Military Technologies Conference opens today; highlights are lead-free evaluation, ITAR issues, and thermal management
By John McHale
BOSTON, 27 March 2007. Boeing and Raytheon experts kick off the Military Technologies Conference today, 27 March 2007, with topics on methods for dealing with lead-free compliance. The event is at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston; those interested may register for the event on site.
A discussion on procedures and for negotiating International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) wraps up the morning session and leads into three focused modules -- Networking on the Move; Software Implementation for Open Architectures; and Thermal & Power Management Trends.
The conference sponsor is Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine.
The two keynote lead-free presentations and the ITAR presentation will be part of the conference's opening session on March 27.
The first keynote presentation on lead free is from Anthony J. Rafanelli, an engineering fellow at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems and Lloyd Condra, Technical Fellow at Boeing Phantom Works on "A Protocol for Reliability Testing of Aerospace and High-Performance Lead-Free Electronic Assemblies."
"Under the facilitation of the Aerospace Industries Association, the Government Electronics Industries Association (GEIA) has stood up a team whose charter is to generate a document with two objectives," Rafanelli and Condra state: "(1) Define a default method for reliability testing of AHP products containing lead-free solder and, (2) establish a protocol for designing, conducting, and interpreting results from reliability tests. This presentation will report on the progress of this team and present information on each of the objectives in an effort to solicit feedback. The presentation will also discuss the diversified team membership and those aerospace and defense perspectives that each brings to the process."
William Russell of Raytheon Professional Services LLC will present "Methodology for Evaluating Data for 'Reverse Compatibility' Solder Joints."
Russell states that "particular attention is being paid today to lead-free components and/or solder alloys being used to repair legacy military electronics. Military hardware, manufactured for decades with eutectic tin/lead solder, is now being caught up in the global shift to lead-free solder. A "backward compatibility" problem occurs as parts suppliers due to market concerns (military is less than 5 percent of market share) eliminate eutectic tin/lead solder as a component finish substituting other finishes (usually electroplated matte tin) on existing part numbers.
"In addition, the proliferation of commercial of the shelf (COTS) hardware into military systems greatly increases the probability of mixing tin/lead and lead-free solders and component finishes within the assembly during repair. The intermixing of tin/lead and lead-free solders raises long-term reliability issues that are yet unanswered. A large database of information was assembled from publicly available data on mixed solder assembly. Methodology was developed for comparing information sources by analyzing Weibull reliability charts for data consistency. Using these comparisons, reliability predictions are made for mixed solder assembly of military electronics, to guide rework and repair options and making informed decisions possible."
The co-authors of Russell's presentation are Dennis Fritz of SAIC, Christian Navarro of Purdue Calumet, Carol Handwerker of Purdue, Lafayette, Gary Latta of NAVSEA Crane, and Andrew Ganster of NAVSEA Crane.
The ITAR presentation, "International Traffic in Arms Regulations and Import/Export Regulations: Getting started and complying in a complex design and manufacturing environment," is from Facility Security Officer at Celestica.
Young will address the requirements and license procedures required for designers, manufacturers, systems integrators, and subsystems contractors to ensure compliance with the U.S. Department of State regulations necessary for import/export of ITAR data and products. He will draw on his seven years of experience as Facility Security Officer for Celestica, a global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider, where he has implemented extensive procedures, processes, firewalls, and compliance programs. His topics will cover: setting up a company for ITAR; export procedures; control of ITAR documentation and product; and subcontractor/supplier management.
Scott Dunderdale, director of on-the-move programs at General Dynamics C4 Systems in Taunton, Mass., will start off the first module with a presentation titled "Design Challenges for Networking on the Move Applications." Manuel Uhm, senior marketing manager, DSP division, at Xilinx and a member of the Military Technologies Conference Advisory Council, will moderate the module.
Module 2, which focuses on software and begins on the second day of the conference, March 28, is lead by Joyce Tokar, president of Pyrrhus Software. His presentation is titled "High Integrity Software in Modern Military Architectures." She is also a MTC Advisory Council member and moderating the module.
The last module Thermal Management, is lead by John Nairus, chief of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Electrochemistry and Thermal Sciences Branch, who will speak on Air Force electrical power and thermal management challenges. James Robles, senior technical fellow at Boeing and a member of the Military Technologies Conference Advisory Council, will moderate the module.
The event is at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. For more information, please visit www.miltechconference.com.
