Inrush Current Control Technology Boosts Power Converter Reliability

The
Inside Track
Lockheed Martin Contracted to Maintain Army Aerostat Detection Systems
The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $383 million contract to
maintain, operate and sustain the Persistent Threat Detection Systems
(PTDS). The tethered aerostat provides real-time, around-the-clock reconnaissance
and surveillance of broad geographic areas for warfighters
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence,
Electronic Warfare and Sensors, Project Manager for Robotic
and Unmanned Sensors, based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., will
provide program and acquisition management.
Equipped with multiple sensors, PTDS (Figure 1) is an aerostat-based
system that delivers constant day and night, 360 degree detection, surveillance,
monitoring and force protection. It has a sensor integration architecture
designed to support the automated interoperability between tactical/
theater surveillance assets and the dissemination of threat data to operational
forces to aid interdiction of hostile fires and unconventional threats.
PTDS leverages a wide-area, secure communications backbone for the integration
of threat reporting from multiple available sensor assets.
Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, MD. (301) 897-6000.
[www.lockheedmartin.com].
MIT Lincoln Lab Researchers
Develop Radar
That Sees through Walls
MIT Lincoln Laboratory researchers
developed a new radar
system that looks through walls.
This ultrawideband (UWB)
multiple-input, multiple-output
phased-array sensor has realtime
acquisition and processing
capability and provides video-like
synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
images of people moving behind
a concrete wall. The system demonstrated
the ability to capture
meaningful imagery at a 10.8 Hz
frame rate through 4-inch- and
8-inch-thick, as well as cinder
block, walls from a standoff distance
of approximately 20 feet.
The technology will be useful
for providing soldiers in urban
environments with increased
awareness of activity inside or
behind structures. While it is not
possible to see through walls by
using visible light, it is possible by
using larger micro-wavelengths
[ 8 ] COTS Journal November 2011
to radiate into a wall and receive
a weak scattered signal that is
representative of what is behind the
wall. At the core of the system is a
range-gated continuous-wave radar
architecture that provides dynamic
range and sensitivity to acquire
weak signals scattered from targets
behind the wall. The radar set is
connected to an array of UWB
antenna elements consisting of
two subarrays made up of 8 receive
elements and 13 transmit elements.
To see a video, go to http://www.
cotsjournalonline.com/mit
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Lexington, MA.
(781) 981-5500.
[www.ll.mit.edu].
Quintron Systems Selected
for Three NASA Projects
Quintron Systems announces
three additional contract awards
from NASA for the Quintron
DICES VoIP mission-critical voice
Figure 1
PTDS is an aerostat-based system that delivers constant day and night,
360 degree detection, surveillance, monitoring and force protection.
switch. Two of these represent
follow-on work with existing NASA
customers, while the third is a
NASA-requested expansion to an
existing DICES VoIP system in use
by United Launch Alliance. The first
NASA-direct contract will provide a
second DICES VoIP system to Johnson
Space Center (JSC). This new
system includes a fully redundant
central VoIP server equipped with
six active T1 Gateways and one SIP
Gateway for connectivity to other
NASA voice systems.
The second NASA-direct
system is an expansion for the
existing NASA Ames Research
Center (ARC) Airspace Operations
Laboratory (AOL) system first
delivered in 2008. The third NASA
support contract was just received
to provide an additional ten user
client positions to support NASA
personnel for the upcoming Mars
Science Laboratory (MSL) launch
aboard a United Launch Alliance
(ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape
Canaveral. The major element of
Figure 2
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
launch will include the new
surface rover, Curiosity
this exciting NASA program is the
new surface rover, Curiosity (Figure
2). The launch is scheduled for late
November and the new DICES VoIP
user equipment will support NASA
personnel and provide a touch
screen interface consistent with their
normal operating environment.
Quintron Systems
Santa Maria, CA.
(805) 928-4343.
[www.quintron.com].