out-put power at pulse widths up to 100 μsecand 10% duty cycle with an efficiency of20%.

The X-band MPM has 60 dB of gainand operates from a 28 VDC MIL-STD-704 airborne power bus efficiency in an11” L X 6” W X 2” D package. Compo-nents in the MPM include a MTWT, SSPAdriver, power supply and control func-tions.

A general comparison of TWT vs. SSPAMTBF can be completed using MIL-HDBK217. Table 1 provides the equations forcalculating MTBF for a TWT based on op-erating environment, operating fre-

quency and output power. The table fur-ther illustrates the MTBF results for oper-ation at 9.5 GHz, 1 kW output power inground benign, ground mobile and air-craft uninhibited cargo environments.

MTBF = 106

(11 × (1.00001)P × (1.1)F × EP = peak power in watts (1000); F = Frequency in GHz (9.5)

The GaN RF section of the SSPA shownin Figure 2 is a four stage design. StagesAR4 and AR5 use 0.25 μm GaN transistortechnology. The design uses discrete diein multi-chip modules (MCM) for driverstage AR3 and final output stage AR4.AR4 MCMs are combined using a low loss4-way splitter and combiner.

For comparison purposes, Table 2 de-picts the MTBF for a 1 kW SSPA calcu-lated using the MIL-HBDK-217 parts

Figure 2. Block diagram of a 1kW, X-band, GaN SSPA. The GaN RF section of this SSPA incorporates a four-stage design.

Environment E TWT MTBF (hrs)

Ground Benign 0.5 72,000

Ground Mobile 7.0 5,199

Aircraft Uninhibited Cargo 6.0 6,066

Table 1. 1000 W, 9-10 GHz, TWT MTBF calculation using method of MIL-HDBK-217 notice 2.

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Electronic Warfare

count method, as well as the TWT. Thecalculation is done at 85°C case temper-ature and 9.5 GHz with 10% duty cycle.The MTBF of the GaN amplifier wascompleted based on using ground be-nign, ground mobile and airborne unin-hibited environments. Capacitor andresistor stresses were calculated with theSSPA case temperature at +85°C and50% electrical stress per design guide-lines and GaN transistor reliability wasbased on 175°C junction temperature(10% duty cycle and 85°C case tempera-ture).

As shown in Table 2, in a passive envi-ronment like ground benign, the SSPAMTBF is about 55% greater than the TWT.However, in more challenging environ-ments, there is a seven-fold improvementin MTBF of an SSPA compared to the TWT.

Modern Advancements GaN technology advances including

higher power density and 0.25 μm gatelengths allow GaN transistors to effec-tively replace TWTs at X-band.

The advantages of using a GaN SSPA toreplace a TWT include:

1. Eliminating a system’s finite life dueto cathode exhaustion in the TWT.

2. Removing concern about TWT dam-age at turn-on after extended storageperiods.

3. Eliminating multiple single pointfailure sources in the TWT.

4. Providing distributed final stagehealth monitoring and early failurewarning while maintaining systemoperational integrity.

5. Offering improved reliability to meetmodern EW system requirements.As EW systems are upgraded, GaN

will undoubtedly continue to advanceand compete for more market sharewith TWTA applications due to afford-ability and longer system life require-ments in the defense community.

This article was written by Frank Decker,Design Engineer, API Technologies (Or-lando, FL). For more information, visithttp://info.hotims.com/55588-500.

Environment E TWT MTBF (hrs) SSPA MTBF (hrs)

Ground Benign 0.5 72,000 111,800

Ground Mobil 7.0 5,199 44,043

Aircraft 6.0 6,066 37,258 Uninhibited Cargo

Table 2. 1000 W, 9-10 GHz, comparison between TWT and SSPA MTBF.

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Not too many years ago, net-work security was a relativelylow level priority in most or-ganizations. That has

changed today due to such high levelfailures as the recent breaches at Sonyand Target. Closer to home, the Univer-sity of Maryland is now incurring largeexpenses for all students due to the re-cent leak of personally identifiable stu-dent information.

There is a lot of discussion aroundfewer federal dollars being available forDefense IT spending. Actually, the morefinite pool of funding is causing govern-ment leaders to pause and think strate-gically about how they are spendingtheir security dollars. It is really makingthem consider the best possible ways tosecure their data centers, while alsobeing cost-effective in their approaches.

What’s becoming increasingly clear isthat the technology isn’t the core issue— it’s the architectural approach to cy-bersecurity that’s the issue. It’s time fororganizations to improve their securitypostures by thinking of security differ-ently.

This may be the most critical time inIT in the past 30 years. The datacentermust operate more efficiently, in a moreautomated fashion, and in a more se-cure manner. As hardwired devices getreconfigured as virtualized resources,there’s an opportunity to supply “a newsecurity enforcement layer.” Thanks tonetwork virtualization, defense agenciesare seeing true benefits by having accessto new information and isolating the

actual network when they experiencean incident – all while saving money.

Virtualization and the broader infra-structure of the software-defined datacenter provide a unique opportunity toget it all — isolation, context, and a hor-izontal layer that provides near-ubiqui-tous coverage. Through virtualization,organizations can insert security in a lo-cation that provides end-to-end cover-age, isolation, and the full context ofapplication, user, and data. In a physicalenvironment, it is much more difficultto actually isolate and remove the prob-lem. Moreover, this also prevents in-truders from communicating betweeninfected virtual machines if they dobreak into the network.

In a recent Center for Digital Govern-ment (CDG) survey of state and localgovernment IT leaders, 45 percent of

respondents said network security isthe most important IT issue to their or-ganization. So security is clearly top ofmind at agencies around the nation.Even so, respondents did not expressgreat confidence in their organizations’current defense systems to protectagainst threats. While 38 percent saidcybersecurity ranked “very high”among their organization’s other toptechnology priorities, a quarter saidthey were either very unprepared ordidn’t know if they were prepared toshield themselves from zero-day tar-geted attacks, advanced persistentthreats, and unknown threats.

New solutions are allowing govern-ment customers to better isolate andmanage security breaches and inci-dences. But as mentioned above, better,technology alone is far from the com-

Cloud Security & ComplianceWhat Every Defense OrganizationNeeds to Know

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Data Security

plete answer to rising cybersecurityrisks.

The traditional data center security ar-chitecture is overly perimeter-centric,with the majority of data center securityinvestment spent on the north-southboundary. Why? Because putting securityinside the data center turns out to be ex-tremely difficult. On the perimeter youhave a few egress points. Inside the data-center, you have a complex web of datapaths. The more controls you use, themore complex a distributed policy prob-lem you have. The fewer controls youuse, the more choke points you create.

The “Goldilocks Zone” is a term thatis often used to describe a new approachthat addresses these challenges. Theterm was originally coined to describe aplanetary location that exhibits charac-teristics that must be simultaneouslypresent for a planet to support life – nottoo hot, not too cold, etc. Security pro-fessionals borrowed it to describe the lo-cation for security controls that simul-taneously provides context andisolation—key characteristics requiredto create a secure information infra-structure.

When it comes to instrumenting ITinfrastructure with security controls, de-fense IT historically had two choices:the network or the host. With those twochoices, IT was forced to make a trade-off between context (visibility into theapplication layer) and isolation (protec-tion of the control itself).

If IT places controls in the network,there is isolation, but we lack context.

Visibility is limited to telemetry such asports and protocols. These were nevergood proxies for applications, but inmodern IT architectures such as thecloud, where workloads are mobile,these physical identifiers become evenworse. Next-generation firewallsemerged precisely because of this issue.

If IT places controls on the host, weget context about the application,processes, files, and users — but lackmeaningful isolation. If the endpoint iscompromised, so will be the control. Inboth cases we lack ubiquity, a horizon-tal enforcement layer that places con-trol everywhere.

The next logical step for defenseagencies is more virtualization of thenetwork itself. We're seeing more andmore adoption of this in the enterprisespace right now, because of enhancedsecurity capabilities and the ability viasoftware to build cloud functionalityon top of existing infrastructure. Com-panies are tired of the constraints in-herent in a siloed approach to com-pute-network-storage, and can't affordthose types of vulnerabilities in thisnew age.

Government IT leaders simply are nolonger satisfied with the status quo, norcan they afford to be. Despite the in-creased risk profile today, it's a thrillingtime to be involved in cybersecurity.

This article was written by Steven Coles,Vice President of Networking and Securityfor U.S. Public Sector, VMware (Palo Alto,CA). For more information, visithttp://info.hotims.com/55588-501.

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Small Form Factor Computing

MicroTCA Computing for Mil/AeroApplications

Small Form Factor (SFF) embed-ded systems have been gainingpopularity due to their smallsize, weight, and power

(SWaP) advantages. The SFF architec-tures are typically purpose-built, provid-ing just a few specific functions. But,the performance level is often limitedand the versatility and re-usabilityacross multiple applications is typicallyvery low. Is a balance available wherethere is high performance and versatil-ity in an open standard architecture,but a compact size that is optimized forSWaP-C (C stands for cost)?

Open StandardsThere are many SFF solutions in the

market, but many are not based on anopen standard. Why is this significant?

The critical importance of open stan-dards is often overlooked, but there aremany benefits to a Modular Open Stan-dard Architecture (MOSA) design. One ofthe key reasons is to reduce the risks posedby a single source technology and obsoles-cence. With several vendors in the indus-try supporting an open standard, the de-

sign engineer is not putting all of theireggs in one basket. The Mil/Aero commu-nity has learned the lessons of choosing aserver blade approach from a Fortune 100corporation and getting locked into a sin-gle vendor solution. It backfired whenthat corporation sold their business unit tothe Chinese. Had the program gone to aMOSA solution, even if their prime sup-plier sold the business, they would stillhave had many other vendors to choosefrom and an open specification available.Additionally, with competition betweenthe various MOSA hardware vendors, theconstant drive to innovate, upgrade/im-prove, and reduce costs is prevalent.

Finally, the scalability of open stan-dards is a key element. There is tremen-dous cost and time savings in upgradingon a scalable architecture versus astand-alone, purpose built approach,which may not leverage much in for-ward compatibility.

What is SFF?What size do we consider SFF? Com-

paring it to the traditional VME andCompactPCI form factors of Eurocard

(3U and 6U) may be the best start.Those are the most common sizes forlegacy open-standard architectureequipment in the embedded market. A3U Eurocard board is 100 mm high(133.5 mm including subrack) by 160mm deep, and a 6U is 233.4 mm(266.70 mm with subrack) × 160 mm.Nearly half that size is MicroTCA, ahigh-performance embedded architec-ture that offers significantly more per-formance than most SFF systems. Mi-croTCA is 75 mm by 180 mm in thesingle module size and 150 mm × 180mm in the double module size. See Fig-ure 1 for size comparison of MicroTCAto Eurocard.

Comparing Open StandardArchitectures

AdvancedTCA is often used for Telcoapplications where massive throughputis required and size, power, and coolinglimits are much more flexible. Themodules are a large 8U (355.6 mm x 280mm) size with a 30.48 mm backplanepitch. They typically have dual sockethigh-end processors that require moreboard space and cooling. The otherarea for AdvancedTCA is Mil/Aerowhere the processing power outweighsthe architecture’s SWaP limitations.

MicroTCA is an excellent fit for awide range of applications because of itshigh performance-to-size ratio and ver-satility. The COTS (Commercial Off TheShelf) architecture has benefits overother form factors due to its robust sys-tem management, e-keying, and high-reliability features. In addition, theopen-standard COTS architecture is typ-ically more interoperable and lower costthan competing standards.

VPX is mostly a MOTS (Military OffThe Shelf) architecture, serving onemarket. The architecture was billed asthe “next VME”, although ironically itis not standardly backwards-compati-ble. It does, however, share the Eurocard

Figure 1. MicroTCA is more much more compact than the Eurocard form factor and offers significantlybetter performance than legacy 3U and 6U bus-based systems.

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AIntro

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AIntro



form factor. Like MicroTCA, it can eas-ily be ruggedized for hardened applica-tions. Figure 2 takes a closer look at Mi-croTCA, VPX, and one of the openstandard SFF form factors.

As shown in Figure 2, MicroTCAmodules are close to half the size,weight, and cost of VPX. For thepower, it obviously depends on the ap-plication. But, MicroTCA systems oftenhave lower power consumption as well.

