John McHale, Editorial Director, OpenSystems Media

• Unmanned aircraft leverage PC/104, COM Express, and other small form factors

  

  Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) continue to shrink in size, as do their payloads, requiring system designers to leverage small-form-factor, embedded-computing standards like PC/104, COM Express, and others.

  John McHale, Editorial Director

• DNA marking of ICs still causing discontent

  John McHale, Editorial Director

  The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) caused quite a stir among authorized integrated circuit (IC) suppliers and original component manufacturers (OCMs) in 2013 when - in an effort to mitigate counterfeits - it essentially required them to mark their Federal Supply Class (FSC) 5962 IC parts with plant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to tag them as authentic. I wrote about the controversy in this space in our December issue with a column titled: "DNA marking for counterfeit parts: problem solver or money pit," that had comments from the DLA and from authorized suppliers affected by the mandate.