Best Military Embedded Systems Podcasts (2025)

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PODCAST: Military sustainment reform, obsolescence, aftermarket trends, and more. 24:20

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2M ago24:20

24:20

Military platforms often last for decades, long past the life spans of modern computing components and boards. System designers for these aging platforms must rely on a variety of solutions from lifetime buys of components when they go end of life to working with aftermarket suppliers, who buy obsolete product lines and keep producing them for cust…

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Sentient radio, MOSA and DoD acquisition, engineering talent 30:28

4M ago30:28

30:28

Momentum behind the the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) modular open system approach (MOSA) mandate is growing, especially as it was reaffirmed by Army, Navy, and Air Force leadership at the end of 2024. In this podcast with Clif Basnight, Vice President, Strategic Technologies, Ultra Intelligence and Communications, we discuss MOSA and how to meas…

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RF signal chain, military space market, and MOSA in space 17:18

4M ago17:18

17:18

The demand for high-reliability RF components in military space applications is growing as is the use of commercial innovation in Low-Earth Orbit and other space domains, says Eliot Fine, Product Line Manager for Space and High Reliability Components, Analog Devices. In this podcast he and I discuss the space electronic market, radiation-hardening …

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Sensor processing at the edge, being SOSA aligned, and DoD acquisition process 19:17

1+ y ago19:17

19:17

How artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge is defined often depends who you are speaking with and their market. For military electronics I think the best definition comes from Jake Braegelmann, Vice President of Business Development at New Wave Design, who says the edge is where the sensor collects the data and AI can enable the filtering of that…

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Recruiting women engineers, military RF & microwave design trends, and more 18:56

1+ y ago18:56

18:56

The defense technology community has a recruitment challenge on its hands when it comes to competing with the commercial technology world for engineering talent; this reality is especially true when it comes to growing the pool of women engineers. In this podcast with Maria Ho, Deputy Director for Government and Strategic Programs, Aerospace & Defe…

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Metamaterial radar systems, COTS components, and RF invisibility cloaks 29:33

2y ago29:33

29:33

Leveraging metamaterials for radar designs, engineers at Echodyne are enhancing the capability of small radars for applications such a counter-UAS [uncrewed aircraft systems] in military applications. In this podcast with Tom Driscoll, Co-founder and CTO of Echodyne, he and I discuss how his team’s metamaterials electronically scanned array (MESA) …

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MOSA, AI, and unsafe programming languages 31:23

2y ago31:23

31:23

Modular open system approach (MOSA) strategies such as the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard are changing how the Department of Defense acquires technology. In this podcast with Tim Reed, Chief Executive Officer for Lynx Software Technologies, he and I discuss how MOSA benefits the warfighter and what it means to be c…

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Space electronics trends, supply chain challenges, MOSA, and more 26:43

2+ y ago26:43

26:43

Rebranded after being bought by Veritas Capital from CAES, Frontgrade Technologies is now a stand-alone company focused on the space market - military and commercial. In this podcast, Frontgrade President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Elias discusses how the acquisition and rebranding impacts the company and its clientele. We also discuss how su…

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Defense supply chain issues, COTS procurement, MOSA, and more 33:00

3y ago33:00

33:00

The procurement challenges facing defense technology companies range from a slow U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition process to supply chain headaches to when and where to leverage commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)technology and open architectures. In this podcast, Mike McCormack, President & CEO of CP North America and Mark Kempf, VP Of CP …

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Military 5G designs, SATCOM on the move, ISR networks 26:00

3+ y ago26:00

26:00

Defense integrators are starting to adopt 5G technology for satellite communications (SATCOM) on the move applications through various programs aimed at deploying commercial innovations more quickly to warfighters. In this podcast, Rajeev Gopal, Vice President, Advanced Systems for Hughes Defense Intelligence Systems Division, goes in depth on mili…

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Semiconductor supply chain, radar & electronic warfare designs, engineering talent 41:03

3+ y ago41:03

41:03

Complex radar and electronic warfare systems drive innovation from RF and microwave designers while supply chain shortages continue to give them headaches. In this podcast, Bryan Goldstein, VP, Aerospace and Defense, Analog Devices, tackles these trends while also exploring how the defense industry will begin adopting 5G technology and where it wil…