The SFF specification shown in thechart is roughly the same board heightas MicroTCA, but about half the depthand a thinner pitch. But, there is a bigtradeoff for the small size and architec-ture – lower computing performance.With a 20W limit for even the larger SFFconduction-cooled modules, that limitsthe processor selection to mostly singlecore, lower-performing Atom™ and G-Series™ types of chipsets. For graphicsmodules, many of the upper-endchipsets will exceed 30W. Most higher-

performance FPGAs such as Stratix-IV,Stratix-V, Virtex-6, Virtex-7 and digitalconverters are also above the thresholdfor the open standard SFF.

Now, purpose-built SFF systems areavailable that can use some 3rd Genera-tion Core i7 processors, but you are los-ing the many advantages of an openstandard architecture and its vastecosystem.

Pico Chassis Versions of MicroTCAAlthough MicroTCA is typically 19”

rackmount, there are Pico style and othershorter width enclosures. Pico shelvesare a standard option in the core Mi-croTCA.0 specification. Fig 3a shows anexample of a 2-slot Pico chassis with twoAMCs (chassis courtesy of partner for thisproduct, Schroff). This chassis is approx-imately 10" wide for dimensions of 44.5mm high 250 mm 320 mm deep.Often, a MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MCH) isnot required in Pico units. The chassis

utilizes an active backplane with fanspeed control circuitry that is triggered bytemperature sensors in the chassis. TheIPMI connections are routed to bothAMC slots.

Many of the SFF applications requirea conduction cooled enclosure. Similarto the previous enclosure, the conduc-tion-cooled version in Fig 3b also canhold 2 slots.

One of the advantages of utilizing asmaller MicroTCA system is the abilityto leverage hundreds of standard Ad-vancedMCs (AMCs) that are readilyavailable in the marketplace. This in-cludes dozens of options of modulesthat are geared for:

ransceivers

Figure 2: Performance and feature comparison of OpenVPX, VITA 74 SFF, and MicroTCA.

VPX MTCA VITA 74 SFF

Board Height 133.5mm (3U) or 266.7mm (6U) 75mm or 150mm 75mm

Board Depth 160mm 180mm 89mm

Pitch 1.0", .85", or .8" .8" (most common) & .6" and 1.2" .49" or .75"

Bus/Fabric Serial fabric - Serial fabric - Serial fabric - PCIe Gen 3, 10/40 GbE, SRIO Gen 2 PCIe Gen 3, 10/40 GbE, SRIO Gen 2 PCIe Gen 3, 10/40 GbE, SRIO Gen 3

Routing Serial Fabric, Redundancy Serial Fabric, Redundancy Serial Fabric, Redundancy

Rugged Yes MTCA.2, MTCA.3 specifications Yes

Rear I/O Yes MTCA.4 specification No

System/Health Management & Failover VITA 46.11 draft for trial use Yes No

Keying Mechanical Electronic Mechanical

JTAG Integrated No Yes No

Geographical Addressing Yes Yes Yes

Advanced Clocking with Redundancy No Yes No

High Availability (99.99999% uptime) No Yes No

High Interoperability No Yes No

Power Limit 276W/slot (3U/12V), 768W/slot (6U/48V) 84W/slot or 120W/slot with tongue 2 10W/slot or 20W/slot

Vast Ecosystem Yes Yes No

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AIntro

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High PerformanceMIL/Aero applications can be a driver

for leading-edge performance, but oftenthe long design cycles and conservativeapproach can slow down the innova-tion. An advantage of a truly COTS ar-chitecture serving multiple markets isthat the advances contrived from othermarkets such as communications andHigh Energy Particle Physics can beleveraged. For example, the physicscommunity requires very high perform-ance digitizers, with more channel op-tions, and various RF boards for LLRF,beam position monitoring, etc. Thetechnology can be leveraged to high-end radar and radar jamming applica-tions drive powerful DAQ, A/D and D/Aconverters. Today, there are AMCs (andFMCs) that offer a DAC 14-bit @ 5.7GSPS and ADC 14-bit @ 4.0 GSPS. Incommunications applications, the pushfor faster networking has driven 100Gprocessors and FPGAs.

Figure 3a/b. SFF or MicroTCA? With a compact size, small enclosures are available for AMC modules thatcompare with SFF systems.

Figure 4. Ranging from 1/3 to 1/5 the size of competing MOSA rugged chassis, this 1U unit offers 6 AMCs, sys-tem management, precision clocking & time stamping for many RADAR processing and storage applications.

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AIntro

An example of a high-performancedensity system is a 1U rugged chassisthat holds 6 AMCs. Figure 4 shows thechassis layout with an integrated MCHthat provides GPS receiver/IEEE1588/SyncE capabilities. The precisiontiming and time stamping features pro-

vide deadly accuracy for target acquisi-tion. Ten years ago, a weapon systemwould have the RADAR as part of the sys-tem or a short distance away. In today’snetwork-centric warfare, the RADAR andweapon system can be many miles away.In sending and receiving data, by the

time the system receives the input and isready to analyze the data, the target is ina different location. With SyncE andIEEE 1588, the packet is time-stamped tothe exact Grand Master Clock (GMC)time when it is sent. When the packet isreceived, the system can adjust the timedifferential and allow the algorithms topredict the location of the target. There-fore, the precision-timing of the systemcan help make targeting more accurate.

In just a 1U height one can have apowerful core i7 quad-core processor,four Virtex-7 FPGAs with removable 5.7GSPS DACs and 4.0 GSPS ADCs, and a12 Gbps SAS 800GB storage modulewith Advanced RAID and external ex-pansion. Or, for more storage, a JBODmodule can hold up to 8 mSATA chipsat up to 1 TB each (for a total of 8 TB inone bay). The chassis is designed tomeet MIL-STD-810F for shock and vi-bration, and MIL-STD-461E for EMI.

MicroTCA also offers a wealth ofhigh-end storage, graphics, I/O, FPGAand other boards which make theecosystem rich and diverse. Other spe-cialty products in the MicroTCA formfactor include a 72-core Tilera Processor,40GbE chassis platforms, a PCIe Gen3carrier with the ability to use the high-est performance commercial NVIDIA orother graphics cards. MicroTCA alsoprovides multiple ruggedization levelsincluding MTCA.0 (Core specification),MTCA.1 (Rugged Air Cooled), MTCA.2(Hardened Air/Conduction Cooled Hy-brid, MTCA.3 (Hardened ConductionCooled) and MTCA.4 (with RTMs forPhysics, other applications).

ConclusionSFF systems can be a great fit for ap-

plications requiring some specific func-tionality in a small space. But smalldoesn’t have to mean low performanceor limited features/capabilities. As an“SFF-like” architecture, MicroTCA canprovide massive performance in smallspaces. There are a wealth of configura-tions and options to allow for SWaP per-formance across a wide spectrum of ap-plication requirements.

This article was written by Luis Teruel,Hardware Engineering Manager, VadaTech(Henderson, NV). For more information,visit http://info.hotims.com/55588-502.



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AIntro

Aerospace & Defense Technology, April 2015 www.aerodefensetech.com 21

FanjetEvolution —the NextStepsRolls-Royce is on a determinedpath to equip commercialairplanes over the comingdecades with new engines thattake advantage of engineeringbreakthroughs in materials andcore architectures.

by Richard Gardner

The global aerospace sector has al-ways represented the cuttingedge of practical technology ad-vancement. When the first mili-

tary jet engines emerged in the post-war1940s it was clear that commercial applica-tions would soon follow. The leap in per-formance, payload capability, maintain-ability, and speed compared to the bestthat turbo-supercharged piston-enginescould offer was truly revolutionary.

Subsequent decades saw jet air travel be-coming the normal, preferred way totravel, and when the first big-fan-poweredwide-body Boeing 747 entered service theway was open for the world to become aninterconnected network of safe, reliable airroutes.

Thanks to the birth of mass air trans-port and subsequently a relentless growthin market demand, the technologyneeded to deliver the means to satisfythat demand has proceeded in steady in-crements. New families of wide-bodytransport airplanes were developed, andthese regularly incorporated technologi-cal advances in aerodynamics, materials,and propulsion until today when itmight be thought that evolutionary de-velopment had almost reached the endof the trail, with such impressive prod-ucts as the Airbus A380 and A350, andthe Boeing 777-X and 787.

The more futuristic proposals for air-planes powered by prop-fans, or open ro-tors, are continuing as active research anddevelopment programs on both sides ofthe Atlantic, but customer-power is stillthe dominant factor in launching new en-

gines, and what airline chiefs are now de-manding is evolutionary engines that willbe a more risk-free stepping stone towardeven more efficient products that can bein service a lot sooner than the super-ad-vanced designs.

End-on view of the Rolls-Royce demonstrator Trent 100 engine with new carbon-titanium (CTi) fan blades.

Close up of a Rolls-Royce CTi fan blade, consistingof technology that delivers lighter fan blades whileretaining aerodynamic performance. Combinedwith a composite engine casing, it forms a systemthat reduces weight by up to 1500 lb per aircraft,the equivalent of carrying eight more passengersat no additional cost.

The CTi fan blade for the Advance and UltraFannext-gen engine completed testing in September2014 at Rolls-Royce’s Outdoor Jet Engine TestFacility at the Stennis Space Center.

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Propulsion

Open rotors still have a long way to gobefore such important factors as noise, air-frame integration, and maintenance ac-cessibility—and blade-off safety issues—are fully de-risked. So although thepotential +25% reduction in fuel con-sumption and overall operating efficiencymight be a very attractive incentive, whatairlines really want is a new generation ofbig fan engines suitable for powering laterdevelopments of today’s generation of air-planes, including the A380 and 787, andalso possibly any replacement 250-seatdesign that Boeing might introduce to re-place its successful but out-of-production757. The sales success of both the newBoeing 737 Max and Airbus A320neo,with orders for an incredible 6280-plusaircraft yet to be delivered, demonstratesthe willingness of airlines to adopt newengine options where the extra efficien-cies can save them significant sums ofmoney.

New Engine Options Despite a recent dramatic drop in

world oil prices, the familiar efficiency-driven demand for new engines is stillbuilding up in the market for applica-tion on existing wide-body airplanes.High oil prices were seen as a prime mo-tivator for the switch to newer, more ef-ficient engines, but the overall benefits,including lower emissions and noise aswell as better fuel economy, have keptup the sales momentum.

Last year Airbus made the decision,under pressure from some key customers,to launch the A330-800 and -900neo (newengine option) models featuring the latestRolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, eventhough the company was simultaneouslyintroducing a similar size all-new wide-body, the A350, which everyone assumedwould replace the A330 in production. Air-bus claims the neo versions of the A330will save 14% fuel consumption per seatcompared to the existing -200 and -300aircraft.

While R-R has been frozen out of thenew 777-X program as a result of an exclu-sive supplier arrangement between Boeingand General Electric, it has taken some ofthe best design aspects of its previouslyproposed RB3025 engine to incorporatethese with other new technology designfeatures to create a two-stage product

route-map toward the next generation oflarge-fan production engines.

The first new engine, named “Advance”is aimed at a 2020 timeframe, offering a20% fuel-burn reduction over the earliestTrent, with the second, named “UltraFan,”delivering a 25% reduction, to becomeavailable around 2025.

To arrive in the highly competitive mar-ketplace within these timescales, the newengines draw on experience gained fromits latest two products, the Trent 1000powering the 787 Dreamliner, and theTrent XWB powering the A350. Innova-

tion has been at the heart of all Trent en-gines to date, with the three-shaft architec-ture a common feature.

Advance AdvancesAdvance introduces a new core architec-

ture. This redistributes the workload be-tween the intermediate- and high-pressureshafts to achieve the highest commercialturbofan overall pressure ratio of morethan 60:1 and a bypass ratio of more than11:1. As well as reducing the parts countand weight, Advance will incorporate alean-burn low-NOx combustor and ad-

The ALPS (Advanced Low PressureSystem) Advance engine introduces a newcore architecture that redistributes theworkload between the intermediate- andhigh-pressure shafts to achieve the high-est commercial turbofan overall pressureratio of more than 60:1 and a bypass ratioof more than 11:1.

Shown is the UltraFan’s first flight test aboard Rolls-Royce’s 747 flying test bed. UltraFan is a geared designwith a variable pitch fan system, based on technology that could be ready for service from 2025

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AIntro

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Propulsion

vanced heat-tolerant materials,which will further improvethermal efficiency and im-prove component life.

