MontaVista unveils real-time scheduler for Linux
MontaVista Software Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., is offering a real-time scheduler for the Linux operating system kernel when used in real-time embedded applications. The MontaVista real-time scheduler preserves the standard Linux programming model and applications programming interfaces (APIs), company officials say. The scheduler does not introduce a second kernel underneath Linux, or substitute Linux-compatible real-time operating system (RTOS) components. The scheduler is available in source form on the MontaVista World Wide Web site at http://www.mvista.com/realtime/rtsched/. — J.K.
FGM to conduct command and control research
FGM Inc. of Dulles, Va., won a $13.8 million contract from the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego for research and development into advanced simulation, human-systems interfaces, and integration technologies for next-generation command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems and command centers. FGM develops custom software applications, systems software, and provides systems integration services. For more information contact FGM on the World Wide Web at http://www.fgm.com/. — J.K.
Kollmorgen to supply Mod 3 periscope sets and test equipment
The Electro-Optical Division of Kollmorgen Corp. in Northampton, Mass., won a $5.4 million contract from the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division in Newport, R.I., to provide eight Type 8B Mod 3 periscope sets and 10 corresponding special support and test equipment units. Kollmorgen makes periscopes, optical directors and sights, and night-vision tracking systems. For more information contact the company on the World Wide Web at http://www.kollmorgen.com/. — J.K.
Northrop Grumman to supply infrared targeting pods
The Northrop Grumman Corp. Defense Systems Division in Rolling Meadows, Ill., won a $24.5 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to provide 15 Low Altitude Infrared Targeting and Navigating II pods. These airborne sensors will go on the U.S. Marine Corps Boeing AV-8B jump jet, as well as for AV-8B jets in Italy and Spain. Work will be at Northrop Grumman in Rolling Meadows, and at the Rafael Missile Division in Haifa, Israel. For more information contact Northrop Grumman on the World Wide Web at http://www.northgrum.com/. — J.K.
Midcon Cables to provide sensor wiring harnesses for Apache helicopter
Midcon Cables Co. in Joplin, Mo., won a $1.6 million sole-source contract from the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. Midcon will supply 296 Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor wiring harnesses for the Army Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. For more information contact Midcon by phone at 417-781-4331, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.midconcables.com/. — J.K.
Condor to provide Army with electronic protection systems
The Condor Systems Electronic Systems Division of Simi Valley, Calif., won a $17 million sole-source contract modification from the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command at Fort Monmouth, N.J., to supply 90 Shortstop Electronic Protection Systems (SEPS), to include antennas, plus two spare SEPS units with antennas. For more information contact Condor by phone at 805-584-8200, by fax at 805-527-8332, by post at 996 Flower Glen St., Simi Valley, Calif. 93065, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.condoresd.com/. — J.K.
Luminescent to provide night-vision systems for F-16 aircraft
Designers at the Luminescent Systems Inc. East Aurora Division in East Aurora, N.Y., won a $9.4 million contract option from the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to provide 225 night-vision imaging system kits for the F-16C jet fighter. For more information contact Luminescent by phone at 716-655-0800, by fax at 716-655-0309, by post at 77 Olean Road, East Aurora, N.Y. 14052, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.lumsys.com/. — J.K.
DRS to provide Tempest UltraSPARC workstations to U.S. government
The DRS Technologies Inc. Advanced Programs unit in Columbia, Md., won a $2.8 million U.S. government contract to provide third-generation Tempest UltraSPARC computer workstations and peripherals for worldwide deployment. The contract includes $5.6 million in options. DRS will provide workstations and servers with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components designed for unique government applications. The rack-mounted workstations will include the company's color 18.1-inch flat panel displays with 1,280-by-1024-pixel resolution, and will be expandable to 72 gigabytes of data storage. The servers will use as many as four 450 MHz UltraSPARC processors with as much as 432 gigabytes of removable storage. For more information contact DRS on the World Wide Web at http://www.drs.com/. — J.K.
Lockheed Martin to provide IR sensors for F-18 aircraft
The Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division in Orlando, Fla., won a $55 million U.S. Navy contract for 223 forward-looking infrared radar items for F/A-18C/D jet fighter-bomber. These items included cable assemblies, circuit card assemblies, and gyroscope assemblies. Awarding the contract was the Naval Inventory Control Point in Philadelphia. For more information contact Lockheed Martin on the World Wide Web at http://www.lmco.com/. — J.K.
NASA seeks new way to power deep-space research vehicles
Leaders of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are developing space-sails technology to power a mission beyond Earth's solar system. Scientists at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are planning for an interstellar probe in 2010 to travel more than 23 trillion miles beyond the edge of the solar system. Powering this probe is to be the fastest spacecraft ever flown, NASA officials say. The best option appears to be "space sails" of thin, reflective sails that sunlight, microwave beams, or laser beams could propel through space — just as the wind pushes sailboats on Earth, NASA officials say. — J.K.
Army researchers to upgrade Cray supercomputer
U.S. Army researchers are upgrading their computational capability with their purchase of a Cray T3E-1200 supercomputer from Cray Inc. in Seattle. The new supercomputer will be in the U.S. Army High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) in Minneapolis. The upgrade involves the addition of 816 processors to the AHPCRC's existing 272-processor Cray T3E-1200 supercomputer. The expanded 1,088-processor system increases the computational capability of the AHPCRC's existing system to a peak performance of 1.3 trillion floating point operations per second, and memory size to 557 gigabytes. For more information use the World Wide Web to contact Cray at http://www.cray.com/, the AHPCRC at http://www.arc.umn.edu/, or Network Computing Services at http://www.networkcs.com/. — J.K.
Army eyes high-capacity data link
Officials of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., are working to develop two new high-speed data links for tactical applications. CECOM officials have awarded a $6.9 million sole-source contract to Cubic Defense Systems Inc. of San Diego to build a prototype High Capacity Data Link (HCDL) for feasibility test and demonstration. Cubic engineers also will document waveforms for the Surveillance Data Control Link (SCDL). For more information contact Cubic on the World Wide Web at http://www.cubic.com/. — J.K.
Harris to develop spaceborne processor
Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington are seeking todevelop a high-capacity data storage system to process data from satellites at high speeds. Toward this goal, officials of the Naval Research Laboratory awarded a $6.3 million contract to Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Fla., to build a space-qualified enhanced space multiprocessor, otherwise known as ESM, which has a high-capacity data storage system to input, compress, store, retrieve, and output high-rate data from satellites. For more information contact Harris on the World Wide Web at http://www.harris.com/. — J.K.
Lynx Real-Time Systems changes name to LynuxWorks
Officials of Lynx Real-Time Systems Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based supplier of real-time operating system software, are changing the company name to LynuxWorks Inc. to reflect their involvement in the open-source Linux operating system. The two core products of LynuxWorks are the venerable LynxOS real-time operating system based on the Unix operating system, and the new BlueCat real-time version of Linux. For more information contact LynuxWorks on the World Wide Web at http://www.lynuxworks.com/. — J.K.
Intersil partners with M.S. Kennedy in power hybrid microcircuits
Intersil Corp. of Palm Bay, Fla., is teaming with M.S. Kennedy Corp. of Cicero, N.Y., to develop a family of DC-DC converters for satellite-based broadband communications. The agreement calls for M.S. Kennedy to assemble, screen, and test Intersil's Star*Power space qualified metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) and power management integrated circuits, collectively known as Intersil's Star*Power family. Intersil's DC-DC converters support input voltages 28, 70, and 100 volts and output voltages of 3.3, +/-5, +/-12, and +/-15 volts, reflecting spacecraft design trends towards higher DC bus voltages. M.S. Kennedy is certified to Class K and Class H of MIL-PRF-38534 and ISO-9001 by the Defense Supply Center, Columbus. For more information contact Intersil on the World Wide Web at http://www.intersil.com/. — J.K.
Boeing questions further involvement in Space Station project
Leaders of the Boeing Co. in Seattle are throwing their future involvement in the International Space Station project into doubt, claiming they could use company resources they dedicate to the behind-budget program more effectively elsewhere, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. "We're not making much profit on the station," the newspaper quoted an unidentified company official as saying. "We have a lot of people tied up on a contract that even if we perform it's not a big money maker for the company." The station project has $1 billion in cost overruns. Boeing executives have spent the past year trying to identify profitable areas and money losers. About 4,000 Boeing workers, most of them in Alabama, Florida, and California, are involved in the space station. For more information contact Boeing on the World Wide Web at http://www.boeing.com/. — J.K.
