A few trends are emerging in military aircraft avionics – including a continued push toward large touch-screen displays, as well as a migration to multicore processing, open architectures, and a new focus on improving cyber resilience.

While multicore processors offer designers of safety-critical avionics the significant benefits of smaller size, lower power, and increased performance, bringing those benefits to safety-critical systems has proved challenging. That’s due mainly to the complexity of validating and certifying multicore software and hardware architectures. 

Something exciting is happening in the service representative community. Representatives from three different programs, one from each of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) services, have come together with a common objective to solve their respective acquisition problems with an agreed-upon, open architecture standard. Here is Part 1 of a 3-part article covering the SOSA [Sensor Open System Architecture] Consortium’s efforts.

The Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE), a category system for software weakness and vulnerability, is now in use to provide a common vocabulary for source-code analysis tools for those developing mission-critical embedded systems. Some distinct groupings of CWE items – such as those that are associated with general coding practices – are focused on security-specific parts of a software system, including authentication and encryption, and those that can be mitigated through appropriate choice of programming languages or tools.

A study found that less-than-competent users of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield – presumably those who would need that AI boost most of all – are actually the least likely to be swayed by rational justifications, even with AI thought to be infallible.

Almost 5,000 artificial satellites orbit our planet with just over 1,900 of them operational. These satellites provide us with communication networks, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) coverage, technological research, as well as scientific and Earth observation data.

Xponential, taking place April 30th – May 2nd at the McCormick Place in Chicago, brings more than 8,500 industry leaders together focusing on unmanned technology.

Get your hardware/software solution recognized at the top Defense Electronics shows in the U.S. and Europe.

Military Embedded Systems will be highlighting the best products and solutions at the defense electronics industry's top trade shows across the US and Europe.

• Build publicity around your products at the event
• Get recognized by our audience of Defense Prime Contractors, and System Integrators, and to Embedded COTS Suppliers

Winners will be announced at the respective events.

Avionics systems are currently undergoing a transition from single core processor architectures to multi-core processors. This transition enables a reduction in size, weight and power (SWaP) and the use of common processing platforms, providing multiple potential benefits for programs in terms of reduced costs, spares management and obsolescence.

This white paper looks at how hypersonic flight will place radical new demands on the embedded computing systems on which they will rely – in terms of not only new levels of performance, but also of new levels of ruggedness.

The proliferation of video sources on-board today’s tactical ground vehicles has resulted in the need for modern video equipment to ensure the video’s usability and availability. Increasing demand for cost-effective, size, weight, and power (SWaP) optimized video management and rugged display solutions is driven by video system upgrades or new video system architectures required to maximize video source usefulness.

Military equipment - such as shipboard, surveillance, mobile artillery and control stations, combat aircraft and unmanned air vehicles—often consists of highly technological and sensitive electronics. It is likely that these electronics could be exposed to harsh environments, including extreme heat, dust, moisture, shock and vibration. Within these harsh environments, Card or Wedge Loks are used for printed circuit board retention and thermal management to ensure continued reliability and performance.