The most noticeable featureof the new engine will be theuse of the new R-R carbon-tita-nium (CTi) fan blades (replac-ing hollow titanium blades)and the associated integratedcomposite engine casings,which have built in electricalharnesses and pipework.

Amongst the other per-formance gains these featuresprovide a major weight saving of some1500 lb on a twin-engine aircraft, equiva-lent to carrying another eight passengers.These new features are the result of exten-sive design work over recent years andmuch R&D testing and evaluation, whichis now continuing at an increasing pace.

The company’s hollow titanium fanshave established a reputation for per-

formance and reliability, but a series ofsuccessful technology demonstratorprograms has pointed toward compos-ite materials as the next step, incorpo-rating specific technology innovations.Many years of looking at how advancescould be gained from the weaving ofthe material used led to the adoption ofa CTi design that delivered a lighter,

thinner fan blade that wasvery robust and offeredhigh performance.

In September 2014, R-Rcompleted ground testing ofthe CTi fan system at the Sten-nis Space Center in Missis-sippi. This involved crosswindtesting on a Trent 1000 ALPS(Advanced Low Pressure Sys-tem) technology demonstra-tor to verify the new fan de-sign performance in advanceof flight tests taking place.

The R-R Outdoor Jet En-gine Test Facility at Stennis was expandedin 2013 to add a second test stand and itcan now carry out specialist developmentengine testing including noise, crosswind,thrust reverse, cyclic, and endurance test-ing on all large R-R engine types.

Last October the new fan blades tookto the air for the first time in Tucsonaboard a company-owned Boeing 747

The latest member of theR-R Trent family, the 7000,for the new A330neo

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AIntro


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Propulsion

flying test bed. This aircraft had the ALPSdemonstrator engine fitted in place ofone of the regular RB211 engines. Thedemonstrator engine was from a donor

Trent 1000, as fitted to the Boeing 787,but had been modified with the use ofCTi fan blades. Six flights took place over11 days.

The Airbus ACJ350-900 will be the corporate jet version of the A350.

“We look forward to testing the systemeven more rigorously in the next phase,”said Mark Pacey, the Rolls-Royce ALPSChief Project Engineer. “We had twomain aims in testing—proving flight dy-namics and the performance of the fan.This involved approaching the limits ofthe aircraft’s operating envelope, record-ing data at altitudes up to 40,000 ft andspeeds from Mach 0.25 to 0.35.”

He pointed out that the EuropeanCommission Clean Sky initiative has sup-ported the ALPS program from the begin-ning and this has helped to progress thenew technology.

In November noise testing of a secondALPS composite fan engine continued atStennis. The work on the integrated com-posite engine case is also makingprogress, with manufacture of a completeunit underway and the coming togetherof new fans and a new casing is plannedfor mid 2015, which will allow groundtesting to take place.

The Advance engine is likely to be-come the basis for a new-generation ofTrent-derived big fan engines, though itwill represent a significant technologicaladvance, as the name suggests. Apartfrom the new CTi fans and integratedcomposite casing, it will have a new lean-burn combustion system and use ceramicmatrix composite material. Ground test-ing in the U.K. and Germany has vali-dated emissions predictions and later thisyear flight test will begin and continueinto 2016.

The key to the Advance design is theredistribution of workload between theintermediate- and high-pressure shafts.This core architecture, the conceptual de-sign of which is completed, is scheduledto be incorporated into a demonstrator torun in 2016. Long-lead time componentsare in manufacture and this demonstra-tor will be based on a donor Trent XWB,as fitted to the Airbus A350, but minus itshigh- and intermediate-pressure spools.The investment in this rolling develop-ment, test, and evaluation program is upand running to ensure that all the ad-vanced technology elements are in placeand proven to meet the company’s own2020 timescale. It will then be very wellplaced to respond rapidly to the expecteddemand for a new-generation big fan en-gine from the airframe companies.

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AIntro


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Propulsion

The UltraFan The second new engine, the UltraFan, is

also the subject of much investment ineven more advanced techniques as the de-sign is refined, components developed,and it is prepared for testing. This programmay seem far from the target timescale, adecade into the future, but the company isdetermined, once again, to de-risk andprove the new technologies well ahead ofthe market demand to retain a competi-tive edge and to ensure a potential world-beating product is ready at the right time.

The UltraFan will incorporate all thenew technologies used in the Advance en-gine, but will address new challenges in-volving larger fans and smaller cores toachieve even greater engine pressure ratios.When the bypass ratio increases to around15:1 the low-pressure turbine system driv-ing the fan gets disproportionately largeand heavy and managing temperatures,pressures, and aerodynamics between thefan and smaller core becomes more of anissue, according to Alan Newby, R-R ChiefEngineer, Future Programs and Technol-ogy, Civil Large Engines.

“Our solution with UltraFan is to elimi-nate the LP turbine in its current form anddrive the larger fan through an enhancedintermediate-pressure turbine,” he said.

A power gearbox between the fan and IPcompressor is a key element in this designas it enables the IP turbine to do that with-out running too fast for the low-speed fan.

“By doing this, we can continue to be con-fident our three-shaft architecture ensuresour compressors and turbines run at opti-mum speed and deliver optimum perform-ance, and also enables us to remove the needfor a thrust reverser and we can introduce anintegrated, slim-line nacelle,” said Newby.

Very large fan engines need greater inte-gration with the nacelle and airframe, asweight, drag, and ground clearance can allbe issues. For the UltraFan, R-R is develop-ing a new power gearbox to deliver the15:1 bypass ratio. Testing will begin at theend of this year at a new purpose-built R-Rfacility at Dahlewitz in Germany.

Gear units and oil systems will be testedat a variety of angles and this work is sup-ported by the European Clean Sky 2 andGerman national LUFO programs. Con-tinued work on geared designs will buildon much company heritage experiencefrom turboshaft and turboprop engines in

the civil market and also the R-R LiftFansystem that is an essential propulsion fea-ture delivering VSTOL capability aboardthe F-35B combat aircraft.

“One element of the Advance and Ul-traFan program that was critical to its suc-cess was informing the industry well in ad-

vance,” said Simon Carlisle, Executive VicePresident, Strategy and Future Program-Civil Large Engines, R-R.

These are early days still, but it certainlylooks like this important new engine de-sign initiative is being built on a solidfoundation.

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The ground vehicle and aero-space industries use carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP)because it is more durable and

lighter than other materials. CFRP isused in components such as aircraftfuselages, wing skins, door panels, auto-motive body panels, and many otherareas that are trickling down to main-stream production vehicles from racingapplications. Multiple layers of CFRPand another material, such as titanium(Ti), are called a stackup.

The use of composite materials for ap-plications demanding strength, flexibil-ity, and elimination of corrosion is well

documented. Using composites ratherthan aluminum in aircraft structuressaves weight on the order of 20%. Thisweight reduction is combined with theability to achieve aerodynamically moreadvantageous shapes through precisionmolding, resulting in better payloadfractions and reduced fuel requirements.

For the Boeing aircraft line, the 777consists of 11% composite by weight,while the 787 Dreamliner contains morethan 50% composite by weight andabout 80% by volume. The Bell/BoeingV-22 Osprey uses composites for the

rotor blades, the rotor hubs, the wings,the interconnect drive shafting, the na-celle structure, the fuselage, and empen-nage, except for the fuselage frames.Carbon fiber manufacturing is also usedin Formula 1 racers, high-end bicycles,and the Bugatti Veyron sports car.

All of these factors combined explainthe ever-increasing popularity of compos-ite materials in many high-performanceapplications. This is in spite of their sig-nificantly higher raw material costs andrelatively involved processing—fre-quently requiring expensive autoclavesor other pressure- and heat-producing de-vices to compact and cure the materials.

A key machining/drilling challengefor CFRP applications is that traditionalliquid coolants, particularly petroleum-based coolants, should not be used forcooling during machining operations.For this reason, nearly all compositemanufacturing operations are per-formed completely dry. Since CO2 cool-ing is a dry process, it is a particularlysuitable solution for heat buildup in thisdifficult, expensive, and time-consum-ing operation of composite stackup ma-chining.

Drilling and Milling One of the major challenges of using

CFRP or CFRP layered with titanium

The CO2-based EFCS (environmentally friendlycoolant system) used for a series of tests by CoolClean Technologies delivers a cooling fluid consist-ing of CO2 ice crystals, CO2 gas, and in some casesair, directly to the cut zone where colling isrequired.

The EFCS equipment designed and manufacturedby CCT.

Dry Drilling Composites UsingCarbon Dioxide CoolingThe use of composite materials and composite stackups continues to grow at high ratesdue to the high strength and low weight of the materials. However, efficiently drillingholes through the layers to install fasteners and other components has traditionallyoffered numerous problems.

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Composites

(CFRP-Ti) is drilling holes in this stackupmaterial for bolts or rivets to secure theCFRP-Ti panels in place. The carbonfibers in the CFRP-Ti are very abrasive todrill, plus significant heat is created inthe drilling process, which damages theresin binders of the composite material.

The addition of a Ti layer introducesan even more damaging chip that canerode the corners and inner diameter ofthe drilled hole and, therefore, create asloppy fit between the panel and fas-tener.

CFRP-Ti stackups, where a layer ofCFRP is either glued or fastened to a Tipanel, are most commonly used for thefuselage of an aircraft. Thousands ofholes that are typically 0.64 cm diameterneed to be drilled through the stackupto fasten the panels to the frame of theaircraft.

The manufacturing process of an air-craft wing involves starting with over-sized sheets of CFRP that have beenformed into the approximate size andshape required. An overhead gantrymounted CNC milling spindle is thenoften used to trim the sheet to the fin-ished dimensions.

Dust-like chips created in this ma-chining operation are very abrasive and

there is a large amount of heat gener-ated. The heat generated in the millingprocess, just like in drilling, can softenthe binders in the resin that holds thelayers of carbon-fiber fabric together.This softening can lead to the layers de-laminating and eventually failing. Thisdownside can be eliminated by usingCO2 through-tool cooling, which signif-icantly reduced the heat in the cut zone,while maintaining a dry machining en-vironment.

Composite Stackup Drilling Issues Focusing on the drilling of CFRPs,

it is necessary to contend with threeprimary issues.

First, CFRPs have very low heatconductive and storage properties.This issue forces relatively slow cut-ting speeds to maintain an acceptableequilibrium between heat generationand heat disposal.

Second, CFRPs are very abrasive.This issue makes diamond-reinforcedtools desirable, but they are heat sen-sitive by themselves.

And lastly, CFRP layups can easilydelaminate on the exit side of adrilled hole. This issue must be han-dled in part by maintaining low ma-trix material temperatures. Other ad-ditional measures can include

sacrificial backing material, the additionof an outer scrim cloth layer, and con-trolling drill exit forces.

When drilling a CFRP-Ti stackup, afrequent challenge for airframe manu-facturers is to hold a consistent holesize in the softer composite. Usuallythe composite is the top layer and isdrilled first, then the titanium isdrilled with the titanium chips passingthrough the composite. Coolants suchas water and oil, or misting of oil, areoften used with stackup structures.

Depiction of the difference in the hole sizes between the EFCS and the conventional flood coolants. Thecomposite hole diameter drilled with the flood coolant was significantly larger than the titanium hole, thuscausing the composite hole size to increase above the 6.35 mm +0.0762 mm customer specification.

The EFCS system is capable of delivering CO2coolant to the tool-work piece interface in twomethods. The first method, shown here, is used fordrilling and delivers CO2 coolant through coolantports in the tool.

Details of the cost savings achieved by incorporating anEFCS CO2 coolant system for an aerospace application.This relatively small increase in tool life turns into a sig-nificant savings when taking into account that the PCDdrills typically used to drill CFRP cost around $750 each.Based on the data presented, the projected savings fromthe use of CO2-based cooling for this drilling applicationwas nearly $20,000 per month.

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AIntro


Composites

These conventional coolant ap-proaches do not provide optimal cool-ing for machining of these stackupmaterials, which often results in poorhole surface quality or holes out of di-mensional tolerance.

Composite-titanium (CO-Ti) stackupsare utilized in the fuselage of most newaircraft. In part due to the size of aircraftframe assemblies, it is not feasible toclean liquid coolants or oils from them

during manufacturing. Therefore, thedrilling operations performed to securefuselage panels to the frame are typi-cally done dry. Drilling through Ti with-out any coolant is a difficult processthat is very time consuming. The feedrate of the drill bit through the Ti layermust be kept very slow to keep the cre-ated chips light, fluffy, and relativelycool, so they do not damage the COlayer.

