USA: Finmeccanica fa shopping di SDR e DSP

Fabrizio Magrone mi scrive poco fa inviando un link a un messaggio apparso su un newsgroup e intitolando la sua mail "ci siamo comprati la Watkins Johnson". Io pensavo che Fabrizio avesse trovato su eBay un esemplare del ricevitore DSP (uno dei primissimi del genere) Watkins Johnson 1000, ma non è così. Siamo noi italiani ad aver comperato la Watkins Johnson. La storia in realtà è assai più complessa. La Watkins Johnson che ho visto io per la prima volta sulle collinette di Palo Alto, in California, dodici anni fa non c'è più. Nel 1997 la società che produceva sistemi di comunicazione e altri apparati avionici e militari fu scorporata. Una parte sopravvive oggi nella fabbrica di semiconduttori e RFID WJ Communications.
La parte che sfornava i ricevitori tramite una serie di successive acquisizioni era finita in DRS Signal Solutions, una delle società del gruppo DRS Technologies. E oggi, a Londra, Finmeccanica ha annunciato l'acquisizione di DRS Technologies, una operazione da 5,2 miliardi di dollari che il gruppo romano (60 mila dipendenti, 13,4 miliardi di euro di fatturato) integrerà nell'offerta di società come Selex Communications. Sul piano finanziario non sarà facilissimo. Come spiega bene il post che segue, apparso su Defense News, bisognerà ricorrere ad alchimie come prestiti a breve termine, ricapitalizzazioni e proventi ottenuti dalla quotazione in borsa di Ansaldo Energia. Il comunicato stampa di Finmeccanica lo trovate qui.
DRS sarà un buon acquisto per Finmeccanica? Il potenziale di mercato e allargamento dell'offerta c'è. Ma mi sono subito venute in mente le notizie dello scorso anno sugli esuberi annunciati in Selex Communications (come saranno andati a finire, si parlava di 6-700 persone?), sulle difficoltà che la società del gruppo incontrava con il progetto Tetra, standard selezionato per la rete digitale delle forze dell'ordine in Italia. Una implementazione lunga e sofferta, una commessa che faticava a tradursi in flussi di entrate.
Dell'eredità del Watkins Johnson resta ben poco, se non forse le competenze SDR e DSP, materie che Selex è già molto brava a dominare. Oggi Selex partecipa per esempio al grande progetto per l'introduzione del VOIP nel controllo del traffico aereo (il 14-18 aprile scorso a Sophia Antipolis sede dell'ETSI si è svolto il VoIP Air Traffic Management Interoperability Plugtest, dove cinque fornitori, tra cui Selex Com, hanno eseguito test di interoperabilità tra apparecchiature destinate al piano European Air Traffic Management, che ci toglierà la possibilità di ascoltare gli aerei in volo), collabora a sofisticati progetti SDR. Sulla carta dovremmo essere orgogliosi delle strategie internazionali del gruppo italiano. Speriamo che operazioni tanto ambiziose non covino, come a volte succede, retroscena spiacevoli.

Finmeccanica, DRS CEOs: Merger 'A Perfect Fit'
By tom kington
Published: 13 May

ROME - Finmeccanica and DRS Technologies will make a "perfect fit," Finmeccanica Chief Executive Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini said May 13, as he gave details about the planned purchase by the Italian group of the U.S. defense electronics and services firm for $5.2 billion.
The deal, which the two firms announced late May 12, sees Finmeccanica accomplish its long-held ambition of buying a U.S. defense firm after its earlier entry into the U.K. market.
The purchase of 100 percent of DRS stock also includes the $1.2 billion in debt held by DRS and represents a premium of 27 percent over DRS's closing share price May 7. DRS will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary but will maintain its current management, CEO Mark Newman said in a joint conference call with Guarguaglini and analysts. "DRS and Finmeccanica will comply with all national security requirements and will propose to the Defense Security Service (DSS) that the company operate under a Special Security Agreement (SSA), with its own board of directors comprised predominantly of U.S. citizens holding security clearances and a government security committee," the two firms said in a joint statement.
Finmeccanica Chief Financial Officer Alessandro Pansa said that required approvals for the deal could be obtained by year's end. DRS, which employs 10,000 people and saw $3.2 billion in revenues in 2007, was the right merger target for Finmeccanica in the U.S. because it was working on a large number of U.S. military platforms, Newman said.
Guarguaglini said that there were synergies in product lines such as electro-optic sensors, where DRS was strong in naval and ground applications, while Finmeccanica was strong in airborne sensors.
While the purchase offered access for Finmeccanica to U.S. markets, it would give DRS access to Finmeccanica's platforms and marketing network to expand overseas, he said.
Finmeccanica, which employs 60,000 people, saw revenue of 13.4 billion euros ($20.6 billion) in 2007. Guarguaglini said he and Newman had started to discuss a partnership between the firms a year ago, with serious negotiations starting this year. "The synergies justify the price," said Pansa.
The deal will push Finmeccanica revenue to $22 billion, with North American sales rising to account for 23 percent of revenue from 11 percent. With $8 billion in defense electronics revenue, Finmeccanica will rank as the eighth player in the sector, one place ahead of Boeing and one place behind General Dynamics.
The Italian firm has no plans to sell off DRS units, Guarguaglini said.
Pansa said that the purchase could be funded in the short term through loans, before a capital increase was effected, as well as an initial public offering for energy unit Ansaldo Energia. Further debt - currently standing at 1.9 billion euros - would also be considered.

