Reconfigurable Computing for Missile C4I

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to design and demonstrate a Reconfigurable Computing Appliance for Smart Munitions (RCA-SM) to be embedded in future weapons systems. The RCA-SM hardware will be optimized for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) applications, specifically on-board anomaly detection, data compression, and digital communications via a software radio transceiver to and from a command center on the ground prior to target engagement. Adaptive, reconfigurable computing technologies, such as the Xilinx Virtex-II and Virtex-II Pro reconfigurable Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that will act as the processing elements from the RCA-SM, are ideally suited to meet the processing needs of sensor suites on smart missile systems. Requirements for near-real time sensor-to-shooter feedback mechanisms, as well as automatic imagery-, laser-, or GPS-guided targeting capabilities are becoming compulsory for future munitions systems. Steadily increasing sensor data rates and limited on-board storage resources and downlink bandwidth necessitate some degree of in situ data processing and/or compression. The RCA-SM will not only decreases acquisition costs due to the more generic, flexible nature of the processing elements, but also will extend the operational lifetime of the system by enabling in-field and in-mission upgrades.