DESC field failure evaluation program-`a cradle to grave approach'

The Defense Electronics Supply Center's (DESC's) field failure evaluation program is described. The primary objective of the program is to take positive corrective action steps to assure that quality electronics parts are used in US Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems. The process flow of field failures from their inception to final corrective action is discussed. To illustrate this, four case studies are presented in which lab testing and coordination with the supplier has resulted in positive corrective action, improving the quality and reliability of the electronic components in DoD weapon systems     

AFRL Cryogenic Technology Development Programs

This is an overview of the cryogenic refrigerator and cryogenic integration programs in development and characterization under the Cryogenic Technologies Group, Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The vision statement for the Air Force Research Laboratory Cryogenic Technologies Group is to support the space community as the center of excellence for developing and transitioning space cryogenic thermal management technologies. The primary customers for the AFRL cryogenic technology development programs are Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), the USAF SBIRS (space based infrared) Low program office, and DoD space surveillance programs. This describes a variety of Stirling, pulse tube, Reverse Brayton, Joule-Thomson, and Sorption cycle cryocoolers currently under development to meet current and future Air Force and DoD requirements. The AFRL customer single stage cooling requirements at 10 K, 35 K, 60 K, 150 K, and multi-stage cooling requirements at 35/60 K are addressed. In order to meet these various requirements, the AFRL Cryogenic Technologies Group is pursuing various strategic cryocooler and cryogenic integration options. The Air Force Research Laboratory is also developing several advanced cryogenic integration technologies that will result in the reduction in current cryogenic system integration penalties and design time. These technologies include the continued development of the cryogenic systems integration model (CSIM), 60 K, and 100 K thermal storage units and heat pipes, cryogenic straps, thermal switches, and development of an integrated lightweight cryogenic bus (CRYOBUS).     

Advances in DoD's ATS Framework

The Automatic Test System (ATS) Executive Directorate (ED) is charged with developing objectives for the Department of Defense (DoD) ATS modernization. The DoD ATS Framework Working Group (FWG) was established by the ATS ED to create a Framework addressing these objectives. The FWG consists of two sub-groups: Management, that includes members from all of the DoD Services, and Technical. The Framework is made up of key elements and associated specifications and standards that form the open system architecture approach for DoD ATSs. In addition to creating and updating key element definitions, the FWG focuses on identifying commercial ATS related specifications that might satisfy the elements in the Framework. The standards specified in the DoD ATS Framework are documented in the DoD's Information Technology Standards Repository (DISR) and thereby become a mandatory requirement for all DoD ATS acquisitions. The Framework is also being specifically called out in DoD ATS requirements documents so that its standards are incorporated in future DoD ATS acquisitions, such as the Navy's eCASS.     

Surveillance through walls and other opaque materials

The Department of Defense (DoD) has funded a dazzling array of “high tech” solutions for many of the problems facing our military forces. Many of these “solutions” have been effective for long range mass destruction but have not been applicable for the close-in hand-to-hand combat that is on our streets. Our goal at the Hughes AET Center has been to convert “high tech” DoD capabilities into cost effective tools to help law enforcement agencies do their jobs better. Surveillance systems presently used by law enforcement officers make extensive use of television, infrared and other Line-of-Sight (LOS) surveillance systems. However, these systems cannot tell what is happening on the other side of a wall, behind bushes, around the corner, in the dark or through a dense fog. A new sensor has been developed that uses technology developed by the DoD for missile warhead fuzing. This small, light weight, low power “Radar” is based upon the fact that radio waves can penetrate nonmetallic materials. This new surveillance capability can help provide information about what is in a wall, ceiling or floor or on the other side of a door or concrete wall. Real field scenarios are used in this paper to show how this radar works and how field users can tell if someone is moving inside a building, even from remote locations     

