According to the data of the aerospace industry association, in 2017, the sales of the U.S. aerospace and defense (A & D) industry reached US $865 billion, the export volume reached US $143 billion, and there were about 2.4 million jobs in the United States. The US defense budget recovered, and the revenue of a & D industry increased to 4.1% in 2018 from 2.1% in the previous year. Deloitte's 2019 global aerospace and defense industry outlook report said that the A & D industry will continue to maintain strong growth this year.
Looking forward to the future, frost and Sullivan expect that the A & D industry will evolve under the influence of various trends, including modular and customizable test solutions to realize cost-effective equipment upgrading; Wide application of industry 4.0 in manufacturing and operation; 5g communication, Newspace, mmwave and new radar; Technology development needs advanced testing equipment; Old systems need to be upgraded and technology obsolescence avoided.
Frost and Sullivan data show that although the optimal utilization rate of test equipment is in the range of 85%, the typical utilization rate of test assets of many companies is in the range of 30% due to calibration and maintenance requirements. Due to increasingly stringent schedule and budget review, a & D testing and verification pressure is also increasing. Engineers need reliable and easy-to-use test equipment to consistently provide data integrity. They need to test asset suppliers: understand the defense industry and its special challenges; Provide special instruments for military applications; Provide services to manage and improve operational efficiency; Stock equipment to ensure fast and thorough testing; It has a variety of flexible options for equipment assets such as leasing, new equipment and second-hand equipment.
The uncertainty of the global economy, the development of a & D industry in various countries and the accelerated action of emerging private small and medium-sized enterprises need to make more effective use of the budget. Take the space exploration start-up company with the concept of Newspace as an example. It is composed of private companies and entrepreneurs seeking profits. The number has increased sharply, aiming to provide innovative space products and services at lower cost and in a shorter time.
According to the 2018 U.S. defense strategy summary, more attention will be paid to obtaining the added value spent by taxpayers on defense by improving procurement efficiency and using non-traditional suppliers, prototype design, rapid iteration and experiments. This means that priority will be given to rapid delivery, continuous adaptation and efficiency. For example, the routine replacement of platform electronic equipment and software will be more and more popular than the static configuration maintained for ten years or more.
Therefore, many a & D companies are conducting in-depth inspection on their operational efficiency, including manufacturing process, procurement process, and financial and technical methods of new product development. Some a & D companies are adopting fully digital methods, including digital pairing and virtual reality, while others are committed to optimizing the supply chain, improving operational efficiency and reducing costs, and reducing the production costs of small satellites and reusable components.
With the accelerated pace of innovation, a & D companies also began to adopt modular strategy, in which design integration and verification take priority over pure R & D and internal innovation. Today, it is not uncommon to add value to off the shelf solutions at the software level through proprietary IP rather than developing IP at the hardware level. These scenarios have led many manufacturers to reduce their capital expenditure (capex) and manage operating expenditure (OPEX) more closely.
According to Frost & Sullivan's research, the A & D test equipment market will change significantly in the next 5 ~ 8 years. New technologies support higher frequency, greater bandwidth and additional functions of existing systems. The complexity of military systems, technological advances, and evolving standards and regulations will pose additional challenges.
Next generation manufacturing will use technology, automation, demand driven supply chain and big data analysis to accelerate the flow of information within the factory, so as to improve efficiency, productivity and output. According to McKinsey, more than 60% of manufacturing operations can be automated using existing technologies. However, once the industrial Internet of things (iiot) is widely adopted, it will change significantly and have a far-reaching impact on enterprises and society. The world economic forum predicts that by 2025, industry 4.0 will create value of up to US $3.7 trillion.
Digital transformation can benefit a & D companies a lot. Although many people have adopted industry 4.0 in factory manufacturing and supply chain activities, they are slow to adopt digital transformation plans across the enterprise. Deloitte global survey shows that although 84% of a & D executives believe that new digital technology is crucial to market differences, in fact, only 25% of a & D companies use digital technology to provide real-time information for decision-making.
In the near future, 5g NR networks, equipment and services will be widely used to expand the impact of the Internet of things and industry 4.0. The 5G vision is to provide a large number of bandwidth improvements (100 times more units per unit area than 4G LTE), significantly improve the speed, 99.999% of the normal running time, and ultra low latency of mission critical applications (such as connecting and self driving cars, industrial robots, machine communications and distant robot surgery).
One of the many significant trends in a & D is the threat to information and data flow. In addition to land, sea, air and space, network security is considered to be the fifth battlefield of security. It is expected that the technology budget will increase significantly, and RF and microwave will play a key role.
Electronic warfare includes signal jamming, radar strike and discrete signal detection. One of its requirements is to move the acquired or stored RF signal from one test instrument or sub equipment to another, with a minimum rate of 10 GB / S (equivalent to 2 GHz RF bandwidth). Several data transmission technologies can be considered, including 10GB LAN; Multichannel pcle (PXI) Gen 3).
Another emerging area is high-speed (real-time) data simplification and analysis in practical instruments. The processes and methods include up conversion and down conversion, as well as real-time metadata or pulse description words generated from the obtained original data, or generated by algorithms for playback. High resolution time and frequency display can also be considered at the same time.
Active electronic scanning array (AESA) antenna is used almost everywhere in radar and electronic warfare. The AESA antenna allows the system to operate in multiple modes and simultaneously engage multiple threats or targets through powerful signal processing functions, allowing flexible relocation at extremely high rates.
There are many challenges in antenna testing. Some of these include a significant increase in the number of elements in the phased array to support more synchronization functions and narrow focus of the beamforming main lobe. It is also worth noting that digital (broadband) signals are moving close to the antenna. There is some discussion that ultimately the only connection to the transmit / receive (T / R) module of each element will be the digital bus (no analog). Another challenge is that the signal is no longer a simple pulse, but broadband modulation, which creates a growing demand for generating and analyzing wider signals.
