The increased focus on smaller platforms, more autonomous systems as well as a drive to faster time to deployment is creating a new paradigm in the defense industry.  The established ecosystems and traditional product development roles and responsibilities are unlikely to enable the most effective future solutions.  To meet these new requirements, system developers will need to break down the traditional barriers and system partitioning and look to new integration techniques and supply chains.  The semiconductor industry is in a position to drive these changes, but only if they have the system-level knowledge and openness to really understand their customers and the problems being solved. This way, they’ll develop products and packaging solutions whose performance is right for that application, while minimizing size, weight, and power consumption (SWAP).

Historically, system providers have detailed their specifications at the final system level and then flowed them down to the subsystem level that they have partitioned. In doing so, they’ve often set their performance targets around known semiconductor devices, rather than what is specifically needed for their application.  In many cases, the system designers are not aware of the commercial semiconductor technology roadmaps or capabilities available out in the industry.  Sometimes performance can be left on the table, but more often than not, components are over-specified and are overkill for a given application, making the system larger or more power hungry than is necessary. Partnerships between the defense primes and semiconductor companies who have their own system-level understanding will allow for the optimization of signal chains.  Openly sharing the problem statement will allow semiconductor companies the flexibility to define the smallest solution at the appropriate performance level.  Technologies that are being developed for high-volume commercial applications, such as automotive radar or cellular infrastructure, can be brought to bear on defense solutions with performance features added to support military applications. Technologies with high development costs, but optimum performance in term of size, cost, and power consumption, like 28nm CMOS, can be designed with commercial and military applications considered simultaneously.

As budgets tighten and resources become more limited, semiconductor companies are being asked to provide more value to their customers who are trying to focus their precious resources on areas of differentiation.  These are most often in software, algorithms, or system integration.  Semiconductor companies are being asked to provide more value in terms of advanced packaging, embedded processing, and security. What’s needed to rise to that challenge is a wide foundation of technologies, including RF/µWave, High Speed Converters, Transceivers, Linear Precision, Inertial MEMS, and Power Management. What’s also needed is systems-level understanding provided by industry experienced systems engineers, and advanced packaging capabilities that can enable the next-generation of military platforms that meet mission performance while minimizing SWAP-C and time to market.