CO2 Cooling Testing Through work supported by the Na-

tional Science Foundation and Depart-ment of Energy, researchers from CoolClean Technologies have shown thatCO2 through-tool cooling can signifi-cantly increase productivity while main-taining required hole tolerances in boththe composite and Ti layers.

A series of tests were conducted tocompare the effectiveness of CO2-basedcooling sprays over traditional machin-ing, both dry and flooded, of CFRP andCFRP stackups. The key metrics to beevaluated were drilling temperature,tool life, hole quality, productivity, andenergy savings.

The experimentation and testing per-formed utilized an EFCS (environmen-tally friendly coolant system) to providethe CO2 coolant. The EFCS, designedand manufactured by Cool Clean Tech-nologies, is capable of delivering CO2coolant to the tool-work piece interfacein two methods. The first method isused for drilling and delivers CO2coolant through coolant ports in thetool. The second method, which deliversCO2 through an external nozzle, is usedfor milling.

The tooling used was carbide drills6.337 mm diameter with a WD1 coat-ing. The carbide drill went through astackup of composite and titanium, withthe composite component being 10.16mm thick on the top and the 12.7-mmthick titanium component being on thebottom. Two panels with 32 holes eachwere drilled, equaling a total of 1463mm of drill travel.

Work was performed on a verticalCNC mill that ran one panel of 32 holesover the course of about 8.5 minutes,with each hole taking about 16 seconds.The drill and stackup conditions wereinspected at the end of each panel.

During the drilling process the tem-peratures of the drill, the composite, andthe titanium were recorded. Tempera-ture data was measured with a laser IRgun as the drill broke through the bot-tom of the part. This temperature meas-urement process was not ideal as it likelyoverestimated the temperature and thusunderestimated the cooling benefit.Nevertheless, the data did show the gen-eral trend of lower temperatures, rang-

Energy data was collected from drilling samples during the machining using a Fluke power data collector.The data showed a significant energy savings in the range of 10-15% for the overall system.

For the composite filling test setup, a FLIR thermal imaging camera and a Fluke IR thermometer were usedto measure and verify temperatures. A custom vacuum boot was made to accurately simulate the currentproduction process. This image shows the setup with the vacuum boot, tooling, and CO2 spray applicator.

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AIntro


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Composites

ing from 20°C for the titanium layermeasurements to 27°C for the drill andcomposite temperatures.

The EFCS process produced compositehole diameters in close tolerance withthe hole size in the titanium. The com-posite hole diameter drilled with theflood coolant was significantly largerthan the titanium hole, thus causing thecomposite hole size to increase abovethe 6.35 mm +0.0762 mm customerspecification.

The EFCS system provided a signifi-cantly better hole size tolerance withinspecification, as compared to the holesdrilled with conventional coolant. Theflood coolant produced a significantlylarger hole in the composite during thefirst half of its tool life. Improvement oc-curred as the drill cutting edge wasdulled resulting in smaller chips causingless damage to the composite hole size.The EFCS system produced a hole with0.0254 mm variability vs. 0.1524 mm

for conventional coolants, or 6x lessvariability.

Productivity and Tool Life The researchers verified that the CO2

coolant is able to provide productivityincreases of 30% or more when com-pared to conventional coolants indrilling CFRP-Ti stackups and compositemilling. This processing time reductioncombined with an increased tool life of10% or higher, an improved surface fin-ish by up to 2x, and a dry work environ-ment to contribute to energy savings onthe order of 17%, reduce carbon emis-sions by 100% and improve the bottomline of the users by 22.5%.

Based solely on the productivity andtool life cost savings achievable with theCO2 over flood coolants, not even takinginto account the dollars related to energyand flood coolant maintenance andcleanup, the typical payback on a CO2coolant system is less than one year.

CO2 coolant provides a significant re-duction in tool and work piece tempera-ture when compared to a dry process.The ability to put your hand on the tool-ing immediately after milling is proofthat the work piece and cutter are keptat a temperature below 43°C. This is im-possible to do when using traditionalliquid coolant.

By keeping the temperature of boththe composite work piece and toolingdown near ambient conditions, nodegradation to the resin binders occurs.This significant temperature reductionalso leads to an increase in feed rate andtherefore productivity. Finish cuts withCO2 are smoother than when run dry,almost polished looking. Under a micro-scope, no inclusions or gouging causedby the milling process are evident.

This article is based on SAE Internationaltechnical paper 2014-01-2234 by NelsonW. Sorbo and Jason J. Dionne, Cool CleanTechnologies.

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AIntro


Meeting the performanceneeds of the next genera-tion of radar systems thatwill be deployed by the mil-

itary is spurring the development ofmore efficient and sensitive hardwarecomponents to go along with the rapidadvances in signal processing tech-niques and bandwidth.

The military uses radar for many pur-poses, including guiding missiles to tar-gets, directing the firing of weapon sys-tems, and providing long-distancesurveillance and navigation information.However, for the next generation of sys-tems currently in development, the most

critical requirement is the ability to suc-cessfully counter saturation attacks. Suchattacks may include numerous aircraftand missiles converging from multiple di-rections at the same time.

To meet this challenge, very highdata rates are required to track a largenumber of simultaneous targets. Unfor-tunately, the level of data quality re-quired is not achievable with the tradi-tional rotating or fixed radar systems inuse today.

Mechanical RotationRadar systems are often identified by

type of scanning. The most common,

mechanical scanning, involves the rota-tion of a parabolic dish or antennathrough a 360-degree sweep of the hori-zon. As it rotates, pulses of radio wavesor microwaves are transmitted andbounce off any object in its path. Theobject returns a tiny part of the wave’senergy.

These systems are not without limita-tions. Such systems provided limitedtracking capabilities. Upon detecting apotential target, the radar typicallywaits a second or two for an additionalsweep return so that it can correlate thetwo echoes, extract course and speed in-formation, and start a new tracking

Calibrating the sights on a radar system in Iraq to constantly monitor the skies in search of indirect fire attacks. (Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence)

Next-Generation Phased RadarSystems Lead to HardwareImprovementsMore compact, lightweight, and efficient power dividers increase resolution and range for the next wave of fixed phased array systems.

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AIntro


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RF & Microwave Technology

process. Depending on the sweep rate,this wastes valuable time against an in-coming enemy aircraft or weapon.

Mechanical-scan radars are also sus-ceptible to damage. If the servomotorsthat cause the antenna to rotate or sta-bilize it fail, or the antenna is damaged,the radar is rendered inoperable. As a re-sult, later generations of radar movedaway from mechanical scanning towardfixed, phased array radar systems inwhich all movement is eliminated.

Fixed Phased ArraysPhased arrays are composed of evenly

spaced antenna elements, each ofwhich emits a signal that incorporates aphase shift to produce a phase gradientacross the array. The amplitudes of thesignals radiated by the individual an-tennas, and the constructive and de-structive interference caused by objects,determine the effective radiation pat-tern of the array.

By digitally varying thesignal phases and amplitudeof the elements in an array –a process known as digitalbeamforming – the mainbeam can be “steered” to de-termine the direction of thesignal source, even thoughthe antenna does not physi-cally move.

Because of the rapidity atwhich the beam can besteered, phased array radarscan perform search, track, andmissile guidance functions si-multaneously with a capabil-ity of over a hundred targets.

Phased array systems varyin size and complexity. For severaldecades, massive planar arrays havebeen used aboard Navy warships andare at the heart of the shipborne Aegiscombat system and the Patriot MissileSystems. Smaller phased array antenna

can be built to conform to specificshapes, like missiles, infantry supportvehicles, ships, and aircraft.

Although there are several ways to ac-complish electronic beam steering, onesuch technique involves varying the

By improving the performance of the receiver, next-generationproducts expect to improve the radar results in more complex,real-world scenarios such as tracking a suspicious vehicle movingthrough a densely populated area.

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AIntro



phasing between elements in a fixed,multi-element array. This is typically ac-complished with power dividers thatemit signals of varying phase and am-plitude to the antennae.

As an example of the hardware im-provements required in next-generationsystems, power dividers serve as a primeexample.

Hardware Improvements – Power Dividers

Power dividers are passive compo-nents that divide an input signal intotwo or more identical output signals. Forphased array systems that require a rangeof signal amplitudes, the input signal isoften altered using attenuators to varythe signals prior to output to deliver thedesired signal level.

The traditional way of accomplishingthis is to utilize a standard, multi-chan-nel power divider with attenuators ateach of the output ports. Attenuators,

however, increase the overall size andweight of the unit while drawing addi-tional precious watts of power. The sizeand weight of the power divider with at-tenuators made it difficult to deploy onjet planes that could benefit from moresophisticated radar.

There are power dividers that splitpower from 6.7 to 18.4 dB across the out-put ports and do not require attenuators.Operating between 1100 and 1500 MHz,the 8-way divider is optimized for space-constrained applications. The dividercan handle 350W peak and 35 W CW.

The output signal is staggered in fixedamplitudes that begin at 18.4 dB at ports1 and 8, 12.4 dB at 2 and 7, 8.6 dB at 3and 6, and 6.7 dBs at ports 4 and 5. The8-output ports are each connected to afixed antenna. The power divider ex-tends the coverage from one mile to sev-eral miles.

The next generation of phased array sys-tems, along with advanced signal process-

ing techniques, could have significantbenefits for many branches of the military.For example, higher-resolution radarcould be used to initiate a computertakeover in the event of a missile attack ona jet plane. Using sophisticated evaluationof the missile’s speed and trajectory, mil-lisecond-to-millisecond, computer-con-trolled micro-adjustments could be usedto evade the threat.

In an intense battlefield applicationwith numerous vehicles and personnel,advanced radar could be used to not justtrack high-speed targets, but also slow-moving targets like ground troops.Armed with this information, the com-mand center could have complete, real-time visibility of all moving componentsof a battlefield.

This article was written by Anuj Srivas-tava, President and CEO of RenaissanceElectronics & Communications, Harvard,MA. For more information, visithttp://info.hotims.com/55588-541.

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Electronic Warfare Development Targets Fully Adaptive Threat Response Technology

When U.S pilots encounter enemy airdefenses, onboard electronic warfare

(EW) systems protect them by interferingwith incoming radar signals — a tech-nique known as electronic attack (EA) orjamming. Conversely, electronic protec-tion (EP) technology prevents hostileforces from using EA methods to disableU.S. radar equipment assets.

Defeating hostile radar helps shield air-craft from ground-to-air missiles and otherthreats, so it's a military priority to ensurethat EW systems can defeat any opposingradar technology.

At the Georgia Tech Research Institute(GTRI), which has supported U.S. elec-tronic warfare capabilities for decades, a re-search team is developing a new genera-tion of advanced radio frequency (RF)jammer technology. The project, knownas Angry Kitten, is utilizing commercialelectronics, custom hardware develop-ment, novel machine-learning software,and a unique test bed to evaluate unprece-dented levels of adaptability in EW tech-nology. Angry Kitten has been internallyfunded by GTRI to investigate advancedmethods that can counter increasingly so-phisticated EW threats.

"We're developing fully adaptive and au-tonomous capabilities that aren't currentlyavailable in jammers," said research engi-neer Stan Sutphin. "We believe a cognitiveelectronic warfare approach, based on ma-chine-learning algorithms and sophisti-cated hardware, will result in threat-re-

sponse systems that offer significantlyhigher levels of electronic attack and elec-tronic protection capabilities, and will pro-vide enhanced security for U.S. combataircraft."

When an EW encounter begins, theAngry Kitten system chooses an optimaljamming technique from among manyavailable options, explained Sutphin, wholeads a GTRI development team that in-cludes senior research engineer RogerDickerson and senior research scientistAram Partizian.

As the engagement progresses, the next-generation system is designed to adapt. Itwill assess how effective its jamming isagainst the threat and quickly modify itsapproach if necessary.

Angry Kitten research also includes in-vestigation of cognitive learning algo-rithms that allow the jammer to inde-pendently assess and respond to novelopposing technology. The team is devel-oping techniques to enable an EW systemto respond effectively should it encounterunfamiliar hostile radar techniques.

Moreover, the flexibility of the AngryKitten system allows it to represent a rangeof threat EA systems. That will help to sup-port the development of new and im-proved EP measures.

