Data-driven design for HMI development in avionics design

Raymond Niacaris (ENSCO )

Engineers and designers who work on glass cockpit displays continue to look for effective ways to interact with the inanimate objects they want to control. Using a data-driven approach similar to that used in video games, a structure can be created through which advanced human-machine interface (HMI... [read more]

Increasing data-transfer performance in VPX systems

Thierry Wastiaux (Interface Concept)

The combination of digital simulation and high-performance calculation is radically transforming industry and research. It is now possible to develop products and services without spending precious time and dollars on replicating work already done. This is certainly the case in the military and aero... [read more]

Version 2.0: The evolution of SMARC module specification

Martin Unverdorben (Kontron)

Earlier this year, the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) updated its Smart Mobility Architecture (SMARC) embedded computing format to the 2.0 specification. Since its inception three years ago, the SMARC small-form-factor module has given developers an innovation boost for the u... [read more]

Designing a rad-hard CubeSat onboard computer

Ross Bannatyne (VORAGO Technologies)

A CubeSat is a miniature satellite that conforms to a standard specification of 10 cm on each side and weighs no more than 1.33 kilograms. Often these cubes are concatenated to form larger structures. This standardization in satellite technology has provoked a significant growth in their use, as eco... [read more]

PC/104 adds processing power, dense I/O for the industrial IoT revolution

Jeff Milde (PC/104 Consortium)

The IIoT [industrial Internet of Things] is poised to reshape factory automation, transportation, energy, and other industrial markets through the application of intelligence and connectivity, but the embedded systems that power these segments are still hampered by concerns about longevity, reliabil... [read more]

PC/104 continues to serve multiple markets

Roy Keeler (ADLINK Technology)

Since it was first introduced in 1992, the PC/104 form factor has enabled embedded computing for avionics, military command and control, industrial automation, medical systems, and more. Its small size and inherent ruggedization made it ideal for unique applications in the aerospace, industrial, med... [read more]

Milestone in abstracting the hardware: Realizing the promise of FACE

Mark Grovak (Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions)

The Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium, part of The Open Group, was formed to establish a standard common operating environment to ­support portable capability-based applications across Department of Defense (DoD) avionics systems. Key to the common operating environment envisi... [read more]

Small form factors, big time markets

Whether you're talking about PC/104 and PCe/104 for rail and military applications or COM Express for gaming and IoT applications, small-form-factor solutions for embedded computing are hot across multiple markets. Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements are spurring innovation in smalle... [read more]

PCIe/104 - The "fishal" recognition revolution in fish counting

Rory Dear (Technical Contributor)

Fish-count surveys are vital in ensuring the conservation and management of fish stocks in our increasingly overfished seas. The accuracy of those surveys is critical in providing evidence of overfishing to drive restorative and preventative legislation. Traditional fish-counting is inherently manua... [read more]

Rugged networking on the move: Best practices for design and test for constrained-space applications

Charlie Kawasaki (PacStar)

In the unpredictable environment of the battlefield, the fight does not stop just because you are moving. That reality puts warfighters at a distinct disadvantage if they cannot maintain situational awareness at all times, as adversaries equip themselves with the latest wireless technology and smart... [read more]

New game for GUIs

Charlotte Adams (Abaco Systems)

Those of us who recall DOS and other command interfaces appreciate the invention of graphical user interfaces (GUIs): Graphical controls and displays make us more efficient and productive because they are intuitive, with little or no learning required. GUIs make life easier, whether one is writing c... [read more]

The future of Ethernet

Ronen Isaac (MilSource)

With Ethernet becoming the ubiquitous connectivity standard for service providers, enterprises, and military applications, we are letting go of proprietary networking technologies and heading directly into industry standard networking based on Ethernet.

UAS payloads, radar best bets for military electronics market

John McHale (Editorial Director)

"Uncertainty" best describes the current outlook for the U.S. military market, with the next president's positions still somewhat unclear, as is the nation's future defense outlook.Regardless of inertia or doubt in Washington, military program managers and industry engineers must continue to keep th... [read more]

Reduced SWaP for design into embedded platforms using 10 GbE

Mike Southworth (Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions )

As advanced network features and increasing speeds are added to next-generation rugged embedded switches, these products become even more useful for military applications by helping to reduce system size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) through a reduction of cabling and the use of Layer 3 switches... [read more]

History of the PC/104 Consortium

The PC/104 Consortium was established in February 1992 by 12 companies with a common vision of adapting desktop computer technology for embedded applications. This consortium has had a tremendous, positive effect on the embedded computer marketplace. The initial release of the PC/104 specification i... [read more]

Modernizing a serial processing code to obtain optimal performance on an OpenVPX digital signal processing module

Beau Paisley (Arm); Tammy Carter ( Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions)

Serial algorithms can be evolved to a scalable, multithreaded, multiprocess implementation using ubiquitous and well-established high-performance computing (HPC) programming frameworks such as OpenMP and MPI. Such techniques are used in compute-intensive defense, aerospace, and industrial applicatio... [read more]

Very high-speed sampling and serial ADCs in embedded systems

Thierry Wastiaux (Interface Concept)

