Military/Aerospace Forum

For this Military/Aerospace Forum, we gathered a group of individuals from a wide variety of areas to try to get a snapshot of the entire market. From TE Connectivity (www.te.com), we recruited Gregory Powers who serves as Market Development Manager for the Electronic Systems and Space segments within the Global Aerospace, Defense & Marine business unit of TE Connectivity. Powers received a BSME from Syracuse University, has completed numerous graduate-level studies, and holds two patents relative to optical datacomm devices. You can connect with Greg at www.DesignSmarterFaster.com.
From instrumentation manufacturer Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com), Chris Johnston is the manager of the Americas Defense Development Group. Previous roles with Agilent include managing the South Texas Sales District and Americas Market Development Manager for Signal Sources and Signal Analysis divisions. Chris earned a BSEE from the University of Cincinnati.
Speaking on behalf of semiconductor manufacturer Microsemi (www.microsemi.com), Amr El-Ashmawi is the Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Marketing for Microsemi, managing the Defense, Security, Industrial & Computing verticals both internally across Microsemi business units and externally to customers. With more than 18 years of high-tech experience and leadership roles, Amr is also the Microsemi executive sponsor for the Department of Defense in a number of areas, and he holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering-Devices Physics.

Electronic Products : Which military program or programs is/are the major driver(s) behind your current work?
Gregory Powers (Market Development Manager, TE Connectivity) : With our internationally deployed factories and sales staff, TE is engaged on virtually all platforms globally. We are supporting many of today’s programs with our solutions for open architecture. This allows us to engage the applications with a broad standard solution set, from airborne EW pods to ground vehicle networking, and allows us to participate in new system design, as well as the retrofit markets. TE also offers many nonstandard products for applications calling for unique packaging solutions.
Chris Johnston (Director, Americas Defense Development Group, Agilent Technologies) :Agilent Technologies has a long tradition of working with customers in the defense industry to solve R&D, procurement & production, and operational technology barriers. Our current work seeks out customers with programs or upgrades where technology is the barrier and complexity, cost, or a differentiating value is an issue. We then seek to work with those programs to better understand how to meet their mission requirements via test & technology enablement.
Amr El-Ashmawi (Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Marketing, Microsemi) : Microsemi is focused on key market applications and major programs around secure wireless communications as wells as signal processing on numerous radar and electronic warfare applications in provide the network-centric needs of the war-fighter as well as supporting the security requirements to enable foreign military sales. In addition, Microsemi is focused on key ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) applications such as unmanned systems which provide the defense community with the best situational awareness.

Chris Johnston, Director, Americas Defense Development Group, Agilent Technologies

EP : What is your greatest challenge in satisfying military requirements?
Powers : The greatest challenge for satisfying military requirements is having the right performance at the right price. There are a wide variety of applications found in today’s military market. It is the required function and the environment that dictate the solution. One of TE’s strengths is that we have a very diverse portfolio spanning the range from full military to pure commercial. This allows us to propose a number of solutions to the customer to best suit their needs.
Johnston : The current budget scenario has been, and continues to be, an issue for many in the military ecosystem. For example, it is not uncommon to see requirements be modified to adjust for budget realities. We need to be flexible and this requires us to adapt, or invent, to meet the new needs and process of our customers.
El-Ashmawi : Microsemi helps its customers solve a broad and growing variety of difficult challenges. Today’s weapons and defense systems face the difficult task of supporting the worldwide interconnection of critical data and systems of all types. Additionally, the industry is grappling with technology challenges related to the new generation of unmanned systems using robotics sensors, machines and automation. At the same time, all military and aerospace systems are increasingly vulnerable to rapidly evolving security threats of all types, including those from highly motivated nation state actors attempting to steal IP or engage in cyber warfare. In addition to these challenges, there are the ongoing requirements to meet all necessary extended military-grade testing and qualification.

Amr El-Ashmawi, Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Marketing, Microsemi

EP : What technology developments are key to your products success, now and in the future?
Powers : Technology developments at TE span a very broad spectrum. We have been focusing on SWaP and bandwidth. Customers seek smaller and lighter solutions, but they also desire a higher degree of functionality. This extends to data connectors, where higher bandwidth is the goal, and also to power distribution, where light weight and efficiency are key. As a result, we have been busy in materials science, signal integrity, and design optimization.
Johnston : As the warfighter looks to maintain a technological advantage (in some branches) it will be interesting, and challenging in some cases, to see exactly how the solution evolves. We constantly monitor the program priorities of the major branches to ensure we keep our R&D for A/D in line with the future needs of the warfighter. Radar, EW, SIGINT, and COMINT, and other high tech applications are constant sources of consideration for our developments.
El-Ashmawi : Microsemi continues to strengthen and expand its comprehensive portfolio of FPGAs, ASICs and system on chip (SoC) solutions, integrated solutions, systems and subsystems, power electronics devices, power management products and mixed-signal technology for military and aerospace applications. Our growing family of reprogrammable and radiation-tolerant, non-volatile flash-based FPGAs and SoC solutions are designed to deliver IP protection and cryptographic capabilities through built-in design security that increases safety, reliability and system recoverability for safety-critical systems, from engine controllers to missile systems, as well as in root-of-trust applications. A key focus is flexible and programmable architectures that enable customers to combat evolving security threats. Microsemi also fields a broad and rapidly expanding portfolio of products that serve the growing need for electrification in avionics, from cockpit displays to engine control and monitoring. Power control and distribution is also important, and we offer a variety of solutions. For instance, our transient voltage suppressor (TVS) products solve difficult thermal management challenges in order to help manufacturers meet increasingly stringent aviation lightning-protection specifications. And our RF transistor solutions leverage advances in materials and process technology to take radar system detection range and sensitivity to the pinnacle of power output for applications including air traffic control and collision avoidance equipment, as well as commercial secondary surveillance radar (SSR) systems. In addition to these products, Microsemi also offers a family of COTS non-volatile flash that is available in a variety of packaging options to provide a high-density memory solution for military applications.