[November 20, 2008] SRC Computers Ships Airborne Signal Data Processor for Lockheed Martin's TRACER Program Tweet (Wireless News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SRC Computers, a provider of general purpose reconfigurable computing, announced that it has shipped the first on-board signal data processor (SDP) for Lockheed Martin's Tactical Reconnaissance and Counter-Concealment Enabled Radar (TRACER) program. According to the company, TRACER addresses the Army's critical need to have long-range, wide-area detection of targets, facilities and enemy equipment. Using dual-band low frequency synthetic aperture radar, TRACER can immediately downlink images and processed results from Predator-class unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to ground units in all-weather, day or night conditions. As conceived, the TRACER radar will be able to provide imagery of targets under camouflage, concealment and deception conditions, and supports detailed, wide-area topography mapping in complex environments such as jungles and rough terrain. The TRACER program is an evolution and expansion of Lockheed Martin's legacy foliage penetration (FOPEN) technology, which was developed in the late 1990s to detect vehicles, buildings, and large metallic objects in broad areas of dense foliage, forested areas and wooded terrain, the company said. SRC's Implicit+Explicit Architecture provides TRACER with compute-intensive reconfigurable processing in a compact form-factor. The Implicit+Explicit Architecture allows users to execute existing code, or develop and compile new codes, to take advantage of the power of the reconfigurable MAP processors in the system. The SDP designed for TRACER is comprised of a multi-MAP system that weighs 80 pounds, consumes less than 600 watts of power and measures 20"D x 17"W x 10"H while being functionally equivalent to about 100 Power PCs for this application, the company said. "The size, weight and power benefits of SRC's architecture, coupled with the ease of programmability provided by our Carte C and Fortran programming environment, have made SRC's systems a natural for the UAV market," said Jon Huppenthal, President and CEO of SRC Computers. Lockheed Martin's Robert Robinson, who heads the FOPEN program, said, "TRACER holds promise to not only address traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, but other current and emerging threats. The radar can be applied to meet a broad range of challenges in homeland defense and border security, counter-drug, and even environmental operations, such as monitoring illegal foresting along the U.S.-Canadian border." Robinson added, "System reliability has vastly improved and power consumption has been cut by two-thirds, with the system's size and weight cut by 50 percent, thanks to advances in computing technology provided by SRC." ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) ((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com)) ((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com)) Copyright ? 2008 Wireless News [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]