Latest-generation active electronically scaled array (AESA) radar systems can have thousands of TX/RX modules. High bandwidth is needed to connect each array element data converter to the FPGAs that process incoming and generate outgoing data streams. New software-defined radio systems use advanced ... [read more]

PC/104: The small form factor doing big things

Writing about PC/104 can be challenging: If you're just talking about the form factor, there's not a whole lot of new material to cover. In fact, if you're reading this in a printed magazine, it's likely that you already know about PC/104. But for the sake of those who don't know - if you're a young... [read more]

Drone-swarm tactics program leverages game-based technologies

Mariana Iriarte (Technology Editor)

Raytheon BBN Technologies has teamed up with Smart Information Flow Technologies and Oregon State University to tackle a challenge from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that aims to design, develop, and demonstrate a swarm of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) or unmanned ground syste... [read more]

SHB Express still going strong - PICMG 1.3 application examples

Jim Renehan (Trenton Technology)

PICMG got its start back in 1994 with the development of the first edge card computing industry standard: PICMG 1.0. Since then edge card computing has evolved to incorporate the latest PCI Express interface methodology and implementation standards in the SHB Express or PICMG 1.3 industry standard.

A go-to embedded solution

Stephen St. Amant (PC/104 Consortium President)

There was a time when I watched the cooking competition television show "Chopped" somewhat regularly. It's an intense ingredients-based culinary challenge that pushes chefs to their limits under strict time constraints. Amidst the nearly endless food combinations available to the contestants, it see... [read more]

White Paper: Automated Test Outlook 2017, Through the Eyes of NI's Cofounder: A Special Issue Guest - Edited by Dr. James Truchard

Guest-Edited by Dr. James Truchard (National Instruments)

In this special edition white paper, NI Cofounder Dr. James Truchard reflects on the past 40 years of test and measurement, identifies market and technology trends impacting today's test organizations, and looks forward to what lies ahead.

PC/104: the smart play

Stephen St. Amant (PC/104 Consortium President)

"It just doesn't go out of style." Is the blue blazer timeless? That's what I hear. What about PC/104? Absolutely. In the embedded market space, longevity is key. Embedded systems go through ­rigorous testing and qualification; the systems need to last. While new form factors and specifications spro... [read more]

PC/104: A fresh look in its 25th year

Stephen St. Amant (PC/104 Consortium President)

Let's take a moment to recall the significance of 1987 - thirty years ago. You may immediately think, "Yes. 1987. A fantastic year for the birth of tennis stars: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, and Sara Errani were all born in '87." But I imagine your second thought is ab... [read more]

ATCA and its hardware platform management at 15 years: How can I use them now?

Mark Overgaard (Pentair Electronics Protection)

The ATCA [advanced telecommunications computing architecture] standard was adopted at the end of 2002; since that time, billions of dollars of ATCA-based products have shipped worldwide. The bulk of those products have gone into demanding high-end telecom applications worldwide, but there are numero... [read more]

Intel's Xeon-D 10 Gig connectivity drives demand for VITA 76 connector high-speed signal integrity

Mike Southworth (Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions)

The recent introduction of Intel's first Xeon System-on-a-Chip (SoC) device, the Xeon-D (codenamed "Broadwell DE"), dramatically changes the range of options for designers of high-performance small-form-factor (SFF) mission computers. Compared to earlier Core/Atom devices, the Xeon-D provides more c... [read more]

COM Express hot among military electronics users while CompactPCI levels off

John McHale (Editorial Director)

PICMG standards such as CompactPCI have been leveraged for years in aerospace and defense applications such as communications, avionics, and satellites. Today, the fastest growing standard from the PICMG experts is COM Express, thanks to its flexibility and reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) cha... [read more]

Collaboration equals innovation

Jessica Isquith (President of PICMG)

What continues to make PICMG successful as a standards body is our community of members and your collaboration in pursuit of innovation. As officers of PICMG, our mission is to shepherd and encourage that collaboration, making sure that the process moves along and that member voices are heard. The s... [read more]

White Paper: High-Speed Switched Serial Fabrics Improve System Design (Eighth Edition)

Rodger Hosking (Pentek, Inc,)

Well into its third decade of widespread deployment, VME adopted the new VXS gigabit serial interface, clearly representing the most significant leap in backplane data transfer rates throughout its entire history. Because VXS delivered such a dramatic improvement in embedded system performance, the... [read more]

White Paper: From Simulation to Emulation - A Fully Reusable UVM Framework

Anoop Saha (Mentor Graphics Corporation)

This paper introduces an acceleration-ready UVM framework and explains why it is needed, how to create it, and what its benefits are.

White Paper: RS-485: Still the Most Robust Communication

Robert Nicoletti (Maxim Integrated)

An examination of the characteristics that make RS-485 the most popular interface protocol for use in harsh, industrial environments.

Examining key attributes essential to modular SFF designs

Steve Gudknecht (Elma Electronic)

The concept of modular designs in small-form-factor (SFF) electronic systems poses interesting challenges to equipment suppliers who feed the embedded computing market's demand for smaller, more cost-effective solutions. Competing expectations from designers include reduced size, lower cost, lower N... [read more]