Northrop Grumman Takes a Leap in Sensor Technology with EMRIS

Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully completed the first flight campaign of its Electronically-Scanned Multifunction Reconfigurable Integrated Sensor (EMRIS). This achievement marks a significant milestone in the development of advanced sensor technology for military applications.

EMRIS testing

The EMRIS system was designed using common building blocks and software containerization, allowing for rapid and cost-effective production. This approach enables the quick deployment of advanced capabilities to warfighters.

Open Architecture and Digital Engineering

EMRIS’s fully digital Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) utilizes technology from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Arrays on Commercial Timescales program, combined with the government’s open architecture standards. This flexibility allows EMRIS to perform multiple functions, including radar, electronic warfare, and communications, simultaneously.

Dozens of successful flights with EMRIS demonstrated the ability to reduce development timelines and lower program costs by leveraging our partnerships with, and advancements across, all military services. - Krys Moen, Vice President, Advanced Mission Capabilities, Northrop Grumman

Rapid Integration and Operation

The flights demonstrated the open architecture nature of EMRIS by using third-party integration and operation. New software was rapidly deployed during flights, demonstrating the reconfigurable nature of the sensor.

EMRIS array

Scalability and Adaptability

As part of EMRIS’s flights, Northrop Grumman demonstrated the ability to quickly leverage technologies developed for other programs to adapt multiple fielded capabilities into EMRIS. The second EMRIS array is entering testing, and Northrop Grumman is in the process of demonstrating its scalable nature by fabricating two smaller EMRIS apertures for lower cost and size-constrained application demonstrations.

Conclusion

EMRIS demonstrates the value of a product line designed from the beginning to leverage open, scalable software along with modular digital building blocks to enable a common sensor baseline. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the field of military sensor technology and provide warfighters with advanced capabilities.

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