as nyse col s & p 500 component industry aerospace defense founded 1933 headquarters cedar rapids iowa usa key people kelly ortberg president and ceo products avionics revenue 5.24 billion usd 5 % fy 2015 1 number of employees 20 000 2015 1 website rockwellcollins.com rockwell collins inc. is an american multinational company headquartered in cedar rapids iowa providing avionics and information technology systems and services to governmental agencies and aircraft manufacturers . contents 1 history 1.1 rockwell collins 2 past products 2.1 broadcast transmitters 2.2 shortwave transmitters 2.3 receivers 2.4 transceivers and systems 2.5 computers 2.6 network transmission systems 3 organizational structure 4 advanced technology center 5 collector community 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit arthur collins founded collins radio company in 1933 in cedar rapids iowa . it designed and produced both shortwave radio equipment and equipment for the burgeoning am broadcast industry . collins was solicited by the military the scientific community and by the larger am radio stations for special equipment . collins supplied the equipment to establish a communications link with the south pole expedition of rear admiral richard byrd in 1933 . in 1936 collins had begun production of the 12h audio console 12x portable field announcers box the 300e and 300f broadcast transmitters . throughout world war ii the 212a1 and 212b1 replaced the 12h design . collins became the principal supplier of radio and navigation equipment used in the military where uncompromising performance was required . in the post war years the collins radio company expanded its work in all phases of the communications field while broadening its technology . this moved arthur collins into a more active role as ceo guiding department leaders holding significant responsibilities . new developments such as flight control instruments radio communication devices and satellite voice transmissions created great opportunities in the marketplace . collins radio company provided communications for america s role in the space race including equipment for astronauts to communicate with earth stations and equipment to track and communicate with spacecraft . collins communications equipment was used for projects mercury gemini and apollo providing voice communication for every american astronaut traveling through space . in 1973 the u.s. skylab program used collins equipment to provide communication from the astronauts to earth . rockwell collins edit after facing financial difficulties the collins radio company was purchased by rockwell international in 1973 . in 2001 the avionics division of rockwell international was spun off to form the current rockwell collins inc. retaining its name . rockwell collins is highly concentrated in the defense and commercial avionics markets and no longer markets receivers to the public . the collins mechanical filter is still in production and does however find consumer and commercial use . on december 20 2000 rockwell collins expanded its services to commercial and executive aviation in mercosur countries . 2 on april 28 2000 rockwell international corp and its rockwell collins unit agreed to acquire sony corp s sony trans com irvine calif for undisclosed terms . 3 the company has acquired several companies including hughes avicom s in flight entertainment business sony s in flight entertainment business sony trans com intertrade ltd. flight dynamics k systems inc. kaiser companies communication solutions inc. airshow inc. nlx simulation business in 2003 4 portions of evans & sutherland teldix gmbh ip unwired anzus inc. athena technologies datapath inc. divested in 2014 seos displays ltd. air routing international in 2010 5 computing technologies for aviation cta in 2011 6 and arinc in 2014 . 7 the company is among the major suppliers of in flight entertainment on board aircraft . rockwell collins key competitors in this industry include panasonic avionics corporation thales group and jetblue s ife subsidiary livetv . as of 2010 the company employs over 20 000 people 8 and has an annual turnover of 4.665 billion us dollars . its non executive chairman is anthony carbone following the retirement of clayton m. jones . 9 in september 2012 kelly ortberg was appointed as president of the company . 10 in august 2013 kelly ortberg was appointed ceo of rockwell collins . 11 past products edit broadcast transmitters edit in the mid 1930s the collins radio company constructed and sold transmitters and audio mixing consoles to the broadcast industry . in 1939 the model 12 speech input console in addition to the 26c limiter amplifier was licensed to canadian marconi co. for both sales in canada and her majesties service for the war effort . citation needed collins success in constructing broadcast transmitters continued to grow selling well over a thousand up to the start of world war ii . during world war ii collins expertise grew in higher power transmitters producing designs which ran well over 15 kilowatts of rf power on a continuous basis . after the war a limited number of am transmitters were produced called the 300g and remain the finest in low power am transmitters 300w ever produced . collins remained an important manufacturer of am and fm broadcast radio transmitters for the commercial market surviving the drastic cost cutting market of the 1960s and 1970s . citation needed the transmitter line was later sold to continental electronics which continued to produce a number of collins designs under its own nameplate before phasing them out in the 1980s . shortwave transmitters edit collins produced several shortwave transmitters to the commercial market . a 30 series production catered to the growing need of state highway patrol agencies and department of commerce aviation needs . during world war ii collins produced high power transmitters for aircraft notably the art 13 equipped with automatic tuning circuits which represented an important enhancement for airborne radio communications . 