Profile: Herley Industries Inc (HRLY.O)

Herley Industries, Inc. is a supplier of microwave products and systems to defense and

aerospace entities worldwide. The Company designs and manufactures microwave components and subassemblies, which are embedded in a variety of radars, flight instrumentation, weapons sensors, electronic warfare systems and guidance systems. Its microwave devices are used on its subassemblies and integrated systems (command and control systems, telemetry systems, transponders, flight termination receivers and identification friend or foe, or IFF, interrogators), in addition to being sold on a component basis. The Company’s primary customers include large defense prime contractors (including Northrop Grumman Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon Company, The Boeing Company, BAE Systems and Harris Corporation), the United States Government (including the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other United States Government agencies) and international customers (including the Israeli, Egyptian, German, Japanese, Taiwanese, Spanish, Australian and South Korean militaries and suppliers to international militaries).

Telemetry Systems

Telemetry systems provide wireless data transmission between two or more sites for recording and analysis. Missile, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or target testing on domestic and international test ranges requires flight safety and performance data transmission to maximize flight safety during test operations. Herley Industries, Inc. is a manufacturer of pulse code modulation (PCM), and frequency modulation (FM), telemetry and data acquisition systems for severe environment applications, and its products are used worldwide for testing space launch vehicle instrumentation, aircraft flight testing, and amphibian, industrial and automotive vehicle testing. The product portfolio ranges in size and complexity from miniature encoders to completely programmable data acquisition systems.

Command and Control Systems

The Company’s command and control (C2) systems principally are used to fly remotely a large variety of UAVs, typically aircraft used as target drones or remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs). Its C2 systems also control surface targets. Operations have been conducted by users on the open ocean, remote land masses, and instrumented test and training ranges. Its C2 systems is in service worldwide. C2 systems permit a ground operator to fly a target or a UAV through a pre-planned mission. The mission may be for reconnaissance, where the vehicle is equipped with high definition television sensors and the necessary data links to send information back to its C2 systems ground station. The UAV may also be used as a decoy, since the operator can direct the flight operations that will make the small drone appear to be a larger combat aircraft.

The Modular Networked TarGet Control Equipment (MONTAGE) system affords

over-the-horizon C2 using GPS guidance and control of multiple targets from a single ground station. The MONTAGE is used in support of missile, aircraft and other weapons systems development and testing and for training purposes.

Transponders

The Company manufactures a variety of expendable transponders, including range safety, IFF, command and control, and range scoring systems. Transponders are small, expendable, electronic systems consisting of a transmitter, sensitive receiver and internal signal processing equipment comprised of active and passive components, including microwave subassemblies such as amplifiers, oscillators and circulators. The transponder receives signals from radars, changes and amplifies the frequency of the signals, and transmits back a reply on a different frequency and signal level.

In range safety applications, transponders enable accurate tracking of space launch and unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles, and target drones so that position and direction are known throughout its flight. In the case of several defense and commercial space launch vehicles (Delta, Atlas, Titan and Pegasus), its transponders are tracked by the ground launch team all the way to space orbit, and in certain instances through several orbits, as a reference location point in space to assure that the launch payload has been properly placed in orbit. IFF transponders, which are used in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Authority Air Traffic Control System, enable ground controllers to identify the unmanned targets, drones and cruise missiles on which these units fly and to vector other manned aircraft safely away from the flight path of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Command and control transponders provide the link through the telemetry system for relaying ground signals to direct the vehicle's flight. The uplink from the ground control station, a series of coded pulse groups, carries the signals that command the flight control guidance system of the vehicle. The downlink to the ground provides both tracking signals for range safety, as well as acknowledgment and status of the uplink commands and their implementation in the vehicle.

Flight Termination Receiver

A flight termination receiver (FTR), is installed in a test missile, UAV, target or space launch vehicle as a safety device. The FTR has a built-in decoder that enables it to receive a complex series of audio tones, which, when appropriate, will set off an explosive charge that will destroy the vehicle. A range safety officer (RSO), using the range safety transponder will track the vehicle in flight to determine if it is performing as required. If the RSO detects a malfunction in the test or launch vehicle that causes it to veer from a planned trajectory in a manner that may endanger personnel or facilities, the RSO will transmit a coded signal to the onboard FTR to destroy the vehicle.

