Associations

WASHINGTON, 7 Feb. 2012. The heads of several associations in the avionics community are coming forward to commend the U.S. Congress for approving the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 2012. The bill awaits President Obama’s signature. The legislation would provide funding through 2015—a stark departure from the past several years, in which the House and Senate approved only short-term extensions (23 of them, in fact) to the 2004 funding levels.

Airlines for America (A4A), an industry trade organization for leading U.S. airlines, commends Congress for passing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. A4A officials call the bill comprehensive and expect it “will help make air travel even more safe and efficient for passengers and shippers, while avoiding further tax increases for customers and airlines.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) applauds the U.S. Senate for passing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 2012. The bill awaits President Obama’s signature before it becomes law. Once enacted, it starts the clock on a number of deadlines the FAA must meet to safely integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system; chief among them is a deadline for full integration by 30 Sept. 2015, says an AUVSI spokesperson.

Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) officials are pleased that the U.S. Congress has agreed on a four-year authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), running through fiscal year 2015. "This legislation is critical to all United States Aviation, and we are proud that much of the language specific to air medical operations originated from AAMS,” says Timothy Pickering, JD, CMTE, and current AAMS president. "We have worked tirelessly since 2006 to ensure that this language get incorporated into the final package to address significant issues that face our industry." 

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President and CEO Marion C. Blakey has issued a statement concerning the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, a bill that awaits President Obama’s signature. “It is critical to FAA operations and offers stability and predictability to the aviation industry instead of the uncertainty fueled by one short-term extension after another,” Blakely says.

BALTIMORE, 11 Nov. 2011. TEK Microsystems Inc. in Chelmsford, Mass., is introducing the Calypso-V6 12-bit digitizer 6U VME or VXS embedded computing board with high-density field-programmable gate array (FPGA) processing for defense, intelligence, and industrial applications such as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), signals intelligence, electronic warfare, and radar. Tekmicro made the announcement this week at the AFCEA MILCOM conference and trade show in Baltimore, which highlights technologies in military communications and embedded computing.

BILLERICA, Mass., 6 Nov. 2011. CSP Inc. (NASDAQ:CSPI) MultiComputer Division in Billerica, Mass., is introducing the FastCluster 3000 series OpenVPX rugged embedded computer cluster for digital signal processing applications in radar, sonar, and surveillance. The FastCluster 3000 uses the Mellanox SwitchX Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) to enable InfiniBand, Ethernet, and Fibre Channel data traffic to exist on a one-wire fabric, company officials say. The switched fabric also uses the VITA 66 optical interconnect for VPX standard to improve performance and lighten weight, compared with previous copper wire networking and databus solutions.

LAS VEGAS, 12 Oct. 2011. Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) signed an agreement with Piper Aircraft Inc. for up to 30 Piper Seminoles, valued at $18 million. Piper and ATP jointly announced the transaction at the 2011 National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Annual Meeting and Convention. ATP, specializing in airline pilot training and pilot career development, will initially purchase a fleet of 10 Piper Seminole multi-engine, piston-powered advanced training aircraft for delivery in 2012.

HUDSON, Mass., 25 Aug. 2011. Hypertronics Corp. in Hudson, Mass., is introducing the KVPX ruggedized connector for VITA 46/48 VPX embedded computing applications. The KVPX high-reliability VPX connector links single-board computers, mezzanine board computers, and other board products via the VITA 46/48 VPX high-speed switch fabric networking architecture in aerospace and defense, industrial, marine, space, data transfer, telecommunications, and medical applications. The shielded, high-density, high-speed, modular interconnect system uses the Hypertronics Hypertac contact system, which acts like a bank of tiny Chinese finger traps to hold pins fast inside the connector.

BOHEMIA, N.Y., 10 Aug. 2011. Data Device Corp. (DDC) in Bohemia, N.Y., is introducing introduces the BU-65596F/M DO-254-certifiable MIL-STD-1553 avionics databus packaged as a PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) for military applications in harsh environments. The 1553 databus PMC card uses DDC’s Enhanced Mini-ACE core packaged as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for reliability, DDC officials say.