Adaptive Digital TechnologyTraditionally, Sutphin explained,

radar jamming has consisted of twobasic approaches. One employs me-

chanical techniquesthat reflect radarbeams back at thesender using chaffmaterial spreadthrough the air be-hind the carryingplatform. The otheruses electronic tech-niques to emit pow-erful electromag-netic signals thatinterfere with in-coming hostile radarbeams. But thesetechniques are rela-tively basic, andthey involve overt

suppression strategies that are often ob-vious to the other side.

Today's top EW systems are more subtle,thanks to digital techniques. The most ad-vanced technology today – digital radiofrequency memory (DRFM) – can deceivean enemy by recording his received radarsignals, manipulating them, and sendingback false information that seems to bereal.

"A DRFM jammer is a very effective wayof adding clutter to the scene without justusing unsophisticated noise-jammingtechniques," Sutphin said. "You can createfalse targets, or hide real targets, using theenemy's own waveforms against him."

The GTRI team believes that counteringsuch techniques will lead to the develop-ment of increasingly more precise digitaltechniques for radar EP. That could sparkan equivalent race for more advanced jam-mer techniques.

“We need an approach to more quicklyevaluate advances in digital RF signal gen-eration, and to rapidly field countermea-sures without expensive hardware up-grades,” said Tom McDermott, GTRI’sdirector of research.

In the first phase of developing a next-generation system, the GTRI team com-pleted an advanced jamming system pro-totype. This custom hardware utilizes awideband tunable transceiver system, andis built using open architecture/opensource approaches that are low-cost andenable operators to quickly modify the sys-tem in response to changing conditions.

The team is currently developing ma-chine-learning algorithms that will allowthe Angry Kitten system to continually as-sess its environment and switch among

GTRI’s next-generation EW equipment – carried in a bright blue pod at thebottom of the photo – being flight-tested aboard an L-39 Albatros jet traineraircraft. (Stan Sutphin)

This image shows stackable RF system enclosuresused for the Phase-I GTRI next-generation EW pro-totype. (Stan Sutphin)

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AIntro


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GTRI research engineer Stan Sutphin in an L-39 Albatros jet trainer aircraft used for EW flight testing. (StanSutphin)

the best methods for jamming incomingthreats. The ultimate goal is a robust plat-form that will characterize any threatemitter and respond in real time in themost effective way.

A Unique Test BedToday, DRFM jammers employ a com-

puter-based “library” of known threatsthat are used to identify and neutralize in-coming signals, Sutphin explained. DRFMequipment may also include an elec-tronic-intelligence (ELINT) capability,which monitors and collects informationon enemy signals and jammers. TheELINT data gathered may eventually beused – possibly weeks, months, or yearslater – to improve U.S. threat-responsetechniques.

"What we want is to perform thosesame ELINT analysis and adaptive-re-sponse tasks in seconds – while the jam-ming is occurring – not months later,"Sutphin said. "And obviously, our systemmust work autonomously, because there'sno time for human input."

To support the current effort, the re-searchers are utilizing a GTRI-designedtool called the enhanced radar test bed.Devised by a team led by Partizian, thetest bed simulates opposing radar signalsand enables convenient, low-cost, andhighly realistic testing of jammers.

The test bed is an important asset in thedevelopment of the Angry Kitten system,Sutphin said. It offers the ability to collectrealistic, representative jammer data onadvanced waveforms. It can be used torepresent virtually any known threat –and even hypothetical radar systems thatdon’t currently exist.

The test bed allows the team to rapidlyprototype a software approach, test it outagainst simulated enemy hardware, andcome up with high-fidelity data. The re-searchers can perform this work withouthaving to build or acquire actual hard-ware radar systems or jammers, or engagein expensive flight tests.

"And we can do it all in a lab, behindclosed doors," Sutphin said. "This is agood approach for us, because it's notonly effective and low-cost, it's quite se-cure."

This article was written by Rick Robinsonfor Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Formore information, visit www.gtri.gatech.edu.

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AIntro


Tech Briefs

Damping Measurement for Wafer-Level Packaged MEMS Acceleration SensorsTwo methods were developed for mechanical analysis of MEMS sensors.

Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland

Microelectromechanical system(MEMS) three-axis acceleration

threshold sensors have been developedto measure acceleration threshold levelsusing voltage switching when thethreshold is reached. Determiningdamping coefficients is important forcategorizing how each threshold sensoror switch operates. Switches with differ-ent damping coefficients result in differ-ent mechanical impedances and re-sponse times. Analytical and numericalmethods to model damping coefficientvalues based on empirical data areneeded to characterize three-axis accel-eration sensors; traditional methods usethe displacement of an underdampedsystem to calculate the damping ratio.

Mechanical switches are single outputdevices that distinguish whether closureoccurs or not, and lack a transductionmechanism to turn acceleration into areadable displacement signal.

Two damping measurement tech-niques were developed that are uniquein their application, and cover all

damping ratio values: underdampedand overdamped systems.

The first method, the accelerationtable damping predictor, computed thedamping coefficient at the time of spec-ified voltage changes. MEMS accelera-tion switches developed for 60G fusingimpact environments were used to eval-uate this non-destructive method fordamping measurement. The MEMS im-pact sensors are omnidirectional, con-sisting of two out-plane contacts (topand bottom) and one in-plane contactfor lateral or side acceleration events.

In the second method, the harmonicexcitation model damping predictor(HEMDP) method, underdamped 50-2000G MEMS impact acceleration sen-sors were tested. The sensors were omni-directional; therefore, switch closure isdependent upon switch orientationduring vibration.

The goal of the experimental ap-proach was to empirically characterizeMEMS acceleration switches on a linearimpact table and an inductive shaker,

and use these results to determinedamping values. During an impactevent, typically all modes are excited,resulting in a superposition of modaldisplacements. During harmonic excita-tion, a particular mechanical mode canbe excited, generating a very simple mo-tion. Damping values determined fromharmonic excitation will be very spe-cific to the mode, whereas damping val-ues obtained from impact tests will begeneralized.

A linear shock table was used to testthe sensors, allowing the data acquisi-tion device to plot acceleration and volt-age change over time (Figure 1). Anopen switch indicated little or no volt-age drop, but at switch closure, the shortcircuit caused a change in voltage. Thesystem setup was arranged to analyzeone sensor at a time. Four channels con-nected to the data acquisition devicewere used to collect data. Channel 1 wasused for measuring acceleration of thetable at impact and Channels 2, 3, and 4measured the voltage changes for eachcontact (top, in-plane, bottom).

Six sensors were attached to a voltagedivider circuit that was connected tothe data acquisition device (Figure 2).The sensors were attached to a mount-ing plate in different orientations usingscrews and washers. Different pads wereused to absorb the shock from the im-pact. Softer cushions were made of rub-ber, and the harder cushions were madeof a harder plastic.

The linear impact table method usedacceleration shock profile to induceMEMS acceleration switch closure. Thismethod differs from the harmonic exci-tation method because when the MEMSswitch is put into a transient shock envi-ronment, multiple modes are excited.The harmonic excitation method uses aninductive shaker to excite single modesof interest. The harmonic excitationmethod only works for an underdampedsystem, which is a limiting factor for thistesting method. Both testing methods re-

Figure 1. The LSM-100 linear shock machine used pressurized air and a piston arm to pull back the plate,which compressed the spring coils. The piston arm would hit the trigger and release the plate, forcing theplate into a damping pad at high speeds. The trigger could be moved at different, measurable distances tovary the acceleration amplitude.

DUT

Cushion/pad

Accelerometer accelera�on amplitude dial

Piston arm

Trigger

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AIntro


Tech Briefs

vealed nonlinearity to damping as afunction of input amplitude.

Determining the damping values ofan impact acceleration switch helps cat-egorize how the switch functions. Thenovel method developed to measuredamping by measuring closure timehelps model designs to further improvedesign to more accurately close at theexpected acceleration.

This work was done by Ryan Knight andEvan Cheng of the Army Research Labora-tory. For more information, download theTechnical Support Package (free whitepaper) at www.aerodefensetech.com/tspunder the Sensors category. ARL-0175

Figure 2. Six 60G MEMS sensors were attached to a voltage divider circuit that was connected to the dataacquisition device. The sensors were attached to a mounting plate in different orientations using screwsand washers.

JFTP sensor

1 in.

Sensing Suspicious Powders Using Noncontact OpticalMethodsThis handheld sensing instrument enables identification of suspicious powders in near-real time at thesite of an incident.

Army RDECOM, Durham, North Carolina

Suspicious powder incidents continueto be a disruptive and costly problem.

In-situ assessment of suspicious powderswithin inorganic matrices, particularlywith powders of biological origin, is cur-rently limited to detection by biochemi-cal methodologies that react withmonomers such as amino acids, nucleic

acids, lipids, or macromolecule com-pounds comprised of these basic sub-units. Current optical methods such asRaman spectroscopy using excitation inthe near infrared at 785 nm or visible at532 nm, have not been able to detect ordistinguish biological materials frombackground or other materials.

A handheld technology was devel-oped that employs a fusion of deep UVexcited Raman and fluorescence spec-troscopic methods. The proposed Bio-logical Reconnaissance & Analysisusing Non-Contact Emission-spec-troscopy (BRANE) sensor enables de-tection and classification of a broad

Figure 1. The laser/computer side (left) and spectrometer/detector side (right) of the BRANE sensor instrument.

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AIntro

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Tech Briefs

range of suspicious powders in real time at the site of a con-tamination incident without the need for reagents, labels,or other consumables. It also avoids contact with or disturb-ing the suspicious powder and the subsequent need for de-contamination of the sensor, or spreading, growing, or dis-persing biological threats in suspicious powders. It providesrapid analysis; for each 60-μs laser pulse, a full spectrumanalysis is possible.

The BRANE sensor has the noncontact, no-sample-han-dling advantages of Raman-based sensors, with the advan-tages of deep UV excitation of samples at wavelengths thatenable simultaneous detection of both Raman emissionswithout obscuration by fluorescence, and fluorescenceemissions without alteration by Raman emissions. This canonly be conducted in the deep UV below 250 nm. TheBRANE sensor is capable of making millions of tests with noconsumables cost in an instrument with indefinite field life-time. It is also capable of detection and classification of amuch broader range of contaminants beyond biologicalthat includes chemical and explosive hazards. All this isdone in a single sensor without the need for modificationfor different applications.

The BRANE sensor optically analyzes the nucleic, protein,and lipid components of biological threats to assess theirpresence and identity. This is enabled by three new technol-ogy elements: 1) a miniature deep UV laser with narrowlinewidth that enables simultaneous Raman and fluores-cence detection; 2) a high-speed linear CCD array detectorthat enables handheld miniaturization; and 3) chemometricalgorithms that enable classification of biological materialusing a fusion of deep UV Raman and fluorescence spec-troscopy. The BRANE instrument weighs about 7 pounds,including batteries, and measures about 4" wide by 9" highby 16" deep.

Operating at excitation wavelengths below 250 nm, bothRaman and fluorescence emissions can be collected simulta-neously on a single array detector, with Raman emissionsproviding information about molecular bonds with the un-known sample, and fluorescence emissions providing infor-mation about overall electronic structure of the sample.

Figure 1 illustrates the BRANE sensor’s laser/computerand spectrometer/detector sides. The right side of the in-strument houses the laser, laser drive, and control electron-ics; input/output control board with onboard battery charg-ing electronics and embedded Microprocessor; memory for

Figure 2. Photos of the BRANE sensor left and right sides, with most key ele-ments physically in place.

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AIntro


Tech Briefs

storing all suspicious powder librarydata and processing all spectroscopicdata to compare with library data todetermine identity of a suspiciouspowder; and optical element for pro-cessing the laser output. The I/O boardwill also include an onboard GPS toenable logging of position along withdate and time for each data set col-lected. The left side has the objectivelens, contextual imaging camera (notyet shown), laser injection optics, andspectrometer input optics and en-trance slit with recollimation optics,

grating, spectrometer imaging lens,linear CCD array detector, and detec-tor control and processing electronics.

Controls include a simple mechani-cal on/off button or switch to powerup the basic system, energize the dis-play, and prepare the sensor for dataacquisition. Under this standby condi-tion, BRANE will draw battery powerof about 5W. A trigger in the handleactivates the laser and detection elec-tronics, and the system begins takingdata on suspicious powders at a rate ofabout 40 combined Raman and fluo-

rescence spectra per second, provingreal-time display of the results. Forsome weak materials, it may be neces-sary to dwell on a sample for up toabout 10 seconds, although most datacan be achieved in less than 1 second.