HF Communications and IFF Interrogators

Herley Industries, Inc. designs and manufactures high frequency radio and IFF interrogators. This high frequency communications equipment is used by the United States Navy and foreign navies that conduct joint military exercises with the United States Navy. The IFF interrogators are used as part of shipboard equipment and are also placed on coastlines, where they are employed as silent sentries.

High Power Amplifier

The Company designs and manufactures high power amplifier systems with frequencies ranging from 1.5 megahertz (MHz) to 12 gigahertz (GHz) with power levels from 15 watts up to several kilowatts depending on the frequency. Its high power amplifier applications include but are not limited to defense communication, electronic warfare, radar and avionics.

Microwave Integrated Circuits

The Company designs and manufactures microwave integrated circuits (MICs), which consist of assemblies that perform many functions, primarily involving switching of microwave signals. Its MICs are employed on many defense electronics systems and missile programs.

High/Low Power Integrated Assembly

The Company’s high power microwave devices are used in radar system transmitters and in long-range missiles. High power devices frequently use small amounts of nuclear material to enhance breakdown of high energy pulses. It also produces lower power, broad band microwave integrated assemblies for the defense electronics industry. These assemblies combine microwave functions, such as amplification, attenuation, switching of multiple signals, and phase and amplitude control. Their applications include radar warning receivers (RWRs), electronics countermeasure (ECM), systems and receiver systems.

Solid State Receiver Protector

The Company is a supplier of solid-state receiver protector devices that is able to withstand high energy pulses without the use of nuclear materials. These high power devices protect a radar receiver from transient bursts of microwave energy and are employed in almost every military and commercial radar system.

Digitally Tuned Oscillators (DTOs), Phase Locked Dielectric Resonator Oscillators (PDROs), Phase Locked Coaxial Resonator Oscillators (PCROs) and Synthesizers.

Herley Industries, Inc. produces microwave sources, which generate signals that are used in microwave oscillators. Its microwave sources are sold to the United States defense industry for commercial communication system applications, and to various foreign governments. It specializes in both fixed frequency oscillators (DTOs, PDROs, and PCROs), as well as tunable frequency synthesizers. Low noise frequency synthesizers are offered over a range of tunable bandwidths and switching speeds.

Simulation Equipment

EW Simulation Technology Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, designs and manufactures radar threat and electronic countermeasures simulation equipment for electronic warfare training and test and evaluation applications. CHAMELEON is a real time ECM jamming simulator. It uses a variety of ECM techniques and radar target modeling for training and testing of both radar and EW operators and systems. The system offers a fully programmable ECM capability using wideband Digital RF Memory (DRFM) technology; and offers fully coherent jamming in both range and velocity through the use of 8-bit DRFM technology together with Graphical User Interface (GUI) software. The CHAMELEON is suited for ground-based and airborne ECM test and training systems.

The RSS8000 Series Radar Threat Simulator generates real-time user programmable radar threats and provides output configurations in digital on-board trainer (OBT) and RF (RSS series) formats. The system can be used for EW system test and evaluation, as well as for EW operator training in laboratory and more rugged environments. Mobile EW and Radar Test Systems (MERTS) is a mobile EW and radar test system providing a complete portable jamming and radar threat test facility for field use. PTS8000 is a multi-spectral portable test suite aimed at the pre-flight test market.

RF Simulation Equipment

Micro Systems Inc., wholly owned subsidiary, designs and manufactures DRFM’s, radar target simulators, and radar environment simulators for operator training and critical testing of a variety of electronic warfare systems including Radars, Jammers, and ELINT/SIGINT systems.

Digital RF Memories are subsystems that digitize RF waveforms, store, delay, modulate and eventually replay the RF waveform. Radar Target Generators capture/replay or generate radar waveforms and transmits signals back to the radar to simulate what the radar would see in an operational environment. Radar Environment Simulators (RES) also capture/replay or generate radar waveforms and inject them directly into the radar under test.

Scientific Products

The Company’s scientific products are used in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) systems. These amplifiers, which have dual mode capability and can be operated in either a pulsed or continuous wave, cover the frequency ranges of 6 MHz to 950 MHz, with power levels as high as 2.0 kilowatt peak power at 10% duty cycle. Scientific customers include original equipment manufacturers (OEM), system manufacturers and research centers.

Medical Products

The Company’s medical products vary in complexity from single modules, to rack-mounted amplifiers, to complete systems. The rack-mounted amplifiers and complete systems typically include detection/protection circuitry, built-in power supplies, front panel metering and digital and/or analog interface controls.