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OpenRFM™- A Better Alternative For An Open Architecture to Support EW, EA and SIGINT Applications

POSITION PAPER

LORNE GRAVES

CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST, OPENRFM

MERCURY SYSTEMS, INC.

OCTOBER, 2014

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Contents

Introduction............................................................................................ 1

Open Systems and the Department of Defense..................................... 2

Mercury Systems and Open Systems Architectures - OpenVPX............ 2

OpenRFM - The next logical wave in open system architectures.......... 3

Advanced Microelectronics Centers...................................................... 4

Conclusion- OpenRFM is The Better Alternative.................................... 4

About the Author.................................................................................... 5

About Mercury Systems, Inc.................................................................. 5

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OpenRFM™- A Better Alternative For An Open Architecture to Support EW, EA and SIGINT Applications

IntroductionWithin the defense industrial base, adherence to standards such as IEEE and ISO are nothing new. However, there has been very little standards-based activity born out of defense. Meaning, when a standards-based approach is called for, almost all of the activity comes out of the commercial sector. This is not surprising since much of the work within defense and defense electronics is centered around platforms designed to meet very specific defense applica-tions. Applications where standards based solutions are difficult to design, engineer and develop. This is particularly true within RF and Microwave based defense applications where modular, interoperable, open architecture based solutions have been slow to develop. In fact to date, little progress has been made in developing open systems architectures within technologies that support RF and Microwave based Electronic Warfare applications.

Industry for sure has seen successes in developing, promoting and adhering to open standards based activities. ANSI (American National Standards Institute), the non-profit organization that oversees the development and sustainment of standards across many products and service categories, dates back to 1918. IEEE (Institute of Electri-cal and Electronics Engineers) was founded as IEEE in 1963, but its origins go back to 1884. ISO (International Stan-dards Organization) has its origins dating back to 1926 and was re-formed as ISO in 1946. More recent standards organizations have sprung up during the post-world wide web era. One notable web era standards body is OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). OASIS, another non-profit based standards organization, has overseen several web based and web services standards since 1993. Standardization of technology solutions and open architectures clearly can and do work. As you will note later in this Position Paper, Mercury Systems has worked closely with VITA (VME International Trade Association), the governing body that helps set de facto military processing and related technical standards. This position paper will address the issue of open systems architectures and highlight actions Mercury Systems is taking in the latest, and in our view, most important open architecture discussion in all of defense electronics.

This position paper:• Looks at the changing climate within defense electronics and the government and

DoD drive towards open standards

• Highlights the challenges faced around standardizing RF and microwave based solutions

• Highlights OpenRFM as a new model in developing technologies for Electronic Warfare and related applications

• Explains why OpenRFM can change the game in building modular, interoperable and affordable solutions within EW, EA and SIGINT

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Mercury Systems and Open Systems Architectures - OpenVPX

“Mercury Systems, with strong partnerships, drove Open-VPX, helping to standardize embedded computing within defense electronics. We are now determined to do the same for RF and Microwave systems for EW and SIGINT…” Didier Thibaud- President, Mercury Commercial Electronics.

For most of modern history, embedded computing solutions and subsys-tems used in defense electronics were a patchwork quilt of technolo-gies. Lacking in interoperability, standardization, clear performance criteria, adequate connector bandwidth or support for multi-processing systems- the embedded processing space within defense electronics was ripe for a change. Customers were frustrated, costs were rising, program integrity and timing was constantly put at risk, and each vendor was marching to the beat of its own drummer.

In the first decade of the 21st Century- Mercury Systems (then Mercury Computer Systems) saw this unacceptable situation and took steps to fix it. Working with the very customers who were voicing their frustra-tion, Mercury set up a working group of industry participants: partners, customers themselves, and other players within defense electronics including competitors, to build a true standard so processing subsys-tems could interoperate. The governing body, VITA (VME International Trade Association) was critical to helping build a true open standard for embedded processing within defense electronics. With that said, VITA is only as good as the participants involved and only as strong an in-fluencer as the working group that gets established. Mercury Systems led the formation of the OpenVPX working group, today made up of 28 industry participants. The process could have taken years. But Mercury knew customers, the DoD and other commercial and government entities didn’t have years to wait. With that in mind, Mercury Systems led the establishment of an OpenVPX working group in January 2009. By June 2010 ANSI, the globally recognized non-profit group with standards governance credibility, formally ratified OpenVPX as a true open architecture and standard.

The time between early standards development, formation of a working group and final ratification often takes 10 years or more. The timing of OpenVPX, from concept to completion, reflects Mercury’s commitment, strong participation by other industry players and clear evidence that it was meeting an urgent unmet need. In the ensuing years Mercury Systems leadership with OpenVPX has helped establish a robust ecosystem of technology providers which, when taken as a whole, have begun to reduce internal R&D (IRAD) and force better cost certainty within the prime contractor base as well as the DoD itself. There is still much work to be done here, but without the OpenVPX open standard, progress on this front would be far slower and innovation far more halting.

