Military-display designers continue to face stringent size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) constraints while integrating commercial innovations like HD – and soon 4K – into systems that must work with legacy sensors and interfaces while also complying with a variety of open architectures and standards. Meanwhile, researchers plan for military augmented reality and immersive display solutions for warfighters.

On the battlefield, time can be a dependable driver and a formidable adversary. For this reason, companies supplying military electronics are viewing the services’ all-encompassing decision-making processes through a data-powered lens in hopes of giving the military one thing: Actionable information in the shortest possible time frame.

Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a set of Ethernet networking capabilities used to transmit time-sensitive data across standard Ethernet networks. Originally, TSN grew out of the IEEE 802.1 standard working groups on Audio Video Bridging (AVB) to make sure that independent networks streams for audio and video data arrive at the correct times to ensure synchronization. AVB also requires guaranteed delivery throughput and latency to avoid problems like missing video frames. Today, TSN features new 802.1 standards and enhancements that go beyond AVB time-synchronized streaming and can support low-latency, precision data delivery over Ethernet for a broader set of industrial, automotive, aerospace, and other real-time communications applications.

The Texas A&M University – founded in 1876 in Brazos County, Texas, to concentrate on the teaching of agriculture and mechanical arts (the “A” and “M” in the university’s name) – continues its push for innovation with recent program launches in tandem with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

Nearly three decades ago, then-U.S. Department of Defense Secretary William Perry issued a memo dictating the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology wherever and whenever possible. In many ways, the edict revolutionized procurement and helped integrate new commercial technology more affordably into defense systems, but it also created supply-chain pain for suppliers that is still felt today.

In this podcast, Neal Austin, Vice President and General Manager of the Mixed Signal Business Unit within Mercury Systems and Rodger Hosking, co-founder and VP of Pentek Systems deep dive into the acquisition, where Pentek will fit within Mercury, and how the acquisition impacts the Mercury efforts within the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium. They also cover design trends in the radar and electronic warfare markets, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) procurement, the impact AI and 5G will have on military electronics, and tackle the engineering recruitment challenges defense companies face.