A visit to Pioneer Circuits is like a trip to the museum. Since 1981, Pioneer Circuits (Santa Ana, CA) has been producing flex and rigid-flex (“r/f”) circuits for state-of-the-art military weaponry and NASA-designed space vehicles. Year after year, they have been breaking new ground producing ingenious circuit solutions to complex experimental designs in aerospace, satellite technology, missiles, and avionics. Often, the projects are costly, risky, and have very tight schedules.

According to the company’s vice president Dale McKeeby, the company has spent years encouraging more successful r/f designs using its free, nationwide seminars. “These are open to all interested parties, customers or not,” he said. “Once launched, with every new project, our most important first step is in detailed planning with customers to produce a productive plan-of-action flow chart. Ultimately, Pioneer’s ongoing ‘concurrent engineering’ strategy routinely includes concept consulting and ‘no charge mock-up services’ directed to seeing the project through to final on-time, within-budget delivery.”

Aerospace

Among its most spectacular assignments was supporting the electronic package for the Mars Rover.

Figure 1. Multilayer flex cables with laser-accessed contacts used on the Hubble telescope.

Eight years ago, I observed the build-up of the first Mars Rover vehicle, which almost never got off the ground. The weight of necessary conventional wiring would prevent launch. To solve the problem, JPL designed a 30-layer, rigid-flex circuit, but no one bid to build the circuit except Pioneer. With that rigid-flex (r/f) circuit, history was made.

Figure 2. The Cassini mission to Saturn employed Pioneer’s 6-12 layer r/f boards.

Since that time, the company’s accomplishments followed by applying r/f technology to the Hubble telescope (Figure 1), the $3 billion Cassini Mission to Saturn (Figure 2), the International Space Station (3 to 18 layers r/f), and various Space Shuttle Missions.

Satellites

Few appreciate the role of electronic hardware in the sky delivering multiple channel commercial television and dependable weather forecasts. Once aloft, it is a given that the equipment must perform flawlessly, unheralded. Pioneer has applied its r/f reputation for reliability to the success of the “HS 601 Communications Satellites” (multiple rigid and 6- to-14-layer r/f), “NASA-GOES Weather Satellites” (6-14 layer r/f), and various confidential military products.

Missiles

Indirectly, today’s aerospace programs grew from the terrifying example of the V-2 rockets’ attack on London in 1944. Overnight, the focus on rocketry research shifted from harmless fireworks to deadly missiles. With the speed and versatility of these new weapons, defense technology was forced to mature from scaling up World War II weaponry to creating new classes of armament with enhanced targeting intelligence. Today, missiles rely as much on their r/f circuit “nervous system” as they do their explosive power.

Figure 3. A 4-layer r/f used in the Patriot missile.

Though Pioneer’s projects such as the Tomahawk Cruise” (6-layer r/f), the “Patriot” (Figure 3:), and “Stinger” (6-layer r/f) are praised in the news, if it weren’t for r/f electronics, they are no different than World War II cannons.

Avionics

The dazzling performance of high-speed aircraft shooting across the sky overshadows the r/f fabrication technology guiding their actions. Figure 4 shows the enemy’s-eye-view of the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter.

Figure 4. An enemy’s-eye-view of the F-22 Fighter.

Figure 5 shows the location of systems that make the plane able to handle all challengers. Figure 6 shows F-117, the radar-evading Stealth fighter for which Pioneer supplies its r/f “Heads Up Display” launching the Paveway II missile.

Figure 5. The F-22’s electrical systems allow it to handle all challengers.

Elsewhere, Pioneer r/f circuits appear in less visually striking applications as the Comanche Helicopter and the Bradley Fighting Tank.

Finally, Pioneer is proud of its status as a “Corporate Preferred Supplier” to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Rockwell Collins. According to Sam Scull, Director of Business Development, “Preserving our marketshare is a challenge."

Figure 6. Bomb’s away: the F-117 radar-evading Stealth fighter.

"Even though we are long-term partners participating in major programs, our customers do not lower the performance bar for us. To continue to earn their confidence, we go all out to meet or exceed their performance metrics.”