Today, there is better interoperability, cost certainty, risk mitigation, affordability, and technology innovation in part because of the rise and adoption of the OpenVPX standard.

Open Systems and the Department of DefenseThe open systems initiative within DoD began in earnest November, 1994 when the Office of the Secretary of Defense directed that all DoD agencies use open systems and standards for acquisition for weapon systems and programs. The Open Systems Joint Task Force (OSJTF) was set up to promote open systems and standards within the defense industrial base. The preferred approach for implementation of open systems, previously called Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), is now called simply Open Systems Architecture (OSA).

While some modest progress has been made in the twenty years that have elapsed since the 1994 open systems directive, a key measure was taken to add more traction to this key initiative when in June 2013, an OSA “Contract Guidebook for Program Managers” was published. This guidebook was prepared by the Department of Defense Open Systems Architecture Data Rights Team and provides the first prescriptive “paint by the numbers” approach on how open architec-tures should be developed and rolled-out for key defense programs. Within the contract guidebook an Open Architecture is defined as;

“a technical architecture that adopts open standards supporting a modular, loosely coupled and highly cohesive system structure that includes publishing of key inter-faces within the system and full design disclosure. A key enabler for open architecture is the adoption of an open business model, which requires doing business transpar-ently to leverage the collaborative innovation of numer-ous participants across the enterprise permitting shared risk, maximize asset reuse and reduce total ownership costs. The combination of open architecture and an open business model permits the acquisition of Open Systems Architectures that yield modular, interoperable systems allowing components to be added, modified, replaced, removed and/or supported by different vendors throughout the life cycle in order to drive opportunities for enhanced competition and innovation.“

The OSA guidebook does an ex-cellent job of laying out specifical-ly what is expected of commercial entities who support the defense industrial base as it relates to open system architectures. Right-fully so however, it is left to the industry participants themselves, to drive the necessary innovation and standards activities, to make it a reality.

Open Systems Architecture adoption has been directed by DoD for some time, but why haven’t they been leveraged in the RF and Microwave

realm?

OSA Guidebook

Office of theSecretary of Defense

OpenRFM Wideband Rx Tuner Module

6U VME Carrier with three OpenRFM Modules - Quad Downconverter (left), Wideband Tuner (middle) and DDS-based Synthesizer (right)

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OpenRFM is a modular, open architecture that combines hardware, firmware and software that can be applied to EW and SIGINT chal-lenges. Its benefits are that it allows:

• Affordability driven by high channel density, modular design, advanced connector technology, and the integration of digital signal processing and RF technologies

• Sustainability with a solution that provides maximum re-use of standardized technology that will protect your investment for the long haul- making it “future proof”

• Flexibility by providing many systems designs with multiple building blocks

• Interoperability driven by modular architecture, standardized control plane, and advanced software interface

OpenRFM - The next logical wave in open system architectures

RF and Microwave technologies have been part of the underlying fabrics of critical defense applications for generations. As Electronic Warfare and Electronic Attack missions and associated programs have grown in sophistication, the level of lower band RF as well as higher frequency RF, or microwave, technologies continues to grow.

The many technology piece parts within RF and Microwave in support of EW, EA and SIGINT continue to play an important role. Mixers, filters, capacitors, limiters, oscillators, digital receivers, and more have all been part of the lexicon for decades. Today the demands of modern Electronic Warfare, Electronic Attack, and Signals Intelligence are ramping up to meet emerging threats around the globe. Advanced DRFM (Digital Radio Frequency Memory) jammers, and IMAs (Integrat-ed Microwave Assemblies) utilize this “kit of parts” in ways that before hadn’t been imagined. An IMA, for example, often offers customized designs for mission specific applications. They can combine the inte-gration of switches and switch matrices, amplifiers, attenuators, filters, oscillators, as well as other RF and microwave functions.

Yet today’s technologies, while advanced, have not kept pace with the need to provide a standardized way of building, integrating, testing, and re-using these systems. In other words, the world of open systems and open architectures has not been brought to RF and Microwave so-lutions. Nor have RF and Microwave based solutions kept up with the DoDs directives around open systems architectures alluded to earlier in this paper. Mercury Systems has been working to solve this challenge for the past three years. Today we introduce OpenRFM. It is a way we believe will address the challenges our customers have told us they face. What is Open RFM?

New EW programs and technologies need to keep getting more sophisticated to meet

emerging needs. Our need to control the spec-trum, attack an enemy or prevent enemy as-

saults via the spectrum has never been greater.

I’m tired of the RF and Microwave industry re-inventing the wheel. When will someone build

technologies that can be built once and re-used to create an affordable path to meeting the

increasing needs of EW, EA and SIGINT? When will open architectures get applied here?

