SBIR/STTR Award attributes
New sensors being developed for the Air Force Global Integrated Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (GIISR) mission produce data at rates and volumes which exceed the capacity of existing data acquisition/processing. Moreover, there is a requirement to record/process this data on the collection platforms because also exceeds data link capacities. Finally, programs like Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) rely on emerging attritable aircraft such as the XQ-58A Valkyrie, so onboard sensors and associated data acquisition, recording and processing (DARP) equipment must be both small and reasonably affordable. DEC currently builds and is delivering 19" rack-mounted DARP systems for emerging sensors which meet data bandwidth and capacity requirements. These are useful for developmental field and cabin-carry flight testing of sensors, but are too large for deployment in attritable aircraft. The Fast, Adaptable, Scalable ISR* Receiver/Recorder (FASIR) program will develop a fully scalable VPX board with similar functionality. VPX is an industry standard form factor for aircraft-deployed electronics. The FASIR program is low risk because DEC has extensive experience designing and building custom printed circuit boards for high-performance computing. DEC currently has all required development tools and has an established supply chain in place. The first FASIR boards will be available in time to support upcoming Air Force sensor attritable aircraft flight demonstrations.
