I-Connect007 Editor's Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

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When compiling my Top Five, I tend to let the reader views guide my choices. Oh, sure, sometimes a news item is significant well beyond the reads it receives; that’s why this is an editor’s picks, not a strict Top Five. Still, readership habits inform my choices. That makes it even more interesting when a week demonstrates a theme so convenient as to seem contrived.

Take this week, for example. In this week’s top five, four of the top five are news reports on mil-aero topics. You, dear readers, gobbled up the military and aerospace news this week. The outlier is, as we all would expect, a conference report from our very own Pete Starkey.

We hope you enjoy this digest view of the news from this past week. For those of you in the U.S., enjoy your Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 7.

ACDi Awarded Department of Defense Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract
Published 9/1/2020

American Computer Development Incorporated (ACDi) will, under this contract, “acquire printed circuit card (PCC) assemblies to support a wide range of military projects,” over the next 10 years.

300 Below Selected as Top Team for U.S. Air Force Manufacturing Olympics
Published 9/1/2020

300 Below Inc. earned a spot on the list of 92 top teams in the USAF Manufacturing Olympics, also called the AFWERX Base of the Future Challenge. This challenge is centered, according to the press release, around six topics: “base security, installation resilience, leveraging technology for operational effectiveness, reverse engineering, culture of innovation, and airman and family well-being.” 300 Below brought its cryogenic treatment process, with an eye toward COVID-19, to the improving installation resilience portion of the competition.

TT Electronics Awarded Team Tempest Contract From BAE Systems
Published 9/2/2020

The Tempest project is “tasked with delivering… the Tempest combat aircraft into service by 2035, replacing the existing Typhoon. TT Electronics holds the contract for the “design, development, and qualification of a DC-DC converter.”

Blue Canyon Technologies 6U Spacecraft Deploys as Part of the Deformable Mirror Demonstration Mission
Published 9/2/2020

The Deformable Mirror Demonstration Mission (DeMi) is a collaboration between MIT, Blue Canyon Technologies, Aurora Flight Services, and others. From the press release, “The objective of DeMi is to demonstrate using MEMS deformable mirror technology for adaptive optics in space. The MEMS DMs can be used for a range of in-space applications, including optical communication and wide-field scanning telescopes.”

Promoting a Circular Economy in Electronics Manufacturing
Published 9/3/2020

Pete Starkey, an I-Connect007 technical editor, posts his report on the iNEMI virtual workshop entitled “Electronics Goes Green Conference.” Mr. Starkey’s knack for posting a conference summary so evocative as to feel like a travelogue entry continues with this dispatch. It’s no wonder that Starkey’s reports are so widely read as soon as they’re posted.

 

05/29/2023 | Happy Holden, I-Connect007

While IPC was hosting its annual SummerCom mid-year standards event, WHMA was hosting its own “wire show,” co-located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During IPC SummerCom 2023 more than 90 meetings from May 13–18 were conducted, ranging from very small to very large groups. Some meetings only lasted an hour, while others were four to eight hours. WHMA is a much smaller technical association than IPC, but it provides the connectivity between our boards, assemblies, and the myriad sensors and actuators used in modern electrical and electronic systems. Wire is the principal conduit, but the variety and complexity of these configurations seem endless.

03/13/2023 | Boeing

Boeing and Shield AI have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore strategic collaboration in the areas of autonomous capabilities and artificial intelligence on current and future defense programs. Shield AI created Hivemind, an artificial intelligence pilot that has flown a variety of aircraft. According to Shield AI, the AI pilot can also enable swarms of drones and aircraft to operate autonomously without GPS, communications or a human pilot in the cockpit.

02/23/2023 | I-Connect007 Editorial Team

With multiple advanced degrees in aerospace science, Emily Calandrelli could have had her pick of any project in earth and space science. Instead, she has chosen to use her skills in science policy and communication to break down complex science topics, advocate for women in STEM fields, and bolster enthusiasm for the next generation of scientists through her own Netflix show and an active slate of social media accounts. Emily’s platform is huge, but it's one that she wholeheartedly embraces. In this interview with the I-Connect007 Editorial Team, Emily talks about her unconventional entry into science, what’s ahead for space commerce, advice for industry leaders, and what she really thinks about going into space.