Open TMRFM

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Hudson, New Hampshire and the other in West Caldwell, New Jersey. The RF/Microwave industry looks a lot like an hourglass. The top part of the industry has a few big players capable of delivering complex solutions. But they tend to be slow and inflexible. Some of these play-ers actually compete with their prime contractor customers and few, if any, are known for driving open systems architectures. At the bottom of the hourglass are several small organizations in a highly fragmented segment of the industry. They are often creative and good at doing prototyping, but they are unsophisticated and can’t scale and they lack the sophistication or industry clout to drive the adoption of open architectures. Our Advanced Microelectronics Centers allow us to take an open systems architecture such as OpenRFM, and turn it into a real-ity. Scalable, modern, redundant, world class manufacturing will allow OpenRFM to become a key part of the industry landscape.

On top of these capabilities we have advanced facilities where we can take the best of our RF and Microwave engineering, design, develop-ment and manufacturing capabilities built at our Advanced Microelec-tronics Centers and marry those with our longstanding digital signal processing skills. Our Huntsville, Alabama facility has deep experience in taking our modular, open, standardized OpenRFM technologies and creating highly advanced EW, EA and SIGINT solutions. We have done this for both prime contractor and government customers.

Conclusion- OpenRFM is The Better Alternative

OpenRFM is a better alternative to meeting today’s EW and SIGINT challenges.

• We are the only remaining solely domestic provider of secure embedded processing solutions and RF and microwave solutions.

• We have a track record of leading, not following, in the adoption of open systems architectures

• We have world class manufacturing and test capabilities

• OpenRFM is being put into practice as we speak

• We can combine digital signal processing and advanced RF and Microwave into one system- making OpenRFM truly unique

• We have a thirty year history of solving tough customer problems

• We are in tune with the needs of the DoD

OpenRFM is not an idea waiting to be executed. Mercury has built standardized subsystems today that can meet the open system archi-tecture requirements the DoD, customers and others have been asking for. We didn’t wait to be asked. We know our customers and the DoD are waiting for affordable, standardized, interoperable solutions for EW, EA and SIGINT applications.

OpenRFM , with its modular, standardized, scalable approach allows prime contractors and the DoD to develop or augment existing applica-tions to counteract evolving threats in EW and EA. It also allows for the faster deployment of applications and classified techniques that are the lifeblood of rapidly evolving EW related programs. Programs that are growing in importance as the complexion of our defense base and the missions it serves continues to change. OpenRFM will allow already existing EW, EA and SIGINT applications to be deployed more effectively and affordably. These include areas such as deceptive jamming, pulse jamming and spot jamming. In the realm of electronic countermeasures OpenRFM can speed up deployment of techniques such as “cloaking” the outgoing signal with random noise. Rolling out EW applications can and will be made more predictable and affordable with the standardized OpenRFM solutions already being built.

“Just like Mercury did with OpenVPX – We’re not going to wait for the industry to act. We will drive OpenRFM to be-come an open systems architecture because that’s what’s expected of us. We’re already building modular, standard-ized solutions that can be applied to EW and SIGINT. We know the government and our prime customers expect no less. Mercury Systems has a better alternative to RF and Microwave technologies to support EW applications.” Dr. Ian Dunn- General Manager, Open Systems Solutions

Where open systems architecture meets world-class manufacturing- Advanced Microelectronics CentersDriving open system architectures in the RF and Microwave realm is only workable if you have the design, engineering, manufacturing and test capabilities that are scalable, predictable, and can take a design from prototype to production. Mercury Systems has two redundant Advanced Microelectronics Centers to address this. One located in

I need an open standards based approach to EW and SIGINT and I need it now!

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About the AuthorLorne Graves is the Chief Technologist for IF, Digital, & Integrated RF/IF products at Mercury Systems. Mr. Graves is also the subject matter expert and Chief Technologist for the new OpenRFM architecture for scalable, standardized, modular, flexible, and affordable RF and Microwave products from Mercury Systems. Mr. Graves was a key contributor in the architecture for the award winning SCFE (VME and Critical Systems magazine) product. Mr. Graves has served as lead systems architect for Mercury Systems on several key Radar, SIGINT, and Electronic Warfare programs working directly with various prime contractors. Mr. Graves has collaborated with various com-panies to develop Open Systems Architecture COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) based systems for DRFMs (Digital Radio Frequency Memory), Electronic Attack Systems, and Electronic Warfare systems. Mr. Graves has 20 years’ experience designing mixed-signal circuitry and FPGAs. Before joining Mercury in 2003, Mr. Graves was a systems engineer for a major networking company. Prior to that, Mr. Graves served as both a Xilinx and Altera Field Applications Engineer. Mr. Graves experience prior to his stint as an FAE was in the mixed signal and RF arena. Mr. Graves earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

About Mercury Systems, Inc.Mercury Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY) is the better alternative for affordable, commercially developed, open sensor processing systems and services. These capabilities make us the first commercially based defense electronics company built to meet rapidly evolving next generation defense challenges. Mercury Systems has worked on over 300 programs, including Aegis, Patriot, SEWIP, Gorgon Stare, and Predator/Reaper. We are based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts with additional advanced manufacturing and other key facili-ties across the USA. To learn more, visit www.mrcy.com.

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