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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2008

DRS Technologies Introduces Picoceptor Miniature Portable Receiver

PARSIPPANY, N.J., December 2008 – DRS Technologies announced today the launch of its PicoceptorTM, the latest in a series of DRS advanced miniature portable receivers. The Picoceptor is a small, lightweight, low-power software definable radio for portable SIGINT applications and is designed and developed at DRS Signal Solutions, Inc. located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

At 13 cubic inches, the Picoceptor fits easily in a shirt pocket and its advanced RF circuitry requires approximately one watt. The Picoceptor also includes powerful digital signal processing (DSP). DSP is the newest technology to transform radio design philosophy and the Picoceptor is the first of many planned products of this type.

“The Picoceptor is the complete solution for today’s stringent size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements,” said Larry Butera, vice president and general manager of DRS Signal Solutions, Inc. “Given the portability, size and flexibility of this radio, it can easily be utilized in current and future SIGINT missions that require soldiers to act with speed and agility in the field.”

The Picoceptor takes advantage of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based design that provides system-on-a-chip (SOC) level integration for miniaturization, flexibility and performance. The unit can be controlled via the built-in web-based graphical user interface (GUI). The USB 2.0 OTG (on-the-go) interface allows attachment of peripheral devices such as thumb drives, Ethernet devices, GPS receivers and Bluetooth modules. The USB 2.0 interface also allows direct, high-speed connectivity to a PC or laptop.

Picoceptor contains sufficient RAM and flash memory to support the Linux OS and most software-definable radio (SDR) operating environments. The downloadable architecture makes it ideally suited for customer-specific applications. The embedded Linux platform appears to the user like any other PC. Users are able to transfer data into the unit via a file transfer protocol (ftp) or a telecommunications network (telnet) protocol, compile and run custom software, and control other units via the serial or GPIO interfaces. This allows the module to be used as a platform for complex digital signal processing, where small size and low power is a requirement.

DRS Signal Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is a world leader in providing commercial-off-the-shelf products and custom SIGINT solutions. These solutions leverage over 45 years of experience in the design, development, and manufacturing of a broad range of high performance radio frequency surveillance equipment. Applications are deployed worldwide by virtually all United States military, as well as several allied international governments and defense prime contractors.

DRS Technologies, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, is a leading supplier of integrated products, services and support to military forces, intelligence agencies and prime contractors worldwide. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica S.p.A. which employs more than 70,000 people worldwide. For more information about DRS Technologies, please visit the company’s website at www.drs.com

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For information, contact:

Richard M. Goldberg
Vice President, Public Affairs
(973) 451-3584
goldberg@drs.com