Published in Military & Aerospace Electronics
Military & Aerospace Electronics and Intelligent Aerospace have announced their 2019 Technology Innovators Awards to recognize companies offering substantial military, aerospace, and avionics design solutions.
Awards are in three tiers -- ranging from platinum, the highest, to the gold awards, and finally to the silver awards -- and are based on the recommendations of an independent panel of industry judges.
Platinum awards
The ISL7104xM plastic-packaged, radiation-tolerant pulse-width modulator (PWM) controller and gallium nitride (GaN) field-effect transistor (FET) driver for new space small satellites from Renesas Electronics America Inc. in Milpitas, Calif., are for use in power supplies in satellites operating in low Earth orbit. These characteristics include inherent radiation tolerance, plastic packaging, small die size, no parasitic p-n diode and fast switching, increased efficiency, and small total size.
The SGRB series DC-DC converter from VPT Inc. in Blacksburg, Va., is a commercially available GaN-based, space-qualified line of DC-DC converters that is radiation tolerant and achieves high efficiency to 95 percent. It is for applications facing the harsh radiation environments of space, and includes a fixed-frequency reduced voltage switching topology for low input and output noise. This makes it well-suited for space-borne telecommunications where high efficiency, low noise, and radiation tolerance are imperative.
The 7 series microwave and RF Assemblies from W. L. Gore & Associates in Newark, Del., are engineered to prevent the ingress of water vapor, fuels, oils, chemicals, and other hazardous contaminants commonly found in airborne environments. With their rugged, vapor-sealed construction, these assemblies maintain low insertion loss, low return loss, and phase stability at frequencies to 18 GHz, while providing shielding effectiveness in challenging aerospace environments.
The 1.8-millimeter simplex aerospace fiber optic cables from W. L. Gore & Associates help provide weight and cost savings over the life of an aircraft, while meeting the rigorous demands of in-flight operation. These optical fibers deliver signal integrity for high-speed data transmission in a wide range of temperatures, and resist crushing, kinking, and abrasion to handle complex routing, maintenance activities, and repeated flight conditions. The cables also have a compact, flexible footprint with installed robustness that meets size, weight and routing constraints as more high-tech avionics are being installed or retrofitted into civil aircraft.
The Multi-Modal Sensor Pod (MMSP) from Logos Technologies LLC in Fairfax, Va., combines Wide-area motion imagery (WAMI), hyperspectral, and high-definition spotter sensors in one compact, lightweight package. The persistent-surveillance sensor also includes 15-plus times the normal coverage of hyperspectral imaging; high-definition spotter; automatic cross-cueing between sensors; multiple, in-flight ground scanning options;; a small onboard multi-modal edge processor with extremely high data digestion rates; and the ability to display different data streams in its user interface.
The RFT-3200 microwave downconverter with dynamically adjustable IF from Mercury Systems in Andover, Mass., uses a dynamically adjustable IF architecture to enable users to set the IF frequency and bandwidth in real-time to achieve mission-to-mission optimization and compatibility with a wide-range of digitizers. The RFT-3200 also offers wide band performance with RF to 40 GHz and IBW to 2 GHz for circumstances that require processing emerging threats that exceed the frequency limitations of standard RF hardware. Additionally the RFT-3200 supports industry-leading phase noise, phase coherent operation, and multiple configuration options.
Space Active Optical Cable (SAOC) from AirBorn Inc. in Georgetown, Texas, is screened for reliability. Compared to traditional fiber optics or traditional active optical cables, the SAOC is a rugged solution that can withstand g-forces of launch, radiation in space, and quickly can be installed. There are no fiber cleaning concerns with AirBorn's AOC because the solution uses a traditional copper electrical interconnect. This allows the technology to quickly be deployed on the battlefield to bring high speed applications to life.
The Helix Virtualization Platform from Wind River Systems in Alameda, Calif., Wind River Helix Virtualization Platform is a software-development tool based on a certifiable Type-1 hypervisor that enables applications with different levels of criticality to run simultaneously on one multi-core system. In addition to the VxWorks real-time operating system, the Helix Platform comes with Wind River Linux and Simics for turn-key application development. The tool follows standard APIs such as ARINC 653 APEX API, FACE, POSIX, and VxWorks, and supports unmodified guest operating systems, OS-agnostic virtualization, and separation technology.
The HUNTR TDL hub and network translator from the Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions division in Ashburn, Va., enables joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) and Tactical Air Control Parties (TACPs) to create a multi-tactical datalink network that supports SADL, Link 16, Cursor on Target, and VMF Combat Net Radio (CNR) data exchanges among ground forces, aircraft, ships, and command-and-control elements. This software application improves and simplifies the real-time translation and routing of tactical data links, and provides warfighters and command and control centers with real-time access to operational data in the field.