The advent of unmanned systems reflects a huge aspect of warfare – that of protecting the warfighter – through the development of platforms that can be operated by humans from a distance, keeping them out of harm’s way.

From a design and engineering perspective, there are many moving parts to consider and combine in order to arrive at a position, navigation, and timing (PNT) truth. In addition, solutions must be easy to integrate into the available space on existing platforms, whether they are unmanned aerial systems (UASs) or other aircraft, ground-based operations, or systems at sea.

New A-PNT vehicle computer and Gigabit Ethernet switch provide Chip Scale Atomic Clock, Inertial Measurement Unit and direct connection to real-time Global Positioning System (GPS).

New computer boards offer high performance, thermal management, and peripherals in a smaller size than 3U VPX, with artificial intelligence (AI) and GPGPU processing.

In order to keep up with the continued acceleration of new technology and to be able to protect the warfighter from the latest threats, it is essential that we can turn our deployed platforms into adaptable entities that can evolve over time and are not static. The SOSA [Sensor Open Systems Architecture] Technical Standard is the next major step in realizing this goal.

To exploit the potential benefits of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, video analysis, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and virtual reality, and other innovative technologies on mobile platforms at the tactical edge, Department of Defense (DoD) communications programs must effectively deploy advanced IT infrastructure, connectivity, and compute resources.

A panel on CMOSS at a U.S. Army Technical Exchange Meeting held earlier this year provided details on new developments underway and areas in which the Army is looking to industry for help in taking the suite of standards from prototype to deployment.

Curtiss-Wright honored with five Innovators Awards: three Gold for Parvus DuraMAR 6300, VPX3-673 Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) card, VME-1910 single board computer, and two Silver for ADSR-4003 Advanced Data Server and Recorder and GVDU LCD touchscreen Ground Vehicle Display Unit.