It's November - that means that at the end of this month, AOC members, industry partners, and high-ranking individuals who work within the EMSO community will be gathering soon for AOC 2021. Will you be there?

AOC 2021, the Association of Old Crow’s International Symposium & Convention, is less than four weeks away. There is still time to get registered for the much-anticipated return to an in-person event taking place at the D.C. Convention Center from Nov. 30 – Dec. 2.

Agenda
The agenda is coming together nicely! View the latest schedule.

Register before the price increases
If you have not registered, take advantage of a lower rate before Nov. 5.

STEM Competition Ends Soon

The AOC STEM Program invites students in grades 9-12 to submit a one- to five-minute video for the chance to win $2,000 for their group and gain access to member benefits to enhance their future career goals. AOC recognizes the importance of educating and guiding the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians using an interdisciplinary and applied approach. 

Competition Opens: Oct. 1.
Competition Closes: Nov. 30.

This contest aims to encourage and support student STEM groups to consider the electromagnetic spectrum in their studies. The competition is a chance for your school or STEM team to work on a fun project with an AOC Mentor, learn about the electromagnetic spectrum and how it applies to everyday life and a future career. In addition, this competition is an opportunity to win a significant financial award for your school/group and a chance to be informative, inventive, artistic, scientific, technical and creative in a short video.

Learn more.

Cognitive EW Systems: Addressing Mode-Agile Threat Emitters
Nov. 4 | 2-3 p.m. EST
In this webinar we will review the challenges that mode-agile or WArtime Reserve Modes (WARM) RADAR and EW threat emitters pose to traditional static threat library implementations in RADAR and EW systems. We will outline and assess the architectures of cognitive Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) systems that can be used to deliver effective RF countermeasures. We will discuss how technics that can be used to train AI/ML engines and evaluate the responses and effectiveness of those countermeasures on representative RF hardware.

Register now.

Introduction to Satellite Communications (Satcom)
Dec. 6-10 | Monday, Wednesday & Friday | 1-5 p.m. EST

Whether at home making an overseas call, receiving the latest digital weather report on your personal boat or aircraft, tracking a FedEx package delivery time, watching a live sports broadcast from across the globe, or in enemy territory receiving tactical EW data in support of a mission, Satcom plays a critical role in the daily events of our lives. This course will cover the core material required for participants to understand and discuss basic Satcom theory and operations. Specifically:

• Historical Perspectives/Background
• Satellite Types and Configurations
• Orbits and Associated Communications Impacts
• Launch Vehicles
• Space, Ground, and User Segments
• Satellite Links/Link Equation
• Frequencies and Propagation Impacts
• Survey of Recent Satcom Launches

Register now

AOC continues to connect Electromagnetic Warfare practitioners, industry partners, policymakers and procurement decision-makers.

The year 2020 was a massive interruption to life and business, changing how we work, how we connect and forced us into a new way of doing things. We have created new ways to connect and share with our members through these changing times. We have taken events to a virtual space and created new and exciting opportunities for our members to continue looking to AOC as industry leaders.

Now more than ever it's important to keep in touch and AOC sponsorships are a great way to be part of what's happening right now in the electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) industry.

Partner with AOC to increase your reach!
By partnering with AOC, Industry Partners have a variety of ways to connect with members throughout the year. Stay relevant to your customer base, participate in high-level discussions and, most importantly, nurture relationships with key contacts.

Learn more.

Defense Industry Tackles Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is creating new business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet the market requirements. Technology, data and the cloud are concepts that have come together so that we can tackle information together. A fundamental piece of digital transformation is getting to a point where we share our information and have a framework where it's not just our information, but collective information that is shared by the community. In this episode, podcast host Ken Miller sits with Mr. Ryan Tintner, Vice President of Digital Transformation at Northrop Grumman Corporation. They define what digital transformation means from an industry perspective as they move through the concept of all-domain operations. Ken and Ryan discuss how digital transformation means different things to different missions and Ryan explains how it helps an organization integrate technology, people and processes to do everything faster and more effectively. Open systems architecture is an important piece of digital transformation and this episode expands on what it means in sustainment and the life cycle costs of technology and systems and what it all means for the DoD.

Start Listening.

Thank you to our episode sponsor, 

The Association of Old Crows is pleased to provide its online Career Center – the premier resource to connect career opportunities with highly qualified EW, EMSO, CEMA, SIGINT, ELINT & IO talent. You can access the AOC Career Center at https://careers.crows.org.

Featured Jobs:

• EW/RF Systems Engineer – Arcata Associates – Point Mugu, California, United States
• RF Engineer – Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3) –  Huntsville, Alabama, United States

The USAF has lots of old planes. Sixty-year-old B-52 bombers. Forty-year-old C-130 transports. Hundreds of F-15 and F-16 fighters in their fourth decade of service. But the RC-135s stand out. (Forbes)

Beginning next month, the Space Force intends to issue a series of solicitations for commercial satellite communications bandwidth, equipment and services — with up to $2.3 billion in awards to be issued between 2022 and 2023. (Breaking Defense)

The aircraft retains the same basic configuration as the land-based FC-31, first flown in prototype form in October 2012, but which has not yet won any orders from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force or export operators, to whom it has been increasingly targeted. (The Drive)