WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 28 March 2012. Aircraft systems experts at the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, are reaching out to industry to find companies able to perform major systems upgrades and technology insertion to enhance the capabilities and design for continual improvements of three versions of the U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130J four-engine turboprop transport aircraft.

ASHBURN, Va., 28 March 2012. Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions in Ashburn, Va., is introducing the SoftScan/1905 embedded radar acquisition and scan conversion system that combines a rugged 6U VME single-board computer based on the Intel Core i7 processor, XMC-710 graphics controller mezzanine card, and the Curtiss-Wright SoftScan radar scan conversion software for radar acquisition, processing, and display as a complete embedded solution.

SAN JOSE, Calif., 26 March 2012. The LDRA Certification Services (LCS) segment of LDRA Ltd. in Wirral, England, is introducing FAA/EASA certification safety-critical software verification tools for avionics software development that must meet the requirements of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

SÃO JOSÉ DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, 26 March 2012. Avionics experts at the Embraer S.A Defense and Security segment in São José dos Campos, Brazil, are choosing the GNAT Pro Ada software development environment from AdaCore in New York to develop real-time and embedded computing software in a major upgrade the Embraer AMX jet fighter-bomber.

SAN JOSE, 19 March 2012. LynuxWorks Inc., a provider of embedded software, has joined the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium, an industry-government collaboration managed by The Open Group and intended to provide a common airborne computing environment for multiple branches of the U.S. military.

GREENBELT, Md., 14 March 2012. NASA officials have responded to aerospace and defense industry pundits and executives involved in matters of national security, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) concerned about NASA’s decision to auction off satellite software patent lots. Will placing federal intellectual property (IP) on the international stage for public/commercial/international consumption open up the nation to growing cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, and cyber security concerns?

MESA, Ariz., 13 March, 2012. Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Army have successfully completed a series of tests on the Adaptive Vehicle Management System (AVMS), an advanced rotorcraft flight control system. AVMS, which has been in development for two years, delivers enhanced maneuverability and safety while reducing aircrew workload and overall operating costs.

NATICK, Mass., 12 March 2012. MathWorks has unveiled HDL Coder, its new product that automatically generates HDL code from MATLAB, and HDL Verifier, which offers FPGA hardware-in-the-loop capabilities for testing FPGA and ASIC designs. MathWorks, as a result, now provides HDL code generation and verification across MATLAB and Simulink.

GREENBELT, Md., 8 March 2012. The decision by NASA officials to auction off satellite software patent lots (read article/view video) is raising considerable concern among aerospace and defense professionals. Executives well versed in International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) are particularly apprehensive. Will such actions, which place federal intellectual property (IP) on the international stage for public consumption, threaten national security? Will it grow cyber warfare, cyber terrorism, and cyber security concerns?

THE AVIONICS INTELLIGENCE REPORT, 6 March 2012. Executive Editor Courtney E. Howard reveals that NASA officials will be auctioning off advanced software patents at the 15th ICAP Ocean Tomo IP Auction, to be heldn on March 29, 2012 in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. The auction features NASA Goddard Space Flight Center patent lots that include technologies related to: automated software generation, autonomic computing architectures, and autonomic management of environmental monitoring systems.

CHICAGO, 27 Feb. 2012. Officials at The Boeing Company have signed a new 10-year agreement to extend the use of product lifecycle management (PLM) software from Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, at its Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Defense Space and Security business segments. Boeing officials opted to extend the use of Siemens’ NX software and Teamcenter software for its innovation, scalability, and open architecture, according to a spokesperson.

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., 23 Feb. 2012. U.S. Army aviation officials are reaching out to industry for ideas on developing open-systems helicopter avionics hardware and software that will help cut costs and reduce maintenance requirements by increasing competition among defense contractors, reusing avionics components, and promoting rapid technology insertion for avionics system upgrades.

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.

MONTREAL, Quebec, 15 Feb. 2012. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics engineers are using the Presagis VAPS XT-178, a DO-178B Level A human machine interface (HMI) tool from Presagis, to develop embedded graphics displays for the Special Mission Processor (SMP) under the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) MC-130J Increment 3 program. Presagis VAPS XT-178 will run on the MC-130J Variant and offer a path to compliance under the new DO-178C guidance. 

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.

ANNAPOLIS, Md., 12 Feb. 2012. Radio communications experts at ARINC Inc. in Annapolis, Md., are using supercomputers to help systems integrators design and analyze the performance of complex antennas. Complex Antenna Engineering and Analyses. The ARINC Advanced Systems Engineering and Integration Division has installed a Linux-based supercomputer to support engineering analyses for ARINC’s external customers. The company’s previous supercomputer also remains available.

FAIRMONT, W.Va., 9 Feb. 2012. Galaxy Global Corp. of Fairmont, W. Va., won from NASA officials a contract to provide support to the NASA Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Software Assurance Tools (SWAT) Group at the NASA IV&V Facility in Fairmont, W.Va. Galaxy Global staff are contracted to provide management, continuous improvement, expert training, and engineering services for the Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools employed in the NASA IV&V Program.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., 8 Feb. 2012. Green Hills Software in Santa Barbara, Calif., is introducing software- and runtime-development tools for the IBM Cell Broadband Engine Architecture (CBEA), which is a multicore microprocessor that includes a 64-bit Power Architecture processor (PPE) core and eight synergistic processor (SPE) cores that is appropriate for applications like digital signal processing (DSP), graphics, and similar complex computational tasks.

MONKS FERRY, U.K., 2 Feb. 2012. The LDRA tool suite from LDRA--maker of standards compliance, automated software verification, source code analysis and test tools--now supports direct integration with Altera’s Embedded Design Suite (EDS) for Nios II soft core processors.