Military & Aerospace
The Lead
ECN’s Veteran’s Day tribute: Remembering those who’ve served
November 9, 2012 2:50 pm | by Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor | Articles | Comments
On the cusp of Veteran’s Day, I’m reminded that a disproportionate number of our friends and colleagues served in the military. And that makes me proud to work in this industry. ECN — and her parent company, Advantage Business Media — is no exception. You can’t swing a dead cat (or give a resounding Hoooah!) without hitting a veteran.
Pressure transducers support wind tunnel testing, turbulent airflow measurements, and other high-intensity aerodynamic testing
November 30, 2012 3:09 pm | Product Releases | Comments
Meggitt Sensing Systems has announced the successful application of Endevco 8507C rugged,...
Directional couplers cover 2.0 GHz to 40.0 GHz
November 28, 2012 10:30 am | Product Releases | Comments
KRYTAR announces the continued expansion of its line of directional couplers with the addition...
BGA packages minimize size, weight, and power
November 27, 2012 3:46 pm | Product Releases | Comments
Data Device Corporation (DDC) introduces Mil-Temp versions of its Micro-ACE TE and Total-ACE MIL...
Wireless networks balance military’s defense-in-depth, custom requirements
May 20, 2013 4:44 pm | by Chris Warner, Executive Editor | Ultra Electronics Ems Development Corp. | Articles | CommentsWireless and wired technologies have advanced to the point where automated control systems are routinely networked together. Information can be shared and tasks performed across long distances, via the Internet, linking systems in large industrial spaces, or across remote or rugged areas. Networked control systems (NCS) offer many benefits such as far greater efficiency than manual controls....
Flip-chip Schottky diode features high cutoff frequency
May 20, 2013 2:57 pm | M/A-Com Technology Solutions, Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsM/A-COM Technology Solutions announced a new broadband Flip Chip Schottky Diode for multi-market applications. The MADS-001317-1500 is designed for customers who need a versatile, low cost, ultra-small Schottky solution for Police Radar, Point to Point, Electronic Warfare, and Aerospace and Defense applications.
PD&D webcast: Exploring Unmanned Vehicles
May 20, 2013 12:01 pm | WebinarsIn this presentation, Dr. (Col. Ret.) Jerry LeMieux, President of Unmanned Vehicle University, will discuss innovations in the field of unmanned systems. Specifically, he will review the commercialization of unmanned air, ground, sea, and space vehicles and their increased use in civil applications in comparison to their heavy military use and origins.
Congress gets mixed advice on regulating drones
May 20, 2013 10:58 am | by HENRY C. JACKSON, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe growing use of unmanned surveillance "eyes in the sky" aircraft raises a thicket of privacy concerns, but the U.S. Congress is getting mixed advice on what, if anything, to do about it. A future with domestic drones may be inevitable. While civilian drone use is currently limited to government agencies and some public universities...
SKorea analyzing NKorea's 4 projectile launches
May 20, 2013 10:48 am | by HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press | News | CommentsSouth Korea is analyzing whether projectiles North Korea fired into its eastern waters over the weekend are short-range missiles or a new type of artillery the country may be developing, officials said Monday. North Korea fired what Seoul officials called a short-range projectile Sunday, a day after conducting three similar launches.
Planes, trains, and automobiles: Faster, stronger, lighter
May 20, 2013 12:00 am | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology | News | CommentsThese days, aerospace engineering is all about the light stuff: building airplanes with lighter wings, fuselage and landing gear in an effort to reduce fuel costs. Advanced carbon-fiber composites have been used in recent years to lighten planes’ loads. These materials can match aluminum and titanium in strength but at a fraction of the weight, and can be found in aircraft like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380, reducing such jets’ weigh...
Dealing with counterfeits in the market
May 16, 2013 2:53 pm | by George Karalias, Director of Marketing & Communications, Rochester Electronics | Blogs | CommentsCounterfeiters are adaptable and constantly incorporating solutions that can void the latest countermeasures adopted by the electronics manufacturers and their supply chain. In some cases, the counterfeits are very hard to differentiate from the original component.
Precision Resistors: From the drawing board to reality
May 16, 2013 2:18 pm | by Yuval Hernik, Director Application Engineering, Vishay Precision Group (VPG), www.vishaypg.com | Articles | CommentsCommercial and military aircraft manufacturers are promoting the replacement of older hydraulic and pneumatic control systems by lighter and more efficient, electrically-driven systems through a trend known as MEA, or More Electric Aircraft.
Hybrid capacitor characteristics, performance, and applications
May 16, 2013 2:15 pm | by David A. Evans, Evans Capacitor Company, www.evanscap.com | Articles | CommentsAn electrolytic capacitor has two electrodes, one with a dielectric, that relies on electrostatic charge storage. A battery has electrodes that store energy faradaically in electrochemical reactions involving the electrodes and electrolyte. A hybrid capacitor is the combination of two electrodes, one that stores charge electrostatically, and the other storing charge faradaically.
Transistor series is presented as highest power for radar and communications systems
May 16, 2013 10:08 am | Product Releases | CommentsM/A-COM Technology Solutions introduced a series of GaN in Plastic packaged power transistors for high-performance civilian and military radar and communications systems. The family scales to peak pulse power levels of 100 W, which is asserted to be the
Space not the final frontier for viewing movies
May 16, 2013 10:01 am | by SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsThe crew of the International Space Station is boldly going where no one has gone before - to see the new "Star Trek" film. The three astronauts were offered a sneak peak of "Star Trek Into Darkness" days before it opens Thursday on Earth, seeing it not in 3-D, but Zero-G.