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Microelectronics for space, and supply chain bottlenecks 35:33

4y ago35:33

35:33

Supply chain bottlenecks, small satellites, complex adversarial threats in space and electromagnetic spectrum domains are all driving innovation at the microelectronics level. In this podcast, Dave Young, CTO of CAES, formerly Cobham, discusses how these challenges impact microelectronics solutions for military programs, how the defense industry is…

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Deep dive into Pentek acquisition by Mercury Systems and radar/EW market trends 37:53

4y ago37:53

37:53

This spring Mercury Systems acquired Pentek, a designer of FPGA single-board computers, data-acquisition boards, recording systems, and other products for radar, signals intelligence (SIGINT), and electronic warfare (EW) applications. In this podcast, Neal Austin, Vice President and General Manager of the Mixed Signal Business Unit within Mercury S…

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Leveraging ARINC 818 for military avionics and sensor applications 26:01

4+ y ago26:01

26:01

The ARINC 818 digital video interface and protocol standard is used throughout commercial and military cockpits for avionics display applications. As military video systems continue to increase in complexity in and out of the cockpit, for example in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensor systems, the demand for ARINC 818 soluti…

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Short VPX and the military's demand for smaller form factors 27:08

4+ y ago27:08

27:08

Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements are pervasive throughout defense electronics platforms. Electronic footprints continue to shrink so much that traditional small form factors like 3U VPX or 3U CompactPCI are considered too big. So, it's not surprising that the VITA Standards Organization (VSO) is looking at new form factors, such …

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Capturing data from ultra-wide band radar systems 18:50

4+ y ago18:50

18:50

Ultra-wide band radar systems are generating unprecedented amounts of data and require storage systems that can handle the high bandwidth and what can seem like information overload. In this podcast, Chris Tojeira, Recording Systems Director at Pentek discusses the Department of Defense's current ultra-wideband radar requirements, how to capture si…

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Counter-UAV advancements pull from commercial innovation to dominate the spectrum 21:09

5y ago21:09

21:09

Counter-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems are pivotal players on the electromagnetic spectrum. In this podcast, Emma Helfrich, guest host and associate editor with Military Embedded Systems, talks with Ryan Hurt, vice president of business development at Liteye Systems, to discuss the C-UAV systems that equip the U.S. Army. Helfrich and Hurt co…

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Navigating GPS-denied environments and the perfect magnetic sensor 22:25

5y ago22:25

22:25

Modern battlefields present many complex challenges for Army soldiers, one of which is how to operate in GPS-denied environment. In this podcast, George Hsu, CTO, founder, and board member of PNI Sensor Corp., discusses the challenges in designing sensor solutions for warfighters in these environments like sensor stabilization for moving soldiers a…

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Small sats, custom microelectronics, and the end of Moore’s Law 17:43

5y ago17:43

17:43

Small satellites and their reduced size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) requirements are challenging microelectronics suppliers to deliver the performance of commercial technology while also maintaining reliability. In this podcast, I discuss these challenges with Tom Smelker, vice president and general manager for Mercury Systems Custom Microele…

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PODCAST: AI and signal processing trends in electronic warfare and radar applications 31:50

5+ y ago31:50

31:50

Electronic warfare and radar solutions are being driven by signal processing innovations such as the Xilinx RFSoC FPGA and OpenVPX computing solutions. These solutions are also enabling artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for electronic warfare, radar, and other military applications. In this podcast, Haydn Nelson, principal marketing manager…

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Defense industry response to COVID-19 pandemic 32:07

5+ y ago32:07

32:07

Defense companies, be they prime contractors, system integrators, or third-party commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) suppliers, are deemed essential businesses and allowed to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this doesn't mean that their employees and bottom lines are not feeling the impact of this global crisis. In this podcast, Mark Asle…

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PODCAST: Defense avionics platforms benefit from FACE Technical Standard 17:48

5+ y ago17:48

17:48

The Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard, created to enable reuse of software components across multiple avionics platforms, enables avionics systems designers to greatly reduce the cost of software development over the platform's life cycle. This will save hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars in the long run. Adopt…

