Textron Systems (United States)

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A wide range of Radio Frequency (RF) assemblies require testing during their development and production. These include amplifiers, mixers, filters, up converters, down converters, antennas, phase shifters, power dividers, power combiners, Integrated Master Assemblies (IMAs), Weapons Replaceable Assemblies (WRAs), Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) and radio subassemblies. Though there are many differences between the RF assemblies, they all require a test system that is accurate, reliable and traceable while simultaneously minimizing test times. Other important attributes of a test platform for RF assemblies are that it must be calibrated, fully-characterized and incorporate self-test functionality. The test platform must also include a digital control solution for triggering, communicating with Units Under Test (UUT) and interfacing with handlers, fixtures, etc. Finally, the software for the test equipment must also be considered. Typical software functionality would include sequencing, reporting, testing, calibration, and self-test. While it is certainly possible to develop a test system specific to each type of RF assembly; there are many benefits to developing a common RF test platform that includes the functionality listed above.

Covers advancements in spacecraft and tactical and strategic missile systems, including subsystem design and application, mission design and analysis, materials and structures, developments in space sciences, space processing and manufacturing, space operations, and applications of space technologies to other fields.

Remote-sensing technology for weathering assessment should be sensitive to both textural and compositional changes in a surface. The capabilities of active polarimetry in weathering assessment are investigated through measurements of the Mueller matrices of bare and painted metal and dielectric surfaces at visible laser wavelengths in the quasi-monostatic geometry. Weathering mechanisms investigated include particulate erosion and solar irradiation, which are found to alter certain off-diagonal Mueller elements by around 5% in measurements over illumination angle.

Terrain Commander is a fully automated forward observation post that provides the most advanced capability in surveillance and remote situational awareness. The Terrain Commander system was selected by the Australian Government for its NINOX Phase IIB Unattended Ground Sensor Program with the first systems delivered in August of 2002. Terrain Commander offers next generation target detection using multi-spectral peripheral sensors coupled with autonomous day/night image capture and processing. Subsequent intelligence is sent back through satellite communications with unlimited range to a highly sophisticated central monitoring station. The system can stakeout remote locations clandestinely for 24 hours a day for months at a time. With its fully integrated SATCOM system, almost any site in the world can be monitored from virtually any other location in the world. Terrain Commander automatically detects and discriminates intruders by precisely cueing its advanced EO subsystem. The system provides target detection capabilities with minimal nuisance alarms combined with the positive visual identification that authorities demand before committing a response. Terrain Commander uses an advanced beamforming acoustic sensor and a distributed array of seismic, magnetic and passive infrared sensors to detect, capture images and accurately track vehicles and personnel. Terrain Commander has a number of emerging military and non-military applications including border control, physical security, homeland defense, force protection and intelligence gathering. This paper reviews the development, capabilities and mission applications of the Terrain Commander system.

We present here results using two novel adaptive optic elements, an electro-static membrane mirror, and a dual frequency nematic liquid crystal. These devices have the advantage of low cost, low power consumption, and compact size. Possible applications of the devices are astronomical adaptive optics, laser beam control, laser cavity mode control, and real time holography. Field experiments were performed on the Air Force Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate's 3.67 meter AMOS telescope on Maui, Hawaii.

This paper reviews the performance of a conventional direct detection CO<SUB>2</SUB> Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system with the coherent spread spectrum approach developed, validated and patented by Textron. The analysis shows that the coherent approach is far superior in terms of maximum attainable standoff range at a specified transmitter average power and substantially reduced system power and associated size and weight at a predetermined range. The requirements on local oscillator stability are fairly relaxed and the spread spectrum/coherent DIAL concept is fairly easy to implement. Performance parameter maps are presented for ground-based, low-altitude and high-altitude airborne systems with a range of aperture sizes and pulse formats.

Many luminous sources provide continuous or quasi-continuous radiation at near IR and longer wavelengths. The radiation continuum serves as a source of background photons, which can be used for discrete line-of-site absorption measurements by-known atmospheric constituents. The intensity ratio is uniquely determined by the absorption coefficient and range, is independent of broadband attenuations and scattering. The absorption coefficients are known and/or can be accurately calculated for a wide range of practical viewing conditions (i.e., sensor height, viewing angle, etc.). Hence, the intensity ratio and/or integrated intensity ratio can be used to uniquely derive the range of the radiating source. Fabry-Perot interferometers can provide the high throughputs and resolving powers required in compact packages. The measurements and analyses show that ranging accuracies representing down to 1 - 2% of the total range should be achievable at stand-off ranges of upto hundreds of kilometers depending on the size of the collection optics, brightness of the source and available observation times. The paper will provide an overview of the patented Textron concepts, trade-offs associated with instrument resolving powers and hardware implementation issues.

This paper describes an 0.75 meter aperture, Stabilized High-accuracy Optical Tracking System (SHOTS), two of which are being developed by Textron Systems Corporation, under contract to the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (SPAWAR-SD). The SHOTS design is optimized to meet the requirements of the Navy's Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD) testing program being conducted at the Kauai Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF). The SHOTS utilizes a high-precision, GPS aided inertial navigation unit (INU) coupled with a 3-axis, rate gyro stabilized mount which allows precision pointing to be achieved on either land or sea-based platforms. The SHOTS mount control system architecture, acquisition, tracking and pointing (ATP) functionality and methodology which allows the system to meet the TBMD mission data collection requirements are discussed. High frame rate visible and MWIR sensors are incorporated into the system design to provide the capability of capturing short duration events, e.g., missile-target intercepts. These sensors along with the supporting high speed data acquisition, recording and control subsystems are described. Simulations of the SHOTS imaging performance in TBMD measurement scenarios are presented along with an example of the image improvement being achieved with post-processing image reconstruction algorithms.