Inrush Current Control Technology Boosts Power Converter Reliability

10
The Journal Journal of
Military Military Electronics Electronics & Computing
Computing
Power Supplies Meet Demanding Needs
of Board and Box-Level Systems
CONTENTS
November 2011 Volume 13 Number 11
SPECIAL FEATURE
Powering Board and Box-Level Systems
10 Power Supplies Meet Demanding Needs of Board and Box-Level Systems
Jeff Child
20 Advanced Battery Technology Shrinks Military Energy Costs
David McShane, International Battery
28 Inrush Current Control Technology Boosts Power Converter Reliability
Steve Butler, VPT
TECH RECON
Managing and Processing the ISR Data Deluge
34 Mobile Ad Hoc Networking Revamps Military Communications
Chris O’Rourke, Cisco Systems, and Stephen B. Johnson, Extreme Engineering Solutions
44 GPGPU Technology Eases Persistent Imaging Processing Challenges
Anne Mascarin, Mercury Computer Systems
SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
JTRS and WIN-T Programs Update
50 JTRS and WIN-T Technologies Take to the Field
Jeff Child
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
ATCA Blades and Systems
54 ATCA Blades and Systems Fill Unique Military Needs
Jeff Child
56 ATCA Blades and Systems Roundup
Digital subscriptions available: cotsjournalonline.com
COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf. Terminology
popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by
SECDEF Wm. Perry’s “Perry Memo” that changed
military industry purchasing and design guidelines,
making Mil-Specs acceptable only by waiver. COTS
is generally defined for technology, goods and services
as: a) using commercial business practices and specifications,
b) not developed under government funding,
c) offered for sale to the general market, d) still must
meet the program ORD. 2. Commercial business
practices include the accepted practice of customerpaid
minor modification to standard COTS products
to meet the customer’s unique requirements.
—Ant. When applied to the procurement of
electronics for the U.S. Military, COTS is a procurement
philosophy and does not imply commercial,
office environment or any other durability grade.
E.g., rad-hard components designed and offered for sale
to the general market are COTS if they were developed
by the company and not under government funding.
Departments
6 Publisher’s Notebook
A Betting Man on a Tilt-A-Whirl
8 The Inside Track
60 COTS Products
70 Editorial
Disconnect in the Networked
Vehicle Road
Coming in December
See Page 68
On The Cover: The command and control systems
module (CCSM) on the Virginia-class submarine
integrates all of the vessel’s sensors, countermeasure
technology, navigation and weapon control and is
based on open system architecture (OSA). Here the
pre-commissioned California (SSN 781) gets underway
from Naval Station Norfolk to conduct weapons systems
acceptance trials. It was commissioned on Oct. 29.
(U.S. Navy photo by MCS 2nd Class William Jamieson)