OSHKOSH, Wis. 25 July 2011. Engineers at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, released a touch-control primary flight display for operators of business jets and turboprop aircraft. The displays will be available on future versions of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite. Company officials are demonstrating the system at their pavilion near the Rockwell Collins Exhibit Hanger C at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis.

PARIS AIR SHOW BLOG, 22 June 2011. Officials at Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Alenia Aeronautica, announced this week at the Paris Air Show that the new business jet model of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional line will kick off its run at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) show in October. Anything regarding the Superjet creates a lot of buzz, such as when the Superjet 100 was doing its fly over this week at the show.

DAYTON, Ohio, 14 June 2011. Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems in Dayton, Ohio, is introducing the 3U VPX Flash Storage Module (VPX3-1TB) rugged solid state drive for space-, weight-, and power (SWaP)-constrained military applications. The VPX3-1TB SATA storage card has 1 Terabyte of SLC NAND flash memory, can be configured as a JBOD or RAID, and provides NIST-certified 256-bit AES data encryption. This conduction-cooled module is available in military ruggedization configurations, including Levels 100 and 200.

LITTLETON, Mass., 20 May 2011. Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems in Littleton, Mass., is introducing the Hybricon RME9CC 12-slot 3U OpenVPX forced-air conduction-cooled electronics chassis for military embedded computing applications. The rackmount enclosure removes heat from as much as 75 Watts per slot, and accommodates 3U 1-inch-pitch circuit cards and rear transition modules, and comes with a high-speed switch fabric that moves data as fast as 6.25 gigabits per second.

BROCKTON, Mass., 4 May 2011. SIE Computing Solutions Inc. in Brockton, Mass., is introducing the SIE 734 VITA 58 chassis for mission-critical embedded computing systems that must operate in extreme conditions, such as armored combat vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The chassis meets maintenance requirements level 2 and 2-plus of the VITA 58 industry standard for interoperable electronics packaging. The SIE 734 chassis integrates with electronics components ranging from PC/104 to OpenVPX, and facilitates convection-, conduction-, and liquid-cooling in rugged aerospace and defense applications such as military communications, aircraft electronics, and armored combat vehicles.

HIGH WYCOMBE, England, 24 April 2011. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is introducing the FMC-516 rugged field-programmable gate array (FPGA) mezzanine card for military applications such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), electronic countermeasures (ECM) and radar that need high-speed A/D converter components as part of a digital receiver. The FMC is a quad channel 250-megasample-per-second 16-bit analog input card that enables systems designers to couple I/O devices directly to a host FPGA to make the most of throughput and synchronizes several channels and boards.

WIXOM, Mich., 31 March 2011. Acromag Inc. in Wixom, Mich., is introducing the VPX4810 3U VPX carrier cards for interfacing PCI Mezzanine Cards (PMCs) or Express Mezzanine Cards (XMCs) to VPX embedded computing systems in high-performance military, industrial, scientific research, and telephony applications that require high-speed I/O. The carrier cards are available in air-cooled versions that operate in temperatures from 0 to 70 degrees Celsius, or in conduction-cooled and REDI models.

LITTLETON, Mass., 13 March 2011. Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems in Littleton, Mass., is introducing the Hybricon 024-901-06-CEN1-01 3U six-slot VPX REDI (VITA 48) backplane for embedded computing in aerospace, defense, and industrial applications. The backplane supports data rates as fast as 6.25 gigabaud per VITA 68. It has a one-inch-pitch that is seven slots wide, with five payload slots, data and control switch slot, star fabric topology from payload slots to the switch slot for data plane and control plane, and an expansion plane between the payload slots.

CHATSWORTH, Calif., 11 March 2011. Aitech Defense Systems Inc. in Chatsworth, Calif., is introducing the C870 3U VPX single-board computer based on the Intel Core i7 processor extreme-data-throughput applications in high-definition avionics displays, mission and controls systems computers, network-centric communications, and condition-based maintenance. The C870 CPU board has a Core i7 dual-core processor that runs at 2.53 GHz for high performance, 2 GHz for low-power, or at 1.33 GHz for ultra-low power. The embedded computing product has an Intel Gen 5.75 graphics controller.