Companies in profile
Article Abstract:
Leading military contractors reveal the paths they traversed as they moved toward civilian production. The companies featured include Thomson-CSF of France, Hughes Aircraft Co, M/A-COM Inc, Raytheon Co, Irvine Sensors Corp, Westinghouse Electric Corp's Electronic Systems Group, Qualcomm Inc and GEC-Marconi of UK. The companies, which are victims of shrinking defense budgets caused by the end of the Cold War, have diversified their defense base either through joint ventures or by applying military technologies to commercial products. For Hughes Aircraft, this meant a program of selective acquisition to raise its share of nonmilitary business. For Thompson-CSF, civilian air traffic control became the focus of research and development. Commercial moves recently made by Israel's leading defense companies such as Elbit Ltd, Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd, Tadiran Ltd and Galram are also discussed.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1992
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Industrial electronics: applications '90
Article Abstract:
Events and trends during 1989 in industrial electronics included advancements in machine vision, new pressure microsensor technology, new service industry markets for robots with machine vision, growing use of computer-integrated manufacturing, and greater applications of modular integrated power devices. Ever greater circuit densities, increasing use of surface-mount technology, and use of both sides of printed-circuit boards require new X-ray laminography and laser-based scanning technologies to assure the viability of the ever-higher numbers and densities of solder joints. A new class of pressure microsensors based on changing resonance frequencies when force is applied to an object have been developed. Mobile robots are being designed to navigate hospitals, airports, and other sites through the use of stored architectural data and cameras for image acquisition and analysis.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1990
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Talking about tools
Article Abstract:
According to an IEEE Spectrum survey of computer system users who subscribe to the magazine, about 80 percent use software for engineering and science applications. The survey shows that 91 percent of the respondents do their work on microcomputers, while less than 50 percent use workstations. With regard to design areas in which the respondents are engaged, 42 percent are involved in system design, while 37.7 percent are involved in software design and 22.3 percent work in system simulation. Business software is the most common type of package used, with almost 85 percent of the respondents saying they use it for activities such as report writing, presentations and documentation. The programming language used most is C, at 44.2 percent, followed by Basic and Fortran, with 29 percent and 27.6 percent, respectively. Other survey results are given.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1992
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