PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 22 Feb. 2012. U.S. Navy aviation officials are asking helicopter designers at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford, Conn., to overhaul and update two VH-3D and one VH-60N executive helicopters, which are part of the Navy's VIP helicopter fleet used to transport the president and vice president of the United States, as well as other high-ranking dignitaries. Sikorsky will do the helicopter overhaul work under terms of a $20.5 million contract modification awarded Tuesday.

MONKS FERRY, U.K., 22 Feb 2012. LDRA, a provider of standards compliance, automated software verification, source code analysis, and test tools, has launched LDRA Certification Services (LCS) to help customers develop certification-ready products. The LCS team includes Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Designated Engineering Representatives (DERs) and safety engineering experts, and is aligned with product development and verification specialists who use the LDRA tool suite and other tools to address critical project requirements at high design-assurance levels.

PRODUCT INTELLIGENCE, 21 Feb. 2012.There’s one thing all electronics need, and that’s power. Power supplies and converters are important parts of the system they inhabit, and as such need to meet rigorous standards lest the entire system shut down for want, or excess, of power. Systems integrators who are looking to purchase power supplies and converters need to weigh reliability, weight, power and cost carefully.

WASHINGTON, 20 Feb. 2012. The U.S. Air Force's plan to upgrade the Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy cargo jet with new avionics and new engines is among the top defense systems upgrades and technology-insertion priorities for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) 2013 budget request submitted to Congress last week. The Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy project is part of the $14.44 billion that DOD officials plan to spend for systems upgrades and technology insertion next year, according to DOD budget documents.

PRODUCT INTELLIGENCE, 9 Feb. 2012. CompactPCI has been a staple of many military computers for more than fifteen years. The venerable computer bus interconnect was ratified in 1995, and is still used today in applications where size and cost matter more than moving huge volumes of data.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., 17 Feb. 2012. Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) in Santa Clara, Calif., is introducing the Genesys 2012 software, the latest release of the company's RF and microwave board design application. The updated software provides enhancements in RF system simulation -- including electromagnetic, circuit and statistical simulation -- and features to help designers improve the reliability of their systems, Agilent officials say.

HIAWATHA, Iowa, 15 Feb. 2012. Crystal Group Inc in Hiawatha, Iowa, is introducing the RE0412 rugged embedded computer for airborne and ground-mobile applications in which performance, ruggedness, and reliability are imperative. The RE0412 features an Intel mini-ITX board, i3 (Desktop) CPU, DC power inputs from 18 to 36 volts DC, one fan for air-over-components cooling with 8000-hour mean time between failures, and conformal coating options for humidity protection.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., 15 Feb. 2012. Real-Time Innovations (RTI) in Sunnyvale, Calif., is introducing the RTI Connext family of software-engineering tools to connect real-time software applications across an enterprise. RTI Connext is a service-oriented architecture (SOA) tool designed to help provide enterprise-wide integration to improve efficiency, responsiveness, and real-time business intelligence, RTI officials say.