The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation a contract to provide a new ground-based radar that consolidates four radar mission areas into one. The value of the first increment of the system design and development phase is $7.9 million; the total estimated value of the cost-plus-incentive-fee contract is $125 million over four years.

The Humvee-mounted ground/air task- oriented radar (G/ATOR) uses active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology to provide aircraft detection, tracking and engagement; cruise-missile detection and engagement; ground-weapon location; and military air-traffic control. The G/ATOR's lightweight and modular architecture allows for flexibility in adapting it to existing and new logistics plans, platforms and technologies.

The G/ATOR team, led by prime contractor Northrop Grumman, includes Sensis Corporation, CEA Technologies Inc., Techrizon (formally Telos) and CAT Logistics.
Northrop Grumman Corporation
(310) 553-6262
www.northropgrumman.com

Mini-Circuits' Blue Cell technology allows the use of its 90 ° splitters to enhance the performance of a family of medium-power amplifiers. Balanced amplifier configurations offer several performance advantages when compared to single-ended designs. The foremost advantage is the improvement of both input and output return loss due to reflections canceling in the hybrid couplers. Amplifier design stability is also more predictable due to each active device being terminated in a 50 Ω load. Furthermore, output power and third-order intercept performance are twice that of a single-device amplifier. Finally, if one-half of a balanced amplifier fails, it will still operate with a gain reduction of about 6 dB.

The splitter/combiners are the QBA series of Blue Cell technology low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) two-way 90 ° quadrature hybrids. These low-cost LTCC hybrids offer the low insertion loss, excellent phase and amplitude balance that makes a high-performance balanced amplifier possible. The input QBA divides and applies the power equally to the two amplifier halves. The output QBA recombines the two output powers from the amplifiers. The input and output reflected signals of A1 and A2 are coupled to the 50 Ω ports of the hybrids.

The two gain stages in each side of the balanced amplifier have been designed to cascade for optimal overall performance. Gain, frequency response, noise figure and third-order intercept points are all factors that must be considered when cascading amplifier stages.
Mini-Circuits
(800) 654-7949
www.minicircuits.com

Hittite Microwave Corporation has announced five positive-control GaAs MMIC digital attenuators that offer resolution to 0.25 dB, excellent accuracy, monotonic operation, high linearity, TTL/CMOS control and RoHS compliance.

The HMC539LP3(E) DC-4 GHz five-bit digital attenuator offers ultrafine resolution of 0.25 dB. Attenuation steps range from 0.25 dB to 7.75 dB, with ±0.05 dB typical step error and +50 dBm input IP3.

The HMC540LP3(E) is a four-bit digital attenuator that operates from dc to 5.5 GHz and provides an attenuation range of 1 dB to 15 dB in 1.0 dB steps. The attenuator has an input IP3 of +50 dBm and an insertion loss of 1.1 dB at 3.5 GHz.

The HMC541LP3(E) one-bit digital attenuator is rated from dc to 5 GHz and provides an attenuation step of 10 dB. This wideband digital attenuator offers low VSWR, +50 dBm input IP3 and attenuation accuracy of ±0.2 dB.

The HMC603MS10(E) and the HMC603QS16(E) are 0.5 dB LSB fivebit digital attenuators covering 0.7 GHz to 3.8 GHz. Both attenuators provide an attenuation range of 0.5 dB to 15.5 dB, with +48 dBm input IP3, and ±0.2 dB attenuation accuracy from 800 MHz to 2700 MHz.
Hittite Microwave
(978) 250-3343
www.hittite.com

iRobot Corp. has been awarded a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) contract to deliver the iRobot PackBot man-transportable robotic system (MTRS). An initial $12.1-million order was placed for 103 PackBot MTRS robots. However, iRobot may wind up delivering up to 1200 robots through 2012 under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

The PackBot MTRS is custom-built to NAVSEA's specifications using the PackBot explosive ordnance device (EOD) robot as a platform. Already deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, PackBot EOD is a rugged, lightweight robot designed to perform explosive ordnance disposal and handle hazardous materials and search-and-surveillance for military units and bomb squads.

The PackBot MTRS robot enables EOD forces to confront and render harmless deadly explosives from a safe distance, whether on the battlefield or, potentially, in homeland security situations. The robot is equipped with a variety of tools and sensors so that EOD technicians can disrupt unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices from a safe distance.
iRobot
(866) 476-6622
www.irobot.com

In a compact casing, the LS/LT series of pulsed laser modules from Laser Components include all features required for safe pulsed laser diode operation. The modules are easy to use and require only +5/12 Vdc operating voltage and a trigger signal. With a maximum performance of up to 250 W, the modules are as easy to handle as common cw laser diodes.

Pulsed laser diodes are integrated at either 905 nm or 1550 nm. At 905 nm, the maximum performance spans 5 W to 250 W with a pulse length of 2.5 ns to 1 µs. In the “eye-safe” 1550 nm spectrum range, 3 W to 80 W modules are available, with a pulse length of 4 ns to 200 ns.