In the satellite industry, the pace of change is accelerating. In addition to the competitive dynamics of Newspace, higher frequencies are used in the communication link. Traditionally, satellite communication has been carried out in C, l and Ku bands, but the spectrum of these bands is limited. Therefore, many satellite operators are using or planning to use Ka band, which is usually considered as 27 ~ 40 GHz.
Transmission in this range allows the deployment of smaller antennas. A challenge associated with this trend is the need for test equipment that can manage higher frequencies. The uplink frequency is high and the downlink has power limitation. Outside the atmosphere, there is no absorption problem, which means that many mmwave bands are used for communication between satellites, especially those with high absorption between 60 and 65 GHz.
Another market driver is the need for higher data rates, which is achieved by using wider bandwidth signals and higher-order modulation formats, which together may pose testing challenges. Until recently, many signal analyzers were limited to an analysis bandwidth of about 100 MHz. The combination of broadband and high-frequency signals makes it difficult to use traditional broadband test equipment, such as oscilloscope, which can adapt to wider bandwidth, but can not accommodate higher frequency.
The test equipment needs a good dynamic range to deal with the common problem of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in satellite testing. High order modulation format means that factors such as compression and slight amplitude error in the channel increase the possibility of bit error. The test equipment must maintain the dynamic range and leave enough test Margin to identify these problems.
In the field of satellites, there is also a shift to smaller and more complex payloads, which promotes the development of more complex test equipment that can measure a variety of communication strategies. When verifying higher-level integrated components and subsystems, test equipment manufacturers provide integrated test systems with hardware and software functions. Some examples of satellite testing include payload test stations, power and solar array simulator subsystems, telemetry, tracking and command subsystems, and command and data processing subsystems.
It is also worth noting that software defined instruments can flexibly create complete solutions for almost any test challenge without using expensive and limited custom systems. Software defined instruments have many applications, including spectrum / signal monitoring, signal intelligence, surveillance, spectrum security, radar target simulation, satellite channel simulation and threat transmitter simulation. Elements of a complete solution include stages for processing RF signals to RF outputs; Or from RF to storage or other processing engines.
Given the increasing complexity of a & D systems, the verification and validation of modern equipment may be challenging. For advanced radar systems, "wider bandwidth, higher resolution, lower phase noise, pre dynamic range and higher signal fidelity are the most important." In the field of Aerospace Electronics and avionics, advanced test solutions are driven by "computing intensive, high-speed and high bandwidth avionics and electronic equipment".
Industry leaders need trusted test equipment partners to provide objective guidance and independent suggestions for product selection and financing schemes, so as to simplify and optimize their test asset allocation, improve operation efficiency and improve the work efficiency of employees. Today's challenges include:
·Promote higher productivity and faster speed of R & D laboratories and testing / validation;
·Shorten development time and product launch time;
·Regularly update test equipment to measure new technologies and avoid obsolescence;
·Optimize the allocation of test assets and peel off the underutilized or unused test assets;
·Improve the visibility of global equipment assets, share equipment and improve utilization.
Experienced suppliers understand the application of a & D technology and can provide expert advice they need to help a & D companies make informed decisions on radar, electronic warfare, satellite, navigation, communication and radio monitoring plans. In order to meet the strict project schedule and budget, a & D leaders also need various financial procurement process options to support the whole project life cycle, from concept and prototype design to development and full production.
Nowadays, a & D companies use various asset acquisition strategies to achieve various business objectives. A hybrid procurement strategy tailored to individual project schedules and technical needs is very effective in balancing cost and flexibility. By fully understanding the available options, the company can choose the best equipment combination and procurement method according to the specific situation without compromise.
Option one is leasing. In order to remain agile and respond to continuous technological progress, many a & D companies choose leasing to meet short-term and long-term requirements, minimize downtime when assets cannot be obtained due to calibration or maintenance, and meet unexpected emergency needs. Compared with other options, leasing allows companies to manage rapid change at lower cost and higher utilization. Leasing can reduce testing costs by maximizing the use of existing budgets and funds without significant capital expenditure investment. If the technology or test requirements change, the equipment can be returned, replaced or upgraded flexibly, and leasing can ensure access to the latest solutions.
Other procurement options include lease to own, lease, purchase of new equipment, second-hand equipment and certified second-hand projects. Certified second-hand (CPO) instruments can save a lot of costs, with a 14 day "no problem" return policy and a one-year warranty. Many of these high-quality second-hand tools are former rental units that have been properly maintained in use. For scrapped or sold underused or surplus test equipment, we can evaluate your unwanted equipment, provide quotation, and handle transportation and logistics.
With its successful record in reducing costs and optimizing global organizations' test assets, yilaichu has a deep understanding of the needs of companies and suppliers in the A & D field. We bring experience, benchmarks and best practices to military, defense, aerospace and related organizations to help them:
·Improve operational efficiency and reduce testing costs;
·Optimize the test fleet to minimize capital expenditure and maximize budget;
·Improve the efficiency of calibration activities and minimize downtime;
·Manage short-term or peak demand through leasing or leasing;
·Dispose of obsolete or unwanted equipment to obtain value from unused assets.
With the rapid development of technology in a & D field, it is obvious that test equipment must be continuously developed and improved to help engineers complete the test in time, cost-effective and efficient. Leading companies use a variety of procurement methods to reduce risk, save time and money, shorten procurement cycle, fill short-term or urgent needs, improve utilization and avoid unnecessary expenses.
Source: Lyle microwave
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