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PODCAST: SOSA, Tri-Service Demo, AI and signal processing 29:53

5+ y ago29:53

29:53

Open architecture initiatives such as the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) effort are showing tremendous momentum at the start of 2020, as demonstrated by the turnout and enthusiasm of attendees at the Tri-Services Open Architecture Interoperability Demonstration at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in January. Our editors John McHale and …

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C4ISR tech trends, RF innovation, AOC 2019 preview 19:18

6y ago19:18

19:18

Today the U.S. military and its allies face adversaries who are much more sophisticated in electronic warfare, signals intelligence (SIGINT), radar jamming, and other areas. To counter these threats designers of U.S. command and control, communication, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems are adding more innovat…

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Thermal management challenges in military systems 22:51

6y ago22:51

22:51

Thermal management of electronics in military systems is a continuous challenge for designers as the aircraft, ground systems, and naval platforms become more complex. In this podcast with thermal management expert Gerry Janicki, Vice President, Meggitt Defense Systems, he discusses challenges, requirements, and design trends trends in military-ele…

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Military unmanned aircraft and counter-drone market update 42:07

6y ago42:07

42:07

The military unmanned aircraft market is considered a mature market, but a market that is growing in the U.S. and globally thanks to the increases in defense spending worldwide. The U.S. has made cyber and unmanned technology a priority, says Mike Blades, Vice President of Research and Consulting for Aerospace, Defense, and Security in the Americas…

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Driving open architectures in F-35 avionics and other military platforms. 17:22

6+ y ago17:22

17:22

Open architectures will make tech refreshes such as the latest avionics modernization (Technology Refresh 3 (TR3)) on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other platforms much more efficient and cost effective in the long run. In the latest McHale Report Podcast, Bryant Henson, vice president and general manager for Harris Corporation’s Electronic Sys…

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Countering complex battlefield threats, faster DoD acquisition process, game-changing AI, and more 30:22

6+ y ago30:22

30:22

Lessons learned in combat situations like Ukraine and anti-access area denial (A2/AD) environments have given U.S. defense planners a better understanding of the technological capabilities of near peer adversaries such as Russia and China, how the U.S. falls behind these threats, and an understanding of how they can catch up by leveraging technolog…

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RFSoC enabling radar/electronic warfare systems 19:41

7y ago19:41

19:41

The insatiable need for bandwidth and data from military radar and electronic warfare systems is continuing to put pressure on embedded signal processing designers to deliver innovation at the board and chip level. In this podcast, our guest, David Gamba, Aerospace and Defense Core Vertical Markets Director at Xilinx discusses how FPGAs enable this…

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Speeding up DoD acquisition process, military AI applications, DoD budget increase 27:03

7+ y ago27:03

27:03

The U.S. Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget request is considerably higher than last year with more funding slated for upgrades of air, land, and sea platforms. In this podcast with Mike MacPherson, Vice President, Strategic Planning, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions, he discusses the impact for the budget increase on the defense el…

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Deciphering the counter-UAV market 29:17

7+ y ago29:17

29:17

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are proliferating beyond the battlefield into the commercial and consumer markets. However, many see them as more a threat than a benefit. As a result a market for counter-UAV technology has spun out and is growing fast. In this podcast with Mike Blades, Research Director, North America, for Frost & Sulliva…

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Military Embedded Systems - Cognitive radio, spectrum management, SDR tech development 28:19

7+ y ago28:19

28:19

Cognitive radio and spectrum management continue to drive innovation among military communication system designers to enable more capability and faster decision making for warfighters. Efficient spectrum management is becoming especially important as the spectrum gets more crowded and as the U.S.Department of Defense is considering naming the spect…

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Military Embedded Systems - Open standards for the Department of Defense 14:58

7+ y ago14:58

14:58

The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to embrace open architecture designs and open standards to enable more commonality in military sensor systems, vehicle electronics, radar, electronic warfare, and others. This was quite evident during the Embedded Tech Trends (ETT) conference last week in Austin, Texas, where representatives of the Navy and…