FCC: frequenze per il campo di battaglia futuro

Leggo sulla newsletter di Gonsett Consulting che la FCC ha assegnato una licenza sperimentale "to operate in 1850-1865 MHz and 1930-1945 MHz for demonstrating a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) for the U.S. Air Force". La piattaforma BACN non è una "radio" ma un complesso gateway, un software di integrazione di diversi sistemi di comunicazione terra-aria che prevede una componente aviotrasportata ad alta quota. Una super-cellula telefonica per il campo di battaglia. Di avionica e sistemi militari non ci capisco molto, ma ho trovato un po' di materiale sul sito d Northrop Grumman, l'azienda di sistemi elettronici e avionici che ha vinto la commessa della USAF. Non ho bisogno di dire che il software defined radio è il fondamento tecnologico di un approccio di questo tipo.

Questo è il comunicato originale sul lancio dell'iniziativa BACN:

RESTON, Va., June 22, 2005 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center to develop and integrate an airborne communications relay and information server that will provide warfighters with critical battle information.
Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) will provide a bridge for linking communications among legacy radios and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems for U.S. Department of Defense networks.
"BACN's ability to translate and share data from all battlefield communications channels using Internet protocols will resolve interoperability problems, provide warfighters with a predictive battle-space-awareness capability and give commanders greater flexibility and faster response time in executing the theater air plan," said Barry Rhine, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems sector's Defense Mission Systems business unit.
The Northrop Grumman team won the $25.7 million, 17-month contract by integrating the technology and experience of four Northrop Grumman sectors -- Mission Systems, Space Technology, Integrated Systems and Information Technology -- and its government and industry partners. The win leverages Northrop Grumman's leadership in network-centric operations and will provide low-risk technology insertion of the Common Link Integration Processing (CLIP) and JTRS capabilities.
The Defense Microelectronics Activity awarded the contract under its Advanced Technology Support Program. The program is designed to give the government access to a broad range of technologies, capabilities and expertise it can rapidly apply to improve the operational readiness of fielded Defense Department systems.
The Northrop Grumman team will develop an aerospace-networking payload composed of Internet protocol-based radios, Gateway Manager, software-defined radios and Advanced Information Architecture (AIA(TM)), which will be managed by an airborne executive processor. Northrop Grumman developed the Gateway Manager and AIA.
During the demonstration the payload will be carried aboard a NASA WB-57 aircraft, which was selected because of its unique high-altitude flight capabilities. The experiment will assess the ability to adapt BACN capabilities to unmanned air vehicles, including Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk. The Northrop Grumman team will demonstrate BACN's capabilities during Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment '06 (JEFX) in the spring of 2006.
"The BACN demonstration during JEFX '06 will showcase the ability to provide an Internet protocol-based airborne network infrastructure," said Mike Twyman, vice president of the Mission Systems sector's Communication and Information Systems business unit. "BACN will provide digital and voice communications relay and information services to systems connected to the airborne network, and will close capability gaps in theater air planning and dynamic execution, use of Internet protocol for tactical networking, fusion of information for predictive battlespace awareness and interoperability with homeland security and homeland defense organizations."
The Northrop Grumman team includes the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas; Raytheon Solipsys, Laurel, Md.; L3 Communications, Salt Lake City; Vanu Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, Calif. Integration will be performed at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems' facility in San Diego, Calif.