Sole means navigation in US Navy aircraft

The current edition of the US Federal Radionavigation Plan, issued in 1984, presents a consolidated federal plane on the management of those radionavigation systems which are used by both the civilian and military sectors. It states the US Dept. of Defense (DoD) goal to phase out the use of TACAN, VOR/DME, OMEGA, LORAN C, and TRANSIT in military platforms and for Global Positioning System (GPS) to become the standard radionavigation system for DoD. This would eliminate all the current sole-means air navigation systems (TACAN and VOR/DME) aboard military aircraft. Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations within controlled airspace requires an operating sole-means air navigation system to be aboard the aircraft. The authors investigate the requirements for GPS certification as a sole means air navigation system in the US National Airspace System (NAS); discuss the implication for GPS user equipment (UE) hardware and software; describe the actual UE implementation; and discuss approaches for UE integration with flight instruments on US Navy aircraft     

Near term approach to data relay for satellites under test

The increasing need for a continuous communications link with U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) spacecraft during test missions in low Earth orbit (LEG) has resulted in greater interest in geosynchronous data relay services. This may be a more economical alternative to building additional remote tracking stations for the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN), and avoids tying up operational assets for a test mission. A low-cost near-term approach for such a space-based data relay system would utilize two existing Defense Satellite Communication System III spacecraft, two existing ground terminals, and a small, standardized terminal using autonomous antenna pointing for the space vehicle under test. Such a system design is presented     

Open system concepts for modular avionics

Advanced communications, guidance and navigation systems play key roles in determining superiority of one combat aircraft over another. The use of advanced technology is essential to meeting the mission requirements of present as well as future aircraft. Modular avionics are being used in next generation aircraft, such as the Air Force F-22 fighter and the Army Comanche helicopter, as the means of achieving higher levels of performance, including reduced volume and improved adaptability, maintainability, and expandability. New system acquisitions such as Joint Strike Fighter will attempt to achieve these same performance levels but at dramatically reduced life cycle cost. Retrofit applications will also take on increasing roles in meeting this affordability need as the Department of Defense (DoD) struggles to maintain readiness in the face of the shrinking defense budget. The government is encouraging the use of open standards practices as a means of addressing the affordability issue. The Open Systems Joint Task Force (OS-JTF), formed in September 1994, is chartered to “sponsor and accelerate the adoption of open systems in weapons systems and subsystem electronics to reduce life-cycle costs and facilitate effective weapon system intra- and interoperability”. The purpose of this paper is to relate the concept of open systems to modular avionics. It discusses the key attributes of an open systems approach and identifies key technologies necessary for its success     

Open System Avionics Architectures

Over the last three years, Open System Avionics Architecture concepts have been addressed by the avionics community as a method for increasing affordability. The Naval Air Systems Command (Nav Air) led Advanced Avionics Architecture and Technology Review team of 1992, followed by the multiservice Avionics Engineering SubBoard (AESB) implementation phase team are two examples. The Perry memo and formation of the Open Systems Joint Task Force (OS-JTF) are further evidence of the importance placed on open systems at the DoD level. This paper summarizes these activities and their importance. Examples of the savings that can be expected by application of open systems are presented. Finally, significant on-going work along with critical technologies and concepts that need to be matured to make open systems successful are discussed     

A Survey of Software Quality Assurance

This summarizes the authors' research into the state-of-the-practice of software quality assurance (SQA) in software organizations throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). Information was obtained through personal visits to a limited number of software facilities and by utilizing a SQA questionnaire that was mailed to 27 DoD software organizations. Twenty questionnaires were returned from Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force organizations involved in the Life Cycle Software Support (LCSS) process. The survey developed information regarding such topics as: staffing; personnel qualifications; quality standards used; SQA responsibilities; error data collection; adequacy of existing documentation; staff composition; distribution of SQA effort; and workforce mix. In addition, a list of SQA ``Lessons Learned' was developed from comments made by DoD quality managers. The results of this study indicate a wide variance in the application of SQA within the DoD.     

Software architecture requirements for DoD automatic test systems

The DoD has achieved success with recent automatic test equipment (ATE) families, as evidenced by the navy's consolidated automated support system (CASS) and the army's integrated family of test equipment (IFTE) programs. However, as these systems age, the increased requirements for technology insertion due to instrument obsolescence and the demands of advanced electronics are becoming evident. Recent advances in test technology promise to yield reduced total ownership costs (TOC) for ATE which can incorporate the new technology. The DoD automatic test system (ATS) executive agent office (EAO) objective is to significantly reduce total ownership cost. Several objectives have been identified including use of synthetic instruments, support for legacy test product sets (TPSs), and more efficient ways of developing TPSs. The NxTest software architecture will meet the objectives by providing an open systems approach to the system software. This will allow for the incorporation of commercial applications in the TPS development and execution environments and support current advances in test technology     

Proposal to TPS delivery in 4 months?

