 Re-engineering of Aging Army Radio Beacon
The U.S. Army AN/TRN-30 non-directional radio beacon set transmits a homing signal that is detected by airborne direction finding sets installed in selected aircraft. The system was first fielded in 1971. There are approximately 160 aging Radio Beacon sets that must be sustained for another 15 years, until they are planned to be replaced by GPS based systems. Neither original manufacturer of the equipment is still in existence. Currently, the depot-level overhaul work of both systems is being performed by Tobyhanna Army Depot. [Full Article]
- Custom Training
In today’s high-tech electronics industry, the necessity of a highly skilled labor force is paramount to maintaining a competitive edge. The continued success of a company’s economic growth and expansion relies on their ability to develop skilled production and technical support personnel in order to satisfy this growing demand. The planning and implementation of a quality training program for key employees is an integral step towards developing and maintaining a quality workforce. Although standardized training modules can provide employees with the skills to perform routine operational tasks, a customized training initiative can provide a learning environment with specific objectives that are matched to a company’s unique operation and goals. [Full Article]
- Catastrophic Failure
A catastrophic failure leaves an assembly inoperable. Such failures, as shown in Figure 2-1, cause significant damage and are difficult to troubleshoot because evidence is often destroyed during failure.
Failures can occur at various stages of a product’s life cycle and are represented by the familiar bathtub curve shown in Figure 2-2. Defects will usually show themselves in the beginning and represent Infant Mortality. The Normal Life span of the curve represents random failures not product related (lightening, earthquakes, etc.). The End of Life part of the curve is the result of subtle, internal defects which develop over time. [Full Article]
- Ask the EMPF Helpline!
The EMPF Helpline received a call from a control and telemetry electronics systems integrator involving a component failure in a radio transceiver. The component was a 24 pin 2.4 GHz Wireless LAN device in a Land Grid Array (LGA) package. The EMPF was tasked with performing electrical failure analysis to determine the failure mode and to identify any evidence as to whether the cause was related to packaging, handling, or other sources.
Isolation of the failing pin or area is critical to the success of electrical failure analysis, and certain key pieces of information were requested from the customer prior to the start of analysis... [Full Article]
- Tech Tips: Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) through Mechnanical Shock Testing
 Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) is a process to determine the reliability of an electronic component or assembly to a given standard or end-use requirement making it an integral design tool during the development phase. This process can be used to take the product to failure to determine how well the product performs under extreme conditions. For example, the reliability of solder joints can be tested using mechanical shock testing, one of many ESS processes. Mechanical shock is part of an ESS test plan that has great impact on solder joints, where failure can be critical. Mechanical shock testing simulates the sudden applied force or change of movement through handling, shipment, and field use. Some effects of mechanical shock are: 1) components detached from the printed circuit board; 2) cracks in the solder joints; and 3) multi-leaded component leads detached. [Full Article]
- Upgrading Aging Radio Frequency (RF) Systems
In addition to the commercial Radio Frequency (RF) trend that is rapidly accelerating the role of radio in the consumers everyday life, the military continues to be engaged in RF electronic warfare and communications. The 1% of the electronics market occupied by the Department of Defense (DoD) has demanded a niche market for RF qualified devices for some time.
The DoD, with its emphasis on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and “open” systems, is beginning to become more interested in the more commercially-oriented RF devices as a means to leverage the volumes and innovations of the commercial world for military uses. Reliability, a subject of prime importance to the EMPF, is foremost in the use of these commercial breakthrough RF technologies, since the commercial materials are often not as rugged as the military ones. [Full Article]
- Manufacturers’ Corner: Aqueous Technologies
In the electronics manufacturing industry, cleaning is a problem we are all faced with everyday. In the broadest sense, cleaning is the removal of undesirable material from a particular area. In the more technical realm, cleaning is usually performed to make a particular material or component acceptable to proceed to the next level of processing. This task is becoming increasingly more difficult as component geometries continue to decrease while production scales escalate. Cleaning can be accomplished by a variety of means. One of the more common methods is immersion in a liquid. When this is the chosen methodology, it is usually a combination of chemistry and mechanical activity. Independently, each will remove some soil; together, the effect is multiplied many times. [Full Article]
- Upcoming EMLC Courses
Check out up coming courses available from the EMPF.
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Empfasis is a publication of the American
Competitiveness Institute and the EMPF. The EMPF is the U.S. Navy’s
National Center of Excellence dedicated to advancing the state-of-the-art
in electronics and increasing domestic productivity in electronics manufacturing.
Our efforts in the field of electronics manufacturing, analytical services,
and our work with government and industry, yield the knowledge that we present
to you here.