For most applications, running the PLD modules at constant pulse performance and pulse length is sufficient. Other modules are available where these parameters can be varied easily via a control voltage. Users can define the instrument's parameters within a wider range and can vary parameters even during operation.
Laser Components
(603) 821-7040
www.lasercomponents.com

Ducommun Technologies Inc. has been awarded a $38 million contract from Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) for the manufacture and subsystem integration of electromechanical radar racks and enclosures for the APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system. This contract follows the $5.8 million low rate production contract that DTI announced in February 2004 and is for current production and upgrade programs on the F/A18 E/F “Super Hornet” aircraft. The period of performance is through 2008, and the manufacture and subsystem integration work will be performed at DTI's Phoenix facility.
Ducommun Technologies
(310) 513-7200
www.ductech.com

Lockheed Martin has successfully completed a live fly demonstration of the airborne, maritime and fixed station (AMF) component of the military's Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) program. The demonstration featured airborne, ground-based and simulated maritime units collaborating in real time across an integrated airborne IP network to rapidly identify and strike a time-sensitive target.

Lockheed Martin's AMF JTRS team funded and executed the demonstration as a risk reduction effort to evaluate and improve the technical maturity of the team's solution. The demonstration follows a successful Preliminary Design Review, held in August, which showcased numerous components of the team's AMF JTRS solution. The latest demonstration brought those components together in a live fly exercise, proving that the team's solution is capable of creating an airborne IP network that can link aircraft, ships and ground units in real time. The demo also validated the Lockheed Martin team's approach to integrating AMF JTRS radios into current Air Force and Navy platforms. The Lockheed Martin team includes BAE SYSTEMS, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

The AMF JTRS program will deliver a suite of software-defined, multifunction radios for use in all three services of the Department of Defense, as well as potential use in the Department of Homeland Security. Because the radio's functions are defined in reusable software rather than hardware, the systems will be capable of meeting the diverse multimission roles facing the military and homeland security commanders in the future. A single radio will be capable of operating on highly secure, high-performance military tactical networks in future net-centric operations. In addition, AMF JTRS radios will interoperate with legacy data and voice circuits used by the United States, allied or NATO military forces, as well as communicating with civilian first-responder voice and data systems used in disaster relief and other national emergencies.

The demonstration, held the week of Sept. 19-23, featured two Saberliner jets serving as surrogates for an F-16 fighter and a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle. A third node represented a combat direction center (CDC), a sea-based command center, and a fourth node represented a tactical air control party using an enhanced position location reporting system (EPLRS) legacy radio. All four nodes were able to exchange data and imagery using prototype AMF JTRS and legacy radios over a dynamic ad hoc airborne network, demonstrating the power of net-centric communications enabled by the Lockheed Martin team's AMF JTRS prototype.
Lockheed Martin
www.lockheedmartin.com

Microhard Systems Inc. has announced its military radio, the MHX420, which is designed to operate from 310 MHz to 450 MHz. This military modem features wireless data rates of up to 230.4 kbps with 32-bit CRC error protection and an ARQ system. With receiver sensitivity of -115 dBm at 19.2 kbps, as well as 1 W of output power, the MHX420 is well suited for many rugged military applications.

The MHX420 supports frequency hopping and fixed-frequency communications schemes. The modem can operate in a point-to-point, multipoint, and repeater configuration. The MHX420 includes a dual serial port — one serial port for data with full RS-232 support and a second serial port for programming and real-time diagnostics.
Microhard Systems Inc.
(403) 248-0028
www.microhardcorp.com

Hittite Microwave Corporation has released a MMIC driver amplifier die and a SMT-packaged MMIC power amplifier for microwave radio, military and test and measurement applications from 5 GHz to 20 GHz.

The HMC486 GaAs PHEMT MMIC 2 W power amplifier operates from 7 GHz to 9 GHz and features 26 dB gain, +34 dBm saturated output power and +40 dBm output IP3. This amplifier die delivers 24% PAE from a +7.0 V supply, and the RF I/Os are dc-blocked and matched to 50 Ω for ease of integration into multichip modules (MCMs). The HMC486 is also available in a 5 mm × 5 mm SMT RoHS-compliant package as the HMC486LP5E.

The HMC451LC3 GaAs PHEMT MMIC medium-power amplifier is rated from 5 GHz to 20 GHz and delivers 19 dB of gain, +21 dBm of saturated power and +30 dBm output IP3. This amplifier provides 21% PAE from a single positive supply of +5.0 Ω, and the RF I/Os are dc-blocked and matched to 50 V, making this a suitable linear gain block or LO driver for Hittite mixers. The HMC451LC3 is housed in a leadless RoHS-compliant 3 mm × 3 mm SMT package and is available in die form as the HMC451.

Samples of HMC486 and HMC451LC3 and evaluation PC boards for the HMC451LC3 are available.
Hittite Microwave
(978) 250-3343
www.hittite.com

Lockheed Martin has been selected by the U.S. Army to upgrade the airborne reconnaissance low-multifunction (ARL-M) radar that provides high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images in all weather, day or night in support of missions in the Republic of Korea. The $10.9 million contract involves replacing four SAR systems with Lockheed Martin's advanced Phoenix Eye radar, which is a high-resolution image and moving target indicator system of similar design to the system developed for the Army's objective intelligence and electronic warfare systems.

Lockheed Martin developed the first operational SAR system in the early 1950s. Unlike electro-optical imaging systems, SAR is an active system that can generate images day or night. The microwave operating frequencies are chosen such that the radar imaging is unaffected by weather. As a result, SAR is the only imaging system that can provide tactical ground imagery day or night, in any type of weather. This technology generates image and collateral information for diverse military and science applications.
Lockheed Martin
www.lockheedmartin.com