Decreasing the often lengthy Test Program Set (TPS) development time is a high priority for both DoD and commercial industry. A protracted test development time for a commercial product can make or break its success. It can impact time-to-market goals for a product, which in turn, can result in a loss of market share. Though the DoD world has different objectives, they, too, are concerned with long test development times which can increase costs and jeopardize a weapon system's mission readiness. The case study for this paper is a test system developed by BAE Systems in less than four months to meet a commercial customer's stringent schedule requirements. The factors that contributed to the success of this project are examined, as is their relevance to the DoD world. The desire is to apply relevant lessons learned from the commercial industry to DoD programs, yielding a decrease in TPS development time     

U. S. Navy in Space: Past, Present, and Future

The announcement last summer of the establishment of the U. S. Navy Space Command, and its subsequent activation at Dahlgren, Va., in October 1983, may have come as a surprise to some. This, however, was the latest of a series of actions taken by the Department of the Navy over the last several years to consolidate the Navy's space efforts. In fact, since the beginning of the Space Age, the Navy has been interested in space and involved in space-related activities. Its contributions in space science and technology have been significant. Driven by a realization that space assets are exceptionally well matched to its global mission, the Navy has become a major user of space. Primary areas of current activity include command, control, and communication and navigation and collection of environmental information. The Navy's operational use of space systems, the nature of the evolving Soviet threat (both air and space) directed in a large measure at U. S. naval targets, and the recent advances made in space technology, all argue for an increased level of Navy involvement in future Department of Defense space activities to secure Navy interests. As viewed by Navy decision-makers, this increased level of involvement will be selective in nature, emphasizing space research and development and operations that are considered vital to Navy interests.     

开源数据库在卫星控制中心的应用研究

实现信息系统的自主、安全、可控已成为测控中心系统的研究方向和建设目标。研究应用自主可控数据库是实现测控中心系统全面自主可控的重要环节。目前,卫星控制中心的数据存储系统大多以Oracle数据库为主,软件和技术服务费用昂贵,更新维护成本高,且可能带有信息安全和任务安全方面的风险。针对上述这些问题,研究分析了开源数据库MySQL在卫星控制中心系统中应用的可行性,对MySQL数据库做了全面测试,包括功能、性能、系统级的高可用测试,以及MySQL与Oracle数据库的性能对比测试。研究和测试结果表明,MySQL开源数据库可以用于卫星控制中心系统以及类似的测控中心应用系统,对今后测控中心系统应用自主可控数据库具有参考价值和借鉴意义。     

Component-Based Performance-Sensitive Real-Time Embedded Software

The software complexity is continuously increasing and the competition in the software market is becoming more intensive than ever. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the software quality, and meanwhile, minimize software development cost, and reduce software delivery time in order to gain competitive advantages. Recently, Component-Based Software Development (CBSD) was proposed and has now been applied in various industry and business applications as a possible way to achieve this goal. As verified by numerous practical applications in different fields, CBSD is able to increase software development productivity as well as improve software quality. Modern embedded real-time systems have both strict functional and non-functional requirements and they are essentially safety-critical, real-time, and embedded software-intensive systems. In particular, the crucial end-to-end quality-of-service (QoS) properties should be assured in embedded systems such as timeliness and fault tolerance. Herein, I first introduce the modern component technologies and commonly used component models. Then, the middleware in distributed real-time embedded systems is discussed. Further, adaptive system resource management is elaborated upon. Finally, the prospects of a component-based approach in implementing modern embedded real-time software is discussed and future research directions are suggested.     