12 after world war ii collins supported both broadcast and the growing post war amateur radio market . the united states coast guard cutter uscgc courier was employed as seagoing relay station for voice of america programming using two collins 207b 1 transmitters . 13 14 amateur radio transmitters included the 32v 1 2 and 3 kws 1 and the rack mounted kw 1 . 15 receivers edit around 1947 the company introduced their first amateur radio receiver the 75a 1 called the 75a . this set achieved excellent stability for the time due to high build quality and the use of a permeability tuned oscillator pto in its second conversion stage . it was one of the few double conversion superheterodynes on the market and covered only the amateur bands . with the experience gained in the design of the 75a 1 collins released the 51j 1 receiver a general coverage hf set covering .5 to 30 mhz . it would be produced in somewhat updated versions 51j 2 51j 3 51j 4 for about a decade . it was known as the r 388 and was used in multiple receiver diversity rtty installations . the 75a amateur line was updated throughout the early 50s finishing with the 75a 4 which was released in 1955 . the collins mechanical filter was introduced to consumers in the 75a 3 and the 75a 4 was one of the first receivers marketed specifically as a single sideband receiver . collins r 390a radio receiver around 1950 collins began designing the r 390 .5 30 mhz for the us military . this was intended to be a receiver of the highest performance available with the ruggedness and serviceability required for military duty . it featured direct mechanical digital frequency readout . the set is composed of several modules for easy field repair a bad module could simply be swapped out and repaired later or junked . sets built during the original 1951 contract cost the government about 2500 each and around 16 000 were produced . concurrently collins developed the r 389 a long wave version with fewer than 1000 made . the r 391 another variant of the r 390 allowed choice of 8 different auto tuned channels . three years later collins delivered the r 390a 16 to the military . about 54 000 were produced and the set was a military workhorse until the 1970s . like the r 390 it can outperform many modern radios to the point that it was designated top secret until the late 1960s . in 1958 collins replaced the 75a series with the much smaller 75s series part of the s line discussed in the next section . these featured mechanical filters very accurate frequency readout and excellent stability . at the request of the us government collins designed the 51s 1 general coverage set which was essentially in intended use a physically smaller replacement for the 51j series . it was not intended as a replacement for the higher performance r 390a and unlike the r 390a it was extensively marketed for commercial use . collins produced a few high performance solid state receivers in the 1970s such as the 651s 1 . like their tube predecessors these are coveted by collectors today . transceivers and systems edit with the introduction of the s line in 1958 collins moved from designing individual products that could be used together to ones that were designed to integrate and operate together in various combinations as a system . they were the first equipment maker to take this approach . collins was also the first to introduce a compact hf transceiver the kwm 1 the year before . together these two innovations put collins temporarily ahead of its competition and set the stage for other manufacturers and the next generation of amateur and military hf radio equipment . the 75s 1 receiver and 32s 1 transmitter comprising the heart of the s line operated separately or together to transceive . the units included crystal bandpass filters and a new compact pto design that provided stable highly linear tuning across 200 khz band segments . the s line tuning dial mechanism was unique when introduced . it used concentric dials and a gear mechanism that provided precise dial resolution better than 1 khz . collins s line 516f 2 power supply 75s 3b receiver 32s 3 transmitter 312b 4 console sm 1 microphone circa 1969 within a few years collins had introduced additional s line components including the 30s 1 kilowatt power amplifier the 30l 1 desktop power amplifier and the 62s 1 transverter which provided coverage of the 6 meter 50 mhz and 2 meter 144 mhz amateur bands . the kwm 2 transceiver replaced the kwm 1 using many of the s line s design features and matching its styling . other accessories included speakers microphones and control consoles . illustrating the uniqueness of their new smaller units in the market collins advertisements in the 1950s and early 1960s emphasized the s line s physical styling and size as often as they did its performance . 17 collins continued to improve the s line first introducing the s 2 then the s 3 units the 75s 3 and 3a 3b and 3c receiver and the 32s 3 and 3a transmitters . the 3a and 3c units were identical to the 3 and 3b units respectively except they provided an extra set of heterodyne oscillator crystals enabling them to cover extra bands useful for military amateur and mars operation where operation just outside the regular amateur bands was necessary . collins 30l 1 amplifier ca. 1970 among amateur radio operators the s line established its reputation as perhaps the most solidly engineered equipment available and the most costly . as a result s line equipment and the a line and other predecessors are restored prized and operated on the air by collectors today . collins continued to produce the s line well into the late 1970s and after its acquisition by rockwell . in 1978 with the move to solid state design the s line came to an end after a two decade production run . the kwm 380 transceiver