This work was done by William F. Hug,Ray D. Reid, and Rohit Bhartia of PhotonSystems for the Army RDECOM. For moreinformation, download the TechnicalSupport Package (free white paper) atwww.aerodefensetech.com/tsp underthe Instrumentation category. ARL-0174

Isotope Beta-Battery Approaches for Long-Lived SensorsThe energy density of isotopes enables long-life electronics in sensor network applications.


The energy density of isotopes ex-ceeds that of chemical energy stor-

age by six orders of magnitude. Iso-topes are used in many commercialapplications, and are produced andavailable at modest prices. The powerrequirements of many sensors andcommunications equipment cangreatly reduce the power requirementsof many devices such as sensors, lightsources, and transmitters. Chemicalbatteries are the mainstay of power forthese devices. However, chemical bat-teries have limited lifetimes. Thismakes remote use and replacement dif-ficult for applications extending thelifetime use.

The most compelling reason to useisotope power sources for remotely lo-cated unattended sensors and commu-nications nodes is the long lifetimepower source capability. Isotope batter-ies provide a continuous flow of energyfrom decaying isotopes. When isotopesdecay, they emit alpha, beta, or gammaparticles. The particles’ emitted energycan be converted to electrical energywithout intermediate thermalization.Isotopes decay in five possible modes:alpha decay, beta decay, positron emis-sion, electron capture, and isomerictransitions. Combinations of particlesare commonly emitted during a giventype of decay.

The characteristics desired for unat-tended sensor are long-life operationsand safety. There are several beta emit-ters that exhibit long life. Long life, inthis case, means the lifetime of Infra-structure; ~150 years. Keeping safetyfirst means limiting gamma emissionand keeping the amount of radioactivematerial as low as is reasonably possible,while still providing 100 µW tricklecharge output.

Technology issues associated with de-veloping isotope batteries includechoices of isotope material, approach toconverting energy stored in nucleus toelectrical power, and power manage-ment. The impact of long-lived power

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AIntro

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Tech Briefs


Selective, Sensitive, andRobust ElectrochemicalDetection of Anthrax The basic approach should be applicable towarddeveloping biodetection assays against otherimportant targets.


There exists an unmet need for rapid, sensitive, andfield-stable assays for pathogen detection. Bacillus an-

thracis is the causative agent of anthrax poisoning. ThisGram-positive bacterium secretes a tripartite toxin includ-ing a cell-binding protective antigen (PA), and the deliv-ered toxins edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF). An-thrax poisoning has high mortality and, when delivered inthe form of B. anthracis spores, has a very high environ-mental stability.

sources can begin to have impact on sensors and network arraysnow. The most compelling interest in a radioisotope (RI) powersource is the unique niche of long-lived power unmatched inchemical power sources. The potential for nano-sized powersources exists because of the isotope energy density; however,energy conversion in the balance of the system presently ac-counts for a much larger volume in this type of device.

There are several long-lived isotope candidates; these arelow gamma emitters, in addition to having long half-lives.They are not commonly produced for industry, making thecost higher. The cost can be lowered if the commercial use in-creases; as more material is required, the process can be madeefficient.

Sealed radiation sources are one of the important tools avail-able in affecting safety and handling. Sealed Source is a termused to describe radioactive sources that have been designed toprevent spread of radioactive material under normal workingconditions.

The most straightforward approach to getting a powersource out in the field for trials utilizes components that arecommercially available. This completely commercial-off-the-shelf approach represents an inexpensive route to pro-ducing and licensing a long-lived power source quickly. Thedevice is not the most efficient, most energy dense, or novelin design. It is simple and straightforward, with the goal ofgetting this extended lifetime power source into the handsof users. Because of the extended lifetime capability, thesetypes of power sources can have great impact towards per-sistent sensing, communications signal relay, and unat-tended remote sensing.

This work was done by Marc Litz of the Army Research Labora-tory. For more information, download the Technical SupportPackage (free white paper) at www.aerodefensetech.com/tspunder the Sensors category. ARL-0173

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AIntro


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Tech Briefs

These attributes make the detection of anthrax a priority with regards to issuesranging from food safety to bioterrorism. PA is an important target for detection,so it is not surprising that various biosensor platforms for the detection of PA havebeen reported, with peptide binders coupled to graphene-, carbon nanotube-, andZnO-based electrodes or surface-enhanced Raman spectrometer (SERS) substratesachieving limits of detection under 20 pg/mL. These systems are, by and large, notappropriate for field use due to their experimental complexity and/or unproven ca-pacity to detect PA out of complex media such as blood serum.

Of the five fatalities in the 2001 bioterrorism attacks against the United Statesinvolving anthrax, the causative agent was only identified in one individual beforedeath. This points to the need for high-performance assays for the analysis of com-plex samples under such demanding physical conditions.

This work focuses on the development of a stable, synthetic peptide-based cap-ture agent against PA that, when coupled with a specially designed electrochemicalassay, permits the detection of PA with a limit of detection (LoD) of 170 pg/mL (2.1pM), with little sensitivity loss in diluted human serum. The powdered captureagent may be safely stored in a sealed environment at up to 65 °C for several days.

The gold standard reagents for protein detection are monoclonal antibodies(mAbs). Although they can exhibit impressive affinity and specificity, as biologicalreagents, they can also be plagued by high cost, batch-to-batch variability andpoor stability. Alternative capture agent technologies address some of these prob-lems, although achieving high target selectivity is often challenging.

The technique of iterative in-situ click chemistry was developed for the produc-tion of protein catalyzed capture agents (PCC Agents). The technique uses the pro-

tein target itself as a highly selective catalytic scaffold forpromoting the reaction between two substrates (one pres-ents an azide, the other an acetylene group) to form a cova-lent triazole linkage. It uses, as one of the substrates, a pep-tide that was identified via bacterial display screeningtechniques. That peptide was chemically altered to presentan acetylene group, plus a biotin handle linked through apolyethylene glycol oligomer.

A gold-black nanostructured substrate was used as theworking electrode to significantly increase the availableelectrode surface area, and thus amplify the electrochemicalsignal used for PA detection. A drawback of electrochemicalELISAs is that the layers of immobilization and recognitionspecies that cover the electrode surface can inhibit diffu-sion-limited electron transfer from the redox-active sub-strate to the electrode.

A DNA-encoded antibody library technique was used toprepare a dense DNA scaffold for a high-density display ofthe PCC Agent. An advantage of this scaffold is that elec-tron transfer to the redox-active reporter substrate is facili-tated by the DNA duplex monolayer. The detection limit ofthe electrochemical assay was sharply decreased relative toan otherwise equivalent optical ELISA assay. Electrochem-istry also provided a straightforward approach toward de-tecting PA in optically dense or turgid samples, such as 5%human serum, and exhibited excellent physical stability.

This work was done by Blake Farrow, Sung A Hong, ErrikaRomero, Bert Lai, Matthew B. Coppock, Kaycie M. Deyle, Ame-thist S. Finch, Dimitra N. Stratis-Cullum, Heather Agnew, SungYang, and James R. Heath of the Army Research Laboratory. Formore information, download the Technical Support Pack-age (free white paper) at www.aerodefensetech.com/tspunder the Sensors category. ARL-0172

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Technology Update

F-35 Gets Cold Treatment in Step Toward IOC Remedy

Since it first became an active cold-weather testing facility in 1947, the

96th Test Wing's McKinley Climatic Lab-oratory at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, therehave been a wide variety of aircraft to un-dergo testing at the facility, ranging fromthe B-29 Superfortress and P-51 Mustangthrough to the Lockheed F-117, Boeing787, and Airbus A350 XWB.

Most recently, one of Lockheed Mar-tin’s F-35Bs from the F-35 Patuxent RiverIntegrated Test Force in Maryland under-went rigorous climatic testing at the lab-oratory to verify its all-weather capabili-ties on its way toward Initial OperatingCapability (IOC). The F-35B arrived atMcKinley in September 2014, to begin asix-month assessment of the aircraft'sperformance in wind, solar radiation, fog,humidity, rain intrusion/ingestion, freez-ing rain, icing cloud, icing build-up, vor-tex icing, and snow.

With 13 countries currently involvedwith the program, the F-35 must betested in all the meteorological condi-tions representative of those locationsfrom which it will operate, ranging fromthe heat of northern Australia to the bit-ter cold of the Arctic Circle above Canadaand Norway.

Testing for the F-35 can be done from -40° to +120°F “and every possibleweather condition in between," said BillieFlynn, an F-35 test pilot who performedextreme cold testing on the aircraft. "Ithas flown in more than 100°F heat whilealso flying in bitter subzero temperatures.

In its final days of testing, it will flythrough ice and other conditions such asdriving rain with hurricane force winds.We are learning more and more about theaircraft every day.”

The chamber allows for the simulationof “virtually any weather condition—allwhile flying the jet at full power in eitherconventional or vertical takeoff mode,"said Dwayne Bell, the McKinley ClimaticLaboratory technical chief.

As the F-35 approaches its IOC debutfor the U.S. Marine Corps this year, test-ing for the STOVL (short takeoff/verticallanding) variant required a few more

adaptations to proce-dures than aircraft be-fore it. Eglin AFB reportsthat the lift-fan systemof the F-35B requiredthe design of a 12-fthigh “restraint and sup-port” structure inter-woven with a system ofventilation ducts. Thisapparatus secures theaircraft and allows it tooperate at high power inboth conventional andSTOVL mode while in-side the building.

To ventilate the ex-haust and thus maintain

a stable temperature inside the chamber,conditioned air is constantly pumped into ensure the pressure in the building isalways higher than the pressure insidethe ducts surrounding the engine andother openings on the aircraft. This dif-ference in pressure is a safeguard thatmaintains the jet exhaust is flowing outof the chamber through the ducts, allow-ing the facility to sustain a constant tem-perature.

Over days of high-temperature cli-matic testing, the temperatures of theengine runs were steadily and incre-mentally increased until it reached thetest maximum of 120°F. While thechamber itself was set to a pre-deter-mined temperature, additional solarlamps above the aircraft recreated theintense heat of the sun on the surface ofthe jet. This is done for the obvious rea-son that air temperature does not re-main constant throughout the day—itincreases each hour the sun is up, reach-ing its apex in the late afternoon. In thechamber, engineers recreated the tem-perature fluctuation of a 24-h day.

In a matter of days, the chamber tran-sitioned from a seemingly Arizona saunato the Arctic Circle. Outside air was super-cooled using McKinley Lab’s refrigerationsystem and pushed into the chamber. Inincrements, the chamber temperature fell

An F-35 shown enduring freezing temperatures in the 96th Test Wing'sMcKinley Climatic Laboratory. The aircraft is undergoing climate testingin the lab to certify the fleet's ability to deploy to anywhere in the world.

An F-35 is shown sitting under a giant solar lamp setup for extreme testing in the McKinley lab.

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AIntro


Technology Update

to -40°F while the jet completed test runsalong the way. At such frigid tempera-tures, aircraft fluids start to thicken andmechanisms operate slower—all pointstest engineers monitor closely.

The F-35 then faced a harsh barrage ofsnow and ice. When an aircraft fliesthrough clouds at high speeds in freezingclimates, large pieces of ice can formquickly on the exterior. Heavy chunks ofice could potentially break off and dam-age the aircraft, errantly fly into the en-gine or create a foreign-object-damage

concern. For this reason, icing is one ofthe most dangerous elements in climatictesting.

A large apparatus composed of threemassive cylinders stacked in a pyramid,parallel to the ground, was placed infront of the F-35 test aircraft. Inside thecylinders were nine ducted fans that blewa large amount of air through a singlefunnel in the front. Attached to the frontof this funnel was a spray bar capable ofproducing “clouds” of various waterdroplet sizes.

Those droplets were blown toward theplane and froze upon contact. While thelab cannot generate the precise windspeeds experienced by airborne aircraft,the unique setup inside the chamber iscapable of producing sustained windspeeds up to 120 mph—all while subject-ing the F-35 to precipitation.

Snow and ice testing gauges the effec-tiveness of the aircraft’s Ice ProtectionSystem and the ability of the jet to per-form in winter weather.