激光测控通信技术研究进展与趋势

激光测控通信技术作为航天测控通信领域的一项新技术,具有作用距离远、测量精度高、通信速率快、抗电磁干扰能力强等优势。介绍了美国、欧盟、日本和俄罗斯在激光测控通信技术领域的最新研究进展和计划,总结了典型激光测控通信系统的主要性能指标,分析了激光测控通信技术的发展趋势,并结合我国激光测控通信技术研究现状提出几点发展建议。     

Selecting a programming language for your project

Since the mandate was dropped that the Ada language had to be used in all DoD projects, software managers have had more freedom to choose which programming language to use on their DoD projects. For most new DoD software projects that need a general purpose high-level language, Ada, C, or C++ are the main contenders, with increasing attention paid to the new language celebrity, Java. Furthermore, multilanguage systems seems to be getting increasingly popular. As a result, companies offer integrated multilanguage programming environments. Although each programming language has its own strengths and weaknesses, the reason for choosing a particular language may ultimately be based on factors having nothing to do with the technical merits of the language itself. Such factors may include the availability of compilers for the host/target, the maturity and efficiency of available compilers, the availability of programmers who already know the language, whether the language can easily interface with existing systems such as graphical user interfaces or data bases, the existence of legacy software written in a specific language, or how well the language fits in with adopted COTS products. A few common misconceptions that may affect the choice of a programming language are listed     

我国深空探测地面站发射机的发展及展望

随着深空探测任务的发展,对地面站发射机输出功率有了越来越高的要求.在讨论了测控系统地面站发射机的国内外发展现状和应用趋势的基础上,重点分析了未来我国发射机的主要发展方向和趋势,并对其中的关键技术进行了详细描述;提出了我国未来发展深空探测地面站发射机应该开展关键技术、关键元器件或零部件的研究工作,以及一些技术发展方向性的理论研究的建议,为我国深空探测技术的发展提供了参考.     

脉冲超宽带信号测量性能分析

超宽带技术是一项新兴的无线通信技术,具有极其广阔的发展前景,但目前仅用于室内短距离通信,少见用于航天测控系统。为了将超宽带技术应用于测控系统中,以模糊函数为工具,对脉冲超宽带信号的测量性能进行分析。首先推导矩形脉冲串信号和载波调制矩形脉冲串信号的模糊函数,并对其模糊特性进行仿真分析。在此基础上,主要针对用于测控系统的伪码调制脉冲超宽带信号,利用其模糊函数分析其测距测速性能。结果表明:该超宽带信号具有良好的测距测速性能,其最大无模糊距离为1个伪码周期,最大无模糊多普勒频率为脉冲重复频率的倒数;单脉冲宽度越窄,其测距性能越好而测速性能越差。     

Implementation of tactical maneuvers with maneuver libraries

This study creates and combines the general maneuver libraries for fixed-wing aircraft to implement tactical maneuvers. First, the generalized maneuver libraries are established by analyzing the characteristics of tactical maneuvers required in battlefields. The 7th order polynomial is applied to both the creation of the maneuver libraries and the generation of the trajectories or flight paths for modal inputs. To track the desired trajectory, we design the Attitude Command Attitude Hold (ACAH) system and the Rate Command Rate Hold (RCRH) system using Model Following Controller (MFC). Moreover, the Line-of-Sight (LOS) guidance law is designed. In particular, the CONDUIT® is employed to optimize the gains so that the control systems meet the aircraft Handling Qualities (HQ) criteria. Finally, flight simulations are performed for the longitudinal loop, immelmann-turn, and climb-slalom-descent maneuvers to verify that tactical aggressive maneuvers are realizable via the combination of maneuver libraries. This study can contribute to the development of flight techniques for aircraft tactical maneuvers and to the revision of air force operational manuals.     

飞行器测控通信技术发展趋势与建议

在研究国内外测控通信技术现状与发展动态的基础上,梳理出未来测控通信发展趋势：将走向综合化网络、高精度和航天器自主导航,发展光学测控通信技术,提升跟踪与数据中继能力,建设天基靶场,加强安全防护,以及设备高度综合化、数字化、软件化和低成本等;结合我国测控通信技术发展遇到的技术“瓶颈”与挑战,探讨了当前我国测控通信发展面临的主要任务：制定顶层规划,继续提升技术水平,满足新平台新任务测控需求,探索新概念与前沿技术等;最后,提出了我国测控通信重点发展方向及其关键技术的建议.