Controllers designed for applications greater than 15 Amps
May 15, 2013 10:39 am | Oven Industries, Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsOven Industries is now offering a high-powered temperature controller mounted on a heat sink that creates a seamless transition between heating and cooling devices, as it serves as the commander of thermoelectric modules. With a bi-directional or unidirectional H-bridge configuration, the controller has many benefits.
Space Oddity
May 15, 2013 9:01 am | Videos | CommentsA revised version of David Bowie's Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield onboard the International Space Station. This is believed to be the first music video recorded in space (and as Internet memes go, it sure beats silly cat videos). Captioning kindly provided by CHS (www.chs.ca)
Controller designed for aerospace, industrial, and laboratory applications
May 14, 2013 10:44 am | Highland Technology | Product Releases | CommentsHighland Technology announces the release of the V120 VME PCI Express Crate Controller for aerospace, industrial, and laboratory application. The V120 is a VME bus master crate controller, usable as a crate slot 0 arbiter or as a secondary controller. Each PCI Express cable driver board, in a PC backplane, can drive one or two V120s over standard, flexible PCI Express cable assemblies....
Astronaut exits space station with music video
May 14, 2013 9:27 am | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | CommentsIn a high-flying, perfectly pitched first, an astronaut on the International Space Station is bowing out of orbit with a musical video: his own custom version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." It's believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's personalized rendition of "Space Oddity" was posted on YouTube on Sunday....
Engineering Newswire 37: Boeing makes hypersonic history
May 13, 2013 9:24 am | Videos | CommentsThe Boeing X-51A WaveRider unmanned hypersonic vehicle has achieved the longest air-breathing, scramjet-powered hypersonic flight in history. Last summer, an infestation took control of the Harvard robotics laboratory. The situation posed no need to call an exterminator, for this demonstration featured the first controlled flight of an insect-sized robot inspired by the biology of a fly.
NRL shatters endurance record for small electric UAV
May 10, 2013 12:40 pm | by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory | News | CommentsResearchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory flew their fuel cell powered Ion Tiger UAV for 48 hours and 1 minute on April 16-18 by using liquid hydrogen fuel in a new, NRL-developed, cryogenic fuel storage tank and delivery system. This flight shatters their previous record of 26 hours and 2 minutes set in 2009 using the same vehicle...
Kit helps developers gain fast entry into the world of embedded ARM processors
May 10, 2013 11:25 am | Kontron | Product Releases | CommentsKontron announced the ready-to-use SMARC Starterkit. The kit offers developers fast entry into the world of embedded ARM processors, which is now highly scalable owing to SMARC Computer-on-Modules. The kit comes in a sturdy transport case, has all the cables already connected and is
UK budget airline to test ash cloud detector
May 10, 2013 9:35 am | by SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press | News | CommentsA U.K. budget airline will create an artificial volcanic ash cloud over Europe this summer to test ash detection technology. The experiment aims to avoid the kind of chaos that paralyzed air traffic during eruptions three years ago. Thursday's announcement was made by easyJet....
Cast of Broadway's 'Matilda' chat with astronaut
May 9, 2013 9:23 am | by MARK KENNEDY, AP Drama Writer | News | CommentsThe cast members of the Tony Award-nominated "Matilda" are arguably all stars. This week, they chatted with a man closer to the actual cosmic ones. About three dozen cast members - including many children - packed a small room near Times Square on Tuesday to speak to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station
SMT limiter diode targets receiver protection applications
May 6, 2013 12:13 pm | Skyworks Solutions, Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsSkyworks Solutions introduced a surface mount limiter diode for receiver protection applications. The CLA4608-085LF is a low capacitance silicon PIN limiter diode designed for high power applications ranging from 10 MHz to over 6 GHz. The maximum resistance at
High-temperature air core inductors fit aerospace and military applications
May 6, 2013 11:47 am | Coilcraft Critical Products & Services | Product Releases | CommentsCoilcraft CPS (Critical Products and Services Group) has released its AT392RAS inductors, targeting applications where high temperatures can be encountered. Air-core design and special materials allow operation in ambient temperatures as low as –60°C and up to 240°C. Five inductance values are
Solar plane lands in Ariz., 1st leg of major trip
May 6, 2013 10:55 am | by BOB SEAVEY & SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press | News | CommentsAlone in the single-seat cockpit and high above the American Southwest, pilot Bertrand Piccard could hear only his plane's gear box and the quiet whine of four electric motors. No noisy jet engines. He's flying Solar Impulse, considered the world's most advanced sun-powered plane.
Experimental Air Force aircraft goes hypersonic
May 6, 2013 10:43 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsAn experimental, unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Air Force went hypersonic during a test off the Southern California coast, traveling at more than 3,000 mph, the Air Force said Friday. The X-51A WaveRider flew for more than three minutes under power from its exotic scramjet engine and hit a speed of Mach 5.1, or more than five times the speed of sound.
Pentagon clears use of Samsung's devices
May 6, 2013 10:41 am | by The Associated Press | News | CommentsSamsung Electronics Co. says the U.S. Department of Defense has approved using Samsung smartphones for its networks. The South Korean company said Friday the Galaxy S4 smartphone has become the first Android device to meet the security requirements set out by the U.S. government...
