Chris Pocock has been covering the defense beat for AIN for over 30&nbsp;years. He is a British citizen and a graduate of the University of Cambridge. Chris worked in the air cargo business for ten years before becoming a full-time writer in 1983. He subsequently edited two air cargo journals before becoming AIN’s Defense Editor. He retired from that position in 2018, but still contributes to the publication. Chris has written extensively on aerial reconnaissance, including four books on the history of the U-2 spyplane. He also lectures on this and other topics related to intelligence-gathering in the Cold War.

Defense Correspondent

Chris Pocock

The U.S.-based Electronics Systems business of BAE Systems announced the development of a new general-purpose chip that can help radio systems adapt to a wide range of frequencies. The applications include electronic warfare and SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) systems, as well as communications systems. The company claims that its Microwave Array Technology for Reconfigurable Integrated Circuits (MATRICs) can replace Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICS) “that are expensive and time-consuming to develop.”

 


The new chip was developed with funding from the Adaptive RF (Radio-Frequency) program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). That ARF program aims to enable RF technology that operates over a very wide frequency spectrum—below 10 MHz to more than 30 GHz—and is agnostic to specific waveforms and standards. MATRICs therefore offers engineers the reduced size, weight and power&nbsp;(SWaP)﻿ that is particularly important for such applications as UAV platforms and man-portable radios, according to BAE Systems.

 


“MATRICs is a radio frequency toolbox on a chip,” said Greg Flewelling, a senior principal engineer at BAE Systems. “It covers a broad range of radio waveforms so that many different types of systems can be designed around it, including ones that need wide spectrum awareness and adaptability to dynamic and challenging signal environments.”

 


BAE Systems Electronics Systems is also benefiting from DARPA funding in associated programs, such as Adaptive Radar Countermeasures(ARC). In <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2016-07-22/bae-systems-describes-ew-capabilities">a briefing at the last Farnborough Airshow</a>, the company described this technology area as “Cognitive EW.” It involves the application of machine learning, as well as signal processing advances such as MATRICs.

BAE Systems Touts Advanced Chip For Comms, EW and SIGINT Systems

The company’s US-based Electronics Systems business has used DARPA funding to develop flexible, wide-spectrum integrated circuits.

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