Jean L. Broge

EOS and MTU Advance Quality Measures for Metal-Based Additive Manufacturing

EOS and MTU Aero Engines havepartnered to develop quality-assur-

ance measures for metal engine compo-nents using additive manufacturing(AM), signing a framework agreementfor the joint strategic development oftheir technologies.

The first result of the collaboration isthe optical tomography (OT) developedby MTU, which complements the mod-ular EOS monitoring portfolio. In addi-tion to several sensors that monitor thegeneral system status, the camera-basedOT technology controls the exposureprocess and melting characteristics ofthe material at all times, to ensure opti-mum coating and exposure quality.

“MTU and EOS have been workingintensively for several years, and thiscollaboration is now about to developinto an even closer, partner-based tech-nological cooperation, centered ontheir quality-assurance tool,” Dr. AdrianKeppler, Head of Sales and Marketing(CMO) at EOS, explained in a state-ment. “The OT solution enables us toperform an even more holistic qualitycontrol of the metal additive manufac-turing process—layer by layer and partby part. A very large proportion of thequality control process that previouslytook place downstream can now be per-formed during the manufacturingprocess, with a considerable saving inquality-assurance costs. This also allowsus to satisfy a central customer require-ment in the area of serial production.”

Thomas Dautl, Head of ProductionTechnologies at MTU in Munich added,

“By employing the quality-assurancesystem developed by us for use in serialproduction, EOS is backing an industri-ally proven solution for its direct metallaser-sintering [DMLS] process. It hasproven itself in practical testing and wenow intend to make it available to othercustomers too."

MTU has deployed the tool on EOSsystems for years now, gaining experi-ence and knowledge. Dautl says thatthis solution ensures comprehensivetransparency and also provides a qual-ity-analysis method for the entire man-ufacturing process and supports its fulldocumentation.

“In this way, EOS and MTU arejointly furthering the qualified use of

additive manufactur-ing in aerospace engi-neering while also re-ducing costs,” saidDautl. “The monitor-ing solution repre-sents a value enhance-ment not only for theEOS technology butfor each and everycustomer as well.”

Quality assurance isespecially importantin serial production,the companies note,because it ensures re-peatable high compo-nent quality and con-tinually reduces thequality-control costsof components made

using the technology. This ultimatelyhelps to reduce unit costs.

The system settings and process pa-rameters are constantly monitored inthe ongoing manufacturing process onEOS systems, to ensure that systemand manufacturing process conditionsare ideal for maximum componentquality.

Because the quality-assurance prod-uct is in early development, EOS de-clined to provide more details on its ap-plication, development timeline, andhow it will help expand the use of AMin aerospace and other industries. Thecompany plans to release additional in-formation at the end of the year.

Ryan Gehm

MTU has deployed its camera-based optical tomography on EOS systemsfor years now to gain experience and advance the technology for additivemanufacturing (AM).

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AIntro


Application Briefs

Radar-Based Threat DetectionRapiscan SystemsTorrance, CA310-978-1457www.rapiscansystems.com

Rapiscan Systems recently announced theaddition of CounterBomber, a radar-based

threat-detection technology, to its portfolio ofsecurity products. The CounterBomber systemcan identifiy concealed person-borne threats,such as suicide vests and weapons, at stand-offdistances. Using an optional remote network-ing capability, CounterBomber’s video-steeredradar technology detects threats, even whenthe system operator is hundreds of meters away.

CounterBomber has been extensively testedby the U.S. Government, and successfully deployed by theU.S. Armed Forces in all recent major conflicts and othervolatile areas around the globe, since 2008. While originallydesigned to identify suicide vests, the CounterBomber tech-nology also detects other concealed person-borne threats,including handguns, machine pistols, pipe bombs, andgrenades, all while maintaining a low false-alarm rate.

Once in operation, the CounterBomber system automati-cally assesses approaching personnel for hidden threats —without the need for operator interpretation. In addition,CounterBomber’s plug-and-play functionality enables quickand secure integration into the command and control (C2)network of a customer’s overall security architecture.

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Multi-Spectral Targeting SystemL-3 WESCAMBurlington, Ontario, Canada905-633-4000www.wescam.com

The MX™-15D designating turret from L-3 WESCAM wassuccessfully used during a weapons demonstration on

the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The demon-stration effort was part of the Advanced Technology Tiltro-tor (ATTR) program. Through a cooperative agreement be-tween Bell Helicopter and L-3 WESCAM, the designating

trials were conducted over a 14-day period in November of 2014

at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Prov-ing Ground in Arizona.

During the trials, the V-22Osprey successfully launchedconventional 70mm (2.75")rockets, BAE Systems’ Ad-vanced Precision Kill WeaponSystem (APKWS™), andRaytheon’s Griffin® B light-

weight precision-guided mis-siles.

L-3’s MX 15D is a multi sen-sor, multi spectral targeting system

used in military operations, including medium-altitudecovert intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; armedreconnaissance; CSAR; and target-designation missions. Thestabilized turret enables customers to incorporate up to fiveseparate digital imaging and four discrete laser capabilitiesinto their configurations.

Another successful trial of L-3 WESCAM’s MX-15D wasconducted in March 2013 when the system obtained BellHelicopter’s qualification as an optional advanced targetingsystem for the company’s 407GT tactical helicopter.


CounterBomber® deployed in SW Asia.

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44 Aerospace & Defense Technology, April 2015

Application Briefs

Floating Armor Torso SystemBCB International Ltd.Cardiff, UK+44 (0)2920 433 700www.bcbin.com

AFloating Armor Torso System (FATS), designed for marine-based forces, inflates when coming into contact with

water. If the wearer were to be shot or injured in the line ofduty and fall into a river, lake or the sea, the BCB technologywould automatically inflate within seconds. The armor in-creases to the capacity of the size of the inflatable.

FATS has 275 Newtons of buoyancy within the armor,enough to counter the weight of a soldier, the system’s in-sertable ballistic plates, and the soldier's equipment. Whenthe casualty or conscious soldier falls into the water, the 4-kilogram FATS device self-rights, keeping the wearer’s airwaysclear of water.

Ballistic inserts — protected with welded, lightweight wa-terproof covers — are made of low density and buoyant ultra-high molecular weight polyethelene. The front and back hard-armor plate pockets measure 25 x 30 cm (10" x 12"). Aninterface on the front and the back provides modularity, with

pouches in any configuration. The rear of the suit has a grabhandle, for scenarios where a casualty must be extracted. TheFATS technology is adjustable on each side so that the armorfits a variety of human sizes.

The system features a lightweight PU-coated nylon 500 de-nier outer fabric and easy access to the bladder for rearming,servicing and cleaning. The bladder itself is completely re-movable so the body armor can be used alone.


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WIRELESSCOMMUNICATIONPLANNINGSOFTWARE Remcom’s Wireless InSite is site-

specific radio propagation software for the analysisand design of wireless communication systems. Itprovides accurate predictions of propagation andcommunication channel characteristics in complexurban, indoor, rural and mixed path environments.Applications range from military defense to com-mercial communications, including wireless links,antenna coverage optimization, and jammer effec-tiveness. Visit www.remcom.com/wireless-insite formore information.

Remcom


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IMPEL™BACKPLANECONNECTORAND CABLEASSEMBLYSYSTEM

Delivering industry-leading signal integrity and den-sity while providing a scalable price and perform-ance path for future data-rate enhancements, theImpel™ system of backplane connectors and cus-tomized cable assemblies offers OEMs the optionfor equipment to operate at today’s data rates andcosts. In Stock at Heilind; 877-711-5096 or http://www.heilind.com/rpages/molex_impel_ntspot.

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AIntro


New Products

Silicon Carbide FoamSilicon carbide (SiC) foam from

Goodfellow (Coraopolis, PA) pro-vides the exceptional hardness,high-temperature durability andperformance of solid silicon car-bide, but in a lightweight foamstructure. The matrix of cells andligaments of silicon carbide foam is completely repeatable,regular and uniform throughout the material, yielding arigid, highly porous and permeable structure with a con-trolled density of metal per unit volume. Characteristics ofSiC foam include: exceptional hardness (Mohs 9) and resist-ance to wear and corrosion; can withstand temperatures upto 2200˚C; high thermal and electrical conductivity; and lowthermal expansion.

Silicon carbide foam is available from stock in a standardpore size of 24 pores per centimeter (60 ppi), with a bulk den-sity of 0.29 g cm-3, a porosity of 91% and a thickness of10mm.


Dual-Node, Short-Depth 4U ChassisAdvantech (Irvine, CA) has

launched the 4U, dual-node,short-depth (350mm), indus-trial chassis ACP-4D00 de-signed for machine automa-tion applications that requiretwo computers in one piece

of equipment. The dual node architecture allows the user toinstall two half-size slot SBCs in two sub-systems and integratethem in a compact 4U cage. Each ACP-4D00 node supports aPICMG 1.3 or PCI half-size CPU card with computing powerup to desktop Core™ i7, 6-slot backplane with maximum 3PCIe or PCI expansion slots (3 slots are occupied by CPU card)and 250W or 350W high-efficiency 80 Plus power supply.

Currently Advantech offers two PICMG 1.3 CPU cards—PCE-3028 (Intel® Q87), PCE-4128 (Intel® C226), and threePICMG 1.3 backplanes—PCE-3B03-00A1E, PCE-3B06-00A1E,and PCE-3B06-03A1E, for use with ACP-4D00. The system con-figurations support the latest Intel® 4th generation Core™ iprocessors, advanced PCIe Gen 3, or legacy PCI expansions.


Custom 19” Fan Tray Verotec (Derry, NH) recently

custom designed intelligentfan trays for a major defenceproject. The 19-inch rack-mounted 1U trays have sixfans, strategically locatedwithin the tray to maximisethe cooling of critical elementsof the electronic system located above the fan tray. Key issuesfor the fan tray design were noise levels, current consumptionand reliability. A custom control board sequentially powers upeach of the fans in order of importance to minimise initial in-

rush current. An embedded microprocessor controls fan speedusing PWM technology.

Reliability is critical, so three separate events will trigger awarning signal: if power is lost to the fan tray, if the con-troller board itself develops a fault or if the speed of any fanfalls below 20% of maximum. The fan cooling the mainprocessor board is deemed to be a critical component, so ifits speed falls below 20% the relay latches into the alarm po-sition. If triggered by any of the other five fans, the alarmrelay will re-energise when the speed increases above the20% threshold.


Signal Conditioning ModulesPrecision Filters Inc. (Ithaca, NY) has intro-

duced a new family of signal conditioningmodules for measurement systems built onNational Instruments™ rugged, compact, lowpower cRIO™ platform. The four analoginput/output modules condition charge,bridge, dynamic strain, IEPE or voltage-basedsensors. With the supplied LabView™ driverVI, you can integrate PFI™ signal conditioningmodule technology with proven NI™ voltageinput A/D modules to build a complete highperformance sensor measurement system forcharge, voltage, bridge and dynamic strain.

For applications where a rugged, low-power, compact stand-alone signal conditioning system is required as a front-end fora data acquisition system, the new signal conditioning mod-ules can be housed in low-cost 4-slot or 8-slot chassis and con-trolled by PFI’s Graphical User Interface software with no codedevelopment needed. All modules feature fully programmablegain and excitation and are equipped with Precision Filters’Test Input for inserting calibration signals at the module inputallowing full end-to-end verification.


Flange Couplings RINGFEDER POWER TRANSMIS-

SION (Westwood, NJ) has announcedthe launch of its new RfN 5571 seriesflange coupling for heavy industry.RINGFEDER® flange couplings providea superior solution to standard pressfits. Equipped with the RingfederShrink Disc this new series eliminates

the needs for additional components such as keyways orshims. Eliminating the need for heating and cooling of thepart reduces installation complexity. RINGFEDER® flange cou-plings are slip fit with frictional engagement achieved bytorqueing the shrink disc screws. Available with hexagon headscrews or hexagon socket head cap screws. Some of the advan-tages provided by this system are: a stronger connection thankeyway systems, no wear parts, higher torque carrying capac-ity, backlash-free shaft hub connection, and a high level oftrue running accuracy.


