Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)

The AWACS surveillance aircraft fleet has served the USAF, NATO and several other allied nations for over 20 years.

Boeing is responsible for the most recent upgrade program – Extend Sentry – incorporating improved navigation, communications, mission computing, target identification and tracking capabilities. The previous interim modernization program had provided new color displays, UHF anti-jam procedures and installed the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS). A separate contract delivers the Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) designed to increase the sensitivity of the E3’s pulse Doppler radar.

With a current total of 66 aircraft world-wide requiring upgrading, the opportunity to supply a graphics controller used on the display consoles was fiercely contested. We secured the design win for this prestigious program with the Octegra Graphics and Image Processing Engine.

Octegra provides fast processing coupled with high performance and high bandwidth I/O. Application specific mezzanine modules expand the graphics management capabilities to provide Image Capture and Overlay plus extra Display output and custom configurations.

The current generation of Octegra enhances the original feature set offering unrivalled video and graphics functionality in a single VME slot. Available in single or dual channel versions, it is capable of generating high performance graphics, overlaid on up to eight video input channels.
For more information concerning this program

* http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/infoelect/awacs/
* http://www.as.na.baesystems.com/html/awacs_c_c.html
* http://www.as.na.baesystems.com/html/wsc_product_description.html