RF and microwave solutions are a critical ingredient in the U.S. military’s plans to adapt fifth-generation wireless technology, or 5G, as the technology will be essential to create more tools for the joint forces.

Augmented reality (AR) is not exactly new technology – the first functional AR systems stretch back to the early 1990s – but the situation in the defense industry has changed dramatically in recent years. Once more of a novelty than practical technology, now military contractors use AR for everything from training to manufacturing to battlefield operations, and that trend is likely to increase.

The U.S. Army is putting considerable resources and time into virtual-reality (VR), augmented-reality (AR), and mixed-reality (MR) equipment and training that is intended to make troops on the ground safer and better equipped.

Today’s high-demand data environments depend on effective network-centric communications, which can determine mission success and determine the survivability of the warfighter. Conventional approaches have resulted in inefficient systems experiencing bottlenecks and stalled network traffic. A new generation of network acceleration systems is needed to relieve the pain.

Recent trends in the defense industry show a convergence towards standardizing electronic systems using open standards to increase interoperability, scalability, and reliability; reduce system costs; and minimize the number of custom electronics designs that increase overhead and maintenance.

Digital keys are a core concept in establishing secure networks, one as relevant in a data center application as it is at the edge of the tactical battlefield. While cryptography (crypto) uses both symmetric and asymmetric keys for different functions, for this column we’ll focus on asymmetric cryptography in which different keys are used for locking and unlocking.

This paper will discuss the evolution of the network ecosystem to meet 5G demands, considerations for implementing these new technologies, key metrics for testing military communication systems and provide some examples of testing solutions.

This article details performance measurements vs. predictions of a 16-chan- nel S-band direct sampling receiver design. The design is based on recently released direct sampling analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) clocked at 4 GSPS and sampling in the second Nyquist zone of the converter.