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New Products

Digital MeterThe New Technology Meter (NTM) from OTEK

(Tucson, AZ) has everything you need to measureand control your process while operating withless than 50mW of power. OTEK’s NTM boasts afull tricolor bargraph with 2% resolution andfour alarm set points. The NTM includes isolatedSerial I/O, isolated O.C.T. or SPDT relays and iso-lated analog output with P or PID algorithm.OTEK has included signal failure (open or short)detection with date and time transmission. The

meter is available in over 30 different input signals. It is alsoavailable in loop or signal powered versions, but feature re-strictions apply.

The NTM-9 replaces fit, form and function any 6" 1.74"panel cut-out and has up to two channels. The meter is avail-able in an industrial plastic or a metal housing and can meetnuclear or military grades.


Virtual Environment Tool ChainThe DiSTI Corporation (Or-

lando, FL) has commercializedtheir scalable tool chain andprocess for producing 3-D virtualmaintenance training environ-ments. Previously only availablein conjunction with DiSTI’s professional services, the VirtualEnvironment Software Development Kit is now productizedas VE Studio and allows users to engineer their own virtual en-vironments for maintenance training.

The foundation of VE Studio is the Fidelity Matrix, a rela-tional database that correlates requirements, 3D objects, 2Dsupport equipment, environment properties, and constraintsthat feed the automated build and testing tools. The tools thatpopulate and reference the Fidelity Matrix include: Require-ments Analyzer, an optional tool to analyze job proceduresthat in turn auto-populate the Fidelity Matrix with the objectsand actions needed to complete the tasks; a graphical user in-terface for creating and modifying Fidelity Matrix content(FM Editor), a 3ds Max plug-in to associate 3-D model geom-etry with objects in the Fidelity Matrix (MaxLink), VE Builder,and VE Tester.


Rugged 1U MicroTCA Chassis PlatformVadaTech (Henderson, NV)

now offers a rugged 6-slot Mi-croTCA chassis in a 1U heightdesigned to meet MIL-STD-901D and 810G for shock and

vibration and MIL-STD-461F for EMI. The VT950 holds up to6 Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMCs) and has an integratedMCH with IEEE1588/SyncE/GPS capabilities. This includesclock disciplining with arbitrary clock frequency output andholdover (Stratum-3 option) including 1 pulse per second(PPS) regeneration and holdover. The MCH can use variousfabrics such as 40GbE/10GbE, PCIe Gen 3, or Serial RapidIO.

The rugged 1U chassis offers front-to-rear cooling with a500W universal AC or 400W DC power supply. Another fea-ture of the VT950 is an optional JTAG Switch Module, includ-ing a Virtual JTAG probe. MicroTCA.1 modules with frontpanel retention screws can be plugged into the chassis. Va-daTech offers special retention clips so that standard Mi-croTCA.0 AMCs can be securely held into the chassis duringshock and vibration.


Titanium/Composites BrazingMorgan Advanced Materials

(Windsor, UK) announced that itnow has the capability to brazecarbon fiber, ceramics, compos-ites, or other engineered materialsdirectly to a titanium honeycomb.Carbon fiber and other similar non-metallic engineered mate-rials have exceptional thermal conductivity capabilities, andare able to remain strong at temperatures exceeding 2000°F,far higher than those at which any metals retain theirstrength. Titanium honeycomb adds greater strength to thecarbon fiber and eliminates fracturing issues by transferringforces from impact better than the carbon fiber alone. Bothmaterials are exceedingly lightweight.

In addition, the strength of the braze bond is exceptional,equaling or exceeding the strength of each component mate-rial, unlike the reduced strength of adhesive, riveted, or otherbonds. The addition of the titanium honeycomb to the car-bon fiber allows easy joining of the titanium to other struc-tures through traditional joining techniques.


8-Channel Portable Serial RecorderPentek, Inc. (Upper Saddle River,

NJ) has announced a new recorderfor the popular family of Talon®recording systems: the Model RTR2736A multi-channel Serial FPDP(sFPDP) rugged portable recorder,suitable for military and aero-

space, radar, and communications applications. The RTR2736A is capable of capturing up to 8 Serial FPDP data streamsin real time to solid state drives (SSD). It fully complies withthe VITA 17.1 specification and additionally supports sFPDPbaud rates up to 4.25 Gbaud.

The RTR 2736A includes a high-performance PCIe Gen. 3SATA III RAID controller capable of streaming contiguous datato disk in real time at aggregate rates up to 3.2 GB/sec. Thehot-swappable SSD array is available in 1.9 TB to 15.3 TB con-figurations and supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, or 6. The newTalon portable chassis for the RTR 2736A boasts a smaller foot-print that is lighter in weight, and provides double the storagecapacity, number of channels and the recording rates of previ-ous generation of Talon portable recorders. It also supports ACand DC power options.


Cov ToC + – ➭

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AIntro

Ad IndexFor free product literature, enter advertisers’ reader service num-bers at www.techbriefs.com/rs, or visit the Web site beneath theirad in this issue.

Reader ServiceCompany Number Page

ACCES I/O Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .827 . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Aerospace Electrical Systems Expo . . . . .831 . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Altair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .825 . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Aurora Bearing Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .835 . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Bal Seal Engineering Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .829 . . . . . . . . . . . .24

C.R. Onsrud, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .822 . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Coilcraft CPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .817 . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

COMSOL, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .842, 849 . . . .44, COV IV

Cornell Dubilier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .815 . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Crane Aerospace & Electronics . . . . . . . .816 . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Create the Future Design Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

CST of America, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .848 . . . . . . . .COV III

EMCOR Government Services . . . . . . . . . .818 . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

ESTECH 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .833 . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Evans Capacitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .830 . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Hawthorne Rubber Mfg. Corp. . . . . . . . . .843 . . . . . . . . . . .44

Heilind Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .844 . . . . . . . . . . .44

Hunter Products, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .839 . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Keysight Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .823 . . . . . . . . . . . .13

M.S. Kennedy Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . .821 . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Magnet Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .841 . . . . . . . . . . .40

Master Bond Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .836, 845 . . . . . . . .37, 44

Mini-Systems, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .832 . . . . . . . . . . . .31

OFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .838 . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Omnetics Connector Corporation . . . . . .834 . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Opto Diode Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .826 . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Photon Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .828 . . . . . . . . . . . .23

PI (Physik Instrumente) LP . . . . . . . . . . . .837 . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Proto Labs, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .819 . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Remcom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .846 . . . . . . . . . . .44

S.I. Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .847 . . . . . . . . . . .44

Siemens PLM Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .814 . . . . . . . .COV II

Space Tech Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .831 . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Stratasys Direct Manufacturing . . . . . . . .820 . . . . . . . . . . .4-5

UCSB Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .840 . . . . . . . . . . .40

Verisurf Software Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .824 . . . . . . . . . . . .14


Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Joseph T. PrambergerEditorial Director – TBMG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Linda L. BellEditorial Director – SAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kevin JostEditor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bruce A. BennettManaging Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jean L. BrogeManaging Editor, Tech Briefs TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kendra SmithAssociate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Billy HurleyAssociate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ryan GehmProduction Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Adam SantiagoAssistant Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kevin ColtrinariArt Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lois ErlacherDesigner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bernadette TorresGlobal Field Sales Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marcie L. HinemanMarketing Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Debora RothwellMarketing Communications Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Monica BondDigital Marketing Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kaitlyn SommerAudience Development Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marilyn SamuelsenAudience Development Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stacey NelsonSubscription Changes/Cancellations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

TECH BRIEFS MEDIA GROUP, AN SAE INTERNATIONAL COMPANY261 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1901, New York, NY 10016(212) 490-3999 FAX (212) 986-7864Chief Executive Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Domenic A. MucchettiExecutive Vice-President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Luke SchnirringTechnology Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Oliver RockwellSystems Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vlad GladounWeb Developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Karina AdamesDigital Media Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter BonavitaDigital Media Assistants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Keith McKellar, Peter Weiland, Anel GuerreroDigital Media Audience Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jamil BarrettCredit/Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Felecia LaheyAccounting/Human Resources Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sylvia BonillaAccounting Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Martha SaundersOffice Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alfredo VasquezReceptionist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Elizabeth Brache-Torres

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVESMA, NH, ME, VT, RI, Eastern Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ed Marecki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tatiana Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(401) 351-0274CT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Denis O'Malley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(203) 356-9695 ext. 13NJ, PA, DE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (973) 409-4685Southeast, TX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ray Tompkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(281) 313-1004NY, OH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ryan Beckman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(973) 409-4687

MI, IN, WI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Kennedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(847) 498-4520 ext. 3008MN, ND, SD, IL, KY, MO, KS, IA, NE, Central Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob Casey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(847) 223-5225Northwest, N. Calif., Western Canada Craig Pitcher (408) 778-0300

CO, UT, MT, WY, ID, NM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tim Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(973) 409-4762S. Calif., AZ, NV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tom Boris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (949) 715-7779S.

Europe — Central & Eastern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sven Anacker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49-202-27169-11Europe — Western . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44-1270-522130Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mike Hay

852-2369-8788 ext. 11China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marco Chang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86-21-6289-5533 ext.101Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Howard Lu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .886-4-2329-7318Integrated Media Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Patrick Harvey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (973) 409-4686 Angelo Danza (973) 874-0271 Scott Williams (973) 545-2464 Rick Rosenberg (973) 545-2565 Todd Holtz (973) 545-2566 Connor Ten Cate (973) 841-6040

Corporate Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stan Greenfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (203) 938-2418 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Terri Stange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (847) 304-8151Reprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jill Kaletha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(866) 879-9144, x168

Cov ToC + – ➭

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AIntro


What’s Online

Most-Viewed ArticlesThe following are the top 4 most-

viewed aerospace-related articles of themonth as of mid-February. Additionalarticles across all transportation sectorscan be read at http://articles.sae.org/.

1High-Performance PEKK-Based 3-D Printing a First

http://articles.sae.org/13830/

2NASA Testing Under Way ofShape-Changing Aircraft Flap


3Study Weighs in on EmissionsFrom Composite Aircraft


4AFRL, ThermAvant Collaborateon Technologies to HelpElectronics Stay Cool


The Ever-Changing Mobility Landscape“In reality, all technology trends inter-relate; they’re all

intertwined,” Jim Keller, Senior Manager/Chief Engineer forAutomobile Technology Research at Honda R&D Americas,Inc., said during an exclusive interview in advance of theSAE 2015 World Congress that his company is hosting.

When drivers started using their cell phones inside vehi-cles, the unwanted side-effect was distracted driving.

“Distraction changes the way people drive, and thatchanges what people expect from a vehicle,” Keller said.“Honda as well as everyone else in the industry is looking attechnical solutions that will allow a variable amount of in-formation flow. It’s all about striking a balance. So if a turnsignal is on, or a change in yaw rate is sensed, or the brakepedal is depressed, that’s not a good time to get a call.”

In this SAE World Congress preview article, Keller dis-cusses connected-vehicle technology, augmented reality,and a new Tech Hub venue where these topics and morewill be further explored at the upcoming engineering event.

Read more at http://articles.sae.org/13884/. Go tohttp://www.sae.org/congress/ for more on the April 21-23 event.

Products

Rugged COTS enclosureThe air-cooled 3U nine-slot D2D chassis from Cur-

tiss-Wright comes in a 3/4 ATR tall long format. TheHybricon D2D-34TLA enclosure enables a system inte-grator to use the same COTS enclosure throughout thecomplete program lifecycle, from development todemonstration to deployment. The OpenVPX enclo-sure eliminates the need to design a custom backplane,speeding the commencement of system design. Moredetail at http://articles.sae.org/13857/.

Walk-In OvenThe No. 1031 is a 650°F electrically heated walk-in

oven from Grieve, currently used at a customer loca-tion for curing composite components. Workspace di-mensions of the oven are 96-in width x 96-in depth x84-in height. The oven chamber is heated via 140 kWinstalled in Incoloy-sheathed tubular elements, while a10,000 ft3/min, 7-1/2 hp recirculating blower providesa combination airflow to the workload. More detail athttp://articles.sae.org/13859/.

Multi-Display Controller BoardThe CC10S multi-display controller board

from MEN Micro is based on a Freescale ARMi.MX 6 Series processor. The board provides fullHD resolution to LCD TFT panel PCs from 7 to15 in. The CC10S module is widely scalablefrom low-end to high-end graphics require-ments, depending on an application’s needs.More detail at http://articles.sae.org/13860/

“The intent of using aug-mented reality is to let thedriver see the navigationroute, including all of the nec-essary turns, on the roadwayas projected through thevehicle’s head-up display,”said Honda R&D America’sJim Keller. “This advancedvision technology is reallycool, and it is something thatcustomers are going towant.”

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