A t the 3rd annual National Instruments Military/Aerospace Solutions Conference, held on Tuesday May 22nd 2007 at the Systems Engineering Innovation Centre at Loughborough University, keynote speakers Ian Bell and Darcy Dement introduced conference delegates from across the military and aerospace industry in the UK to the “Tipping Point”. The concept was first introduced by Malcolm Gladwell in his book of the same name published in 2000. To quote the author: “The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point.”

Software is fast becoming the dominant technology in military and aerospace applications. Software-defined systems such as radio and flight controls are enabling design engineers to create flexible, upgradeable devices with shorter design cycles and lower cost than is possible with traditional hardware alone. Test and measurement systems for design and manufacturing need to match or exceed the flexibility and performance of the software-defined devices that are being tested. This has lead the US

Design, is driving the adoption of FPGA-based, reconfigurable I/O in test systems and beginning to reach into embedded system design processes. This blurring of the distinction between design and test offers a future where a common software and hardware platform is used throughout the design, prototyping and deployment of devices and systems for military and aerospace applications.

Building on the keynote, the conference then explored the architecture of next-generation software-defined test systems and the application of Graphical System Design through a series of technical presentations given by NI, NI partners and leading practitioners from BAE Systems, Ultra Electronics, SCITEK, TBG Solutions, JTAG Technologies and Peak Production. This technical content was supported by hands-on training in software tools such as NI LabVIEW, NI LabWindows/CVI and NI TestStand.

The conference proved to be a valuable forum for networking amongst suppliers, test engineers and designers. Delegates werepresented with a guide containing 32 case studies describing

the application of these technologies and, in the spirit of the event, balsa wood aeroplanes!

Go to ni.com/uk/milaero to download technical content from this year’s conference. The Military/Aerospace Solutions Conference is organised by National Instruments UK (www.ni.com/uk). NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a global broad base of more than 25,000 different companies. With worldwide headquarters in Austin, Texas and UK headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, NI has more than 4,000 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries.

SAE-UK.org present DefenceIntegration.org at the 3rd Annual National Instruments Military/Aerospace Solutions Conference 22/5/07 SAE-UK's Events Team was present to promote the DefenceIntegration.org website, recruitment and collaborations. We were delighted to debut Anika Patel as a new addition to our team and will be looking forward to her assistance at the Paris Air Show, 18-24th June.