E questo è invece un lungo articolo di Jane's Defence Weekly (questo il link alla versione completa) L'articolo inizia dipingendo un quadro eloquente: un futuro non lontano in cui un soldato dal campo di battaglia sarà in grado di inviare un sms al pilota di un F22. E immagino che non sarà per commentare l'ultima partita dei Mets.

Seamless airborne networks are becoming a reality thanks to bridging technology

Systems such as BACN use software to translate data between different waveforms and formats

By Stephen Trimble
Jane's Defence Weekly
January 24, 2007

By the year 2010, a US soldier on the ground should be able to use cellular phone technology to text-message a pilot flying a Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor. Even in the age of network-centric warfare, this should come as a startling development on a number of levels. For one, the F-22A was designed to be nearly network-silent, lest a data transmission give away the stealthy fighter's electronic signature. The airframe carries for now a low-probability-of-intercept Intra-Flight Data Link (IFDL): an isolated channel that can be received only by other F-22As. Moreover, the F-22A is not due to receive a conventional datalink until some time after Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08). The US Air Force (USAF) has decided to install an IP-based, wideband networking waveform - namely, the Rockwell Collins Tactical Targeting Networking Technology (TTNT) - but the implementation strategy has not been decided. Finally, and at a broader level, a working airborne network using Internet Protocol (IP) standards was not supposed to be operational until well into the next decade. Realising that concept was supposed to require the invention of a new class of software-defined radios. Also, a new family of satellites beaming vast quantities of data through laser channels was deemed necessary. Both the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and the Transformation Communications Satellite (TSAT) system remain in the early stages of development. Both have already suffered delays due to budget cutbacks and technical glitches, but continue apace. As the cellular phone-compatible F-22A example shows, however, there is a seamless, IP-based, airborne network becoming a reality even now.
The USAF has demonstrated that a different kind of technology can be exploited to establish a live IP network above the battlefield. Rather than introducing a new class of communications technology built to be inherently interoperable, the emergent network instead functions by bridging the wide mix of incompatible radio signals in use today, with an IP-based network overlaid. Embodying this capability in the immediate near term is the Northrop Grumman Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN). It is not in itself a radio or a new waveform, but a bridge, or gateway, between different radios.
BACN uses software - a package called the Joint Translator Forwarder (JxF) - to translate radio signals transmitted on different frequencies and in different messaging formats or protocols. The BACN payload can receive messages from one user in any of several major waveforms, translate the messages into a different datalink format and relay the information to the intended receiver. In more concrete terms, the technology allows aircraft equipped with Link-16, such as the Boeing F-15, to communicate with, for example, a Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 30 operated by the US Air National Guard (ANG), which is on the Situational Awareness Data Link network. Today, the pilots in both aircraft can communicate with each other using the cockpit voice radio, but the idea of passing on target co-ordinates or radar tracks is not an option without the use of compatible datalinks.
By integrating receivers for signals used by different services - such as the Have-Quick and the Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) - the USAF pilot of a Fairchild Republic A-10 can communicate directly with a US Army pilot flying a Boeing AH-64 Apache Longbow.
Another BACN feature is a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular base station. By circling overhead, the BACN payload can create a cellular phone network for users on the ground. Alternatively, a cellular caller on the ground can use the BACN payload to communicate with a fighter aircraft or helicopter pilot, with the cell frequency bridged into the UHF or VHF radio format. BACN also incorporates the range-extension technology for line-of-sight radio systems deployed under another Northrop Grumman payload - the Roll-on/roll-off Beyond-line-of-sight Extension (ROBE) - flying aboard a 20-aircraft sub-set of the Boeing KC-135R tanker fleet. The ROBE Spiral 2 software is being integrated into the BACN payload.
Finally, a terabyte server derived from the Northrop Grumman Airborne Information Architecture (AIA) is stored in the BACN payload. The server allows BACN to function as a forward-based intelligence centre. Users can search for imagery or data they need and download the results or upload data collected by their own sensors for access by others.
Perhaps the most significant advantage offered by BACN, however, can be found nowhere on the specification documents. In operation, the gateway system creates a network using the radio and datalinks already installed on the users' platforms. No new radio systems or waveforms need to be developed, tested and certified on the platforms using it to make the capability a reality.