CHALLENGE
In today's armored fighting vehicle, the integration of vehicle electronic sub-systems for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR) and electronic warfare (EW) components, as well as power generation and distribution, are referred to as vetronics. The multiple sub-systems that support the ground mission are integrated and controlled using a Ground Mobile Mission