Navy chooses Mercury Mission Systems to provide data recorders and data storage for F/A-18 jet avionics
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy combat aircraft avionics experts needed advanced data recorders for F/A-18C/F and EA-18G carrier-based jet fighter-bombers and electronic warfare jets. They found their solution from Mercury Mission Systems LLC in Torrance, Calif.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., have announced a $35.7 million contract to Mercury for data transfer units and avionics data recorders, as part of the Automatic Real-Time, Reconfigurable Interface Generalization Hardware Multiprotocol Data Recorder project.
Mercury Mission Systems (formerly Physical Optics Corp.) will provide 104 1553 data-transfer units -- 68 for retrofit on F/A-18C-F aircraft and 36 for EA-18G production aircraft; and 144 high-definition video recorders for retrofit on F/A-18C-F aircraft.
Mercury predecessor Physical Optics developed a new Automatic Real-Time, Reconfigurable interface Generalization Hardware (ARRGH) multiprotocol data recorder and data storage system as part of the Automatic Real-Time, Reconfigurable Interface Generalization Hardware Multiprotocol Data Recorder project. Mercury acquired Physical Optics in late 2020.
The phase-one ARRGH design is based on innovative integration of hybrid transcoding hardware, RAID-based mass storage, and intelligent transcoding heuristic software, Navy officials say.
This 40-Watt, 11-pound design offers seamless on-the-fly rerouting and data translation of input signals to and from the data recorder irrespective of interfaces involved.
A plug-and-play self-sealing environmentally protected removable memory unit (RMU) enables rapid upgrades to avert obsolescence by capitalizing on commercial solid-state memories.
The prototype includes shell adapters to ensure form-factor compliance with a variety of current data recorders, including the RM-6000f on F/A-18.
The ARRGH provides 1 terabyte of removable memory, sustained write speeds of 550 megabits per second (2700 megabits per second burst) and has a built-in self-test.
The second phase of the ARRGH project produced a fully functional ground-tested prototype and a flight-test-ready prototype, as well as defined a platform integration roadmap, got started on device certification.
On this contract Mercury will do the work in Torrance, Calif., and should be finished by July 2024. For more information contact Mercury Mission Systems online at www.mrcy.com/products/data-storage-and-transfer, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
