We’re here on the first day of the 60th Annual AOC International Symposium & Convention, held at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Electronic warfare (EW), spectrum dominance, and signals intelligence and the RF, microwave, and signal-processing technologies behind them are key components of both the conference and the exhibition.

For a take on the AOC event, and a look at the EW market, I sat down with Jerome Patoux, Director of Aerospace & Defense for the Aerospace, Defense, and RF Products Business Unit of Analog Devices. Here are some excerpts:

LOWELL, Mass. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell (UMass Lowell) recently received nearly $5.5 million from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to develop a new hub at the university that offers a one-stop support system for researchers and businesses seeking to design, build, and test small satellites and spacecraft components.

Millimeter wave (mmWave) imaging has become an important part of security scanning systems in airports, public buildings, and stadiums.

IEEE INTERNATIONAL MICROWAVE SYMPOSIUM (IMS) 2023, SAN DIEGO. Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) is demonstrating at IMS 2023 its newly announced Apollo MxFE -- an advanced software-defined, direct RF-sampling, wideband mixed-signal front end platform -- aimed at use in such applications as phased-array radar, electronic surveillance, test and measurement, and 6G communications. 

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly swarming modern battlespaces, growing in number as they shrink in size. They are meeting strict guidelines for reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) even as their capabilities increase, packing payloads that include offensive ordnance, transmitters, receivers, cameras, and sensors. Miniaturization contributes not only to added functionality but to longer flight times and ranges on a battery. Advancing UAV technology for the battlefield presents the ongoing challenge of developing electronic payloads that are smaller and with wider bandwidths to support multiple sensors without delays. What once was a complete electronic warfare (EW) system carried by a large ground vehicle must now fit within a flight-ready vehicle that, in some cases, can be launched by hand. Fortunately, by fitting multifunction circuitry within a single multipin package, in the form of system-on-chip (SoC) or system-in-package (SiP) devices, versatile payloads can be designed to make smaller, more capable military UAVs possible.

Multichannel systems and compares it with measurements on a 16-channel S-band demonstrator.

WILMINGTON, Mass. Semiconductor maker Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) announced that green-technology company Envision Energy (Shanghai, China -- a subsidiary of Envision Group) is adopting ADI's MEMS [microelectromechanical sensor] technology in the new generation of Envision Energy smart wind turbines.