DMEA’s In-House Engineering Teams custom develop and deliver leading-edge technical solutions through microelectronics research, design, prototypes, and product support. DMEA addresses low-volume, legacy, or obsolete technologies, and develops custom technologies to satisfy Warfighter operational and strategic needs. With an experienced staff, advanced equipment and facilities, and an agile approach, DMEA complements other DoD capabilities to deliver solutions to resolve technology gaps. Staff are aligned to primarily support two Business Units (Organic Engineering, Radiation Testing), which is comprised of the following technology offerings: Technical Data Packages, Quick Reaction Engineering, Avionics Data Solutions, Legacy Systems Sustainment, Product Support, Silicon Carbide Manufacturing, and Total Ionizing Dose Testing in support of the Department of Defense and the U.S. Government.
DMEA provides the manufacturing and design files needed to troubleshoot and/or produce a Circuit Card Assembly (CCA), necessary for the long-term support of a system. A TDP includes the technical design and manufacturing information needed to enable the construction or manufacture of an item component modification, or to enable the performance of certain maintenance or production processes. Assembly diagrams, bill of materials, and schematics are the core elements of TDPs produced by DMEA. In addition, DMEA supports prototype and LRIP services of CCA fabrication, assembly, verification, and validation.
The Quick Reaction Engineering (QRE) Team specializes in the development and delivery of highly complex custom microelectronics systems with unique technical requirements and accelerated timelines. These types of engineering tasks support urgent Warfighter needs for highly miniaturized, high performance electronic systems that are rapidly deployed into compromised environments within narrow windows of opportunity. The engineering team maintains a wide variety of cutting edge engineering skills including expertise in a wide array of Satellite Communications (SATCOM) protocols, full spectrum Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver technologies, Global Positioning System (GPS) solutions, RF Hardware and custom Antenna design and characterization, Integrated Circuit development, and embedded firmware solutions. Additionally, the QRE Team has robust mechanical design and additive manufacturing expertise, and maintains an organic capability to perform high-mix low-volume electronics packaging and assembly. Integrating this multi-disciplinary team of technical specialists maximizes flexibility and creativity during the design process, thereby enabling DMEA to deploy extremely complex SATCOM and RF solutions to meet urgent Warfighter requirements.
The Avionics Data Solutions Team specializes in the design and development of systems and solutions where hardware and software are uniquely interconnected. The solutions provided by DMEA span from individual software drivers for peripheral subsystems, to fully custom embedded operating systems and applications on large weapons platforms, as well as fully re-engineered data transfer systems necessary to ensure weapons platforms’ readiness. The Avionics Data Solutions Branch provides end-to-end embedded systems solutions including electronics hardware design, mechanical design and validation, embedded systems design, digital systems design, embedded firmware development, desktop software development, custom software tooling, and graphical user interface (GUI) development. The Avionics Data Solutions’ Engineering team has successfully integrated replacement data transfer systems into multiple DoD assets while ensuring the functionality of interfacing systems in unaffected. The team’s unique understanding of software development and the nuanced interactions software has with the underlying system it commands has ensured major weapons systems facing extreme obsolescence issues maintain operational readiness.
The legacy systems sustainment branch supports older legacy military platform electronics facing obsolescence issues by re-engineering electronic circuit assemblies. This involves updating circuit cards with redesigned components, utilizing available alternatives or custom parts when originals are unavailable. This approach enables the manufacturing of form-fit-function replacement assemblies, maintaining functionality for systems that are close to retirement but not quite ready. Replacing these hardware assemblies with entirely new systems could be cost-prohibitive and require lengthy qualification tests for a system with a limited lifespan. The legacy systems sustainment group offers a stopgap solution, ensuring these systems function until retirement without disrupting the DoD mission.
DMEA creates circuit and system level solutions utilizing industry-leading tools. Several Component and System test services are leveraged when providing Product Support:
DMEA specializes in the manufacturing of high voltage discrete devices in the Advanced Reconfigurable Manufacturing for Semiconductors (ARMS) facility. Through its Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence (CITE) designation, cohesive system of research, engineering, manufacturing, packaging and testing in the design and development of discrete and integrated circuit products, DMEA can manufacture high-voltage Si and SiC discrete components required for applications of National Importance and for supplying HV discrete devices to DoD when industry is unwilling or unable to provide.
The Science and Engineering Gamma Irradiation Test (SEGIT) Facility performs Total Ionizing Dose (TID) testing. TID testing determines the amount of performance degradation suffered by components and circuits exposed to specified levels of gamma irradiation. To accomplish this, the SEGIT Facility employs two Cobalt-60 J.L. Shepherd & Associates Model 81-22/484 gamma irradiators which can achieve dose rates as low as 0.2 rad (SiO2)/min and as high as 100 krad(SiO2)/min. The delivery of both irradiators occurred in 1994, when McClellan was still an active Air Force Base. They were the first large-format units of this irradiator type. Upgrades to both since 1994 have occurred to providing test article positioning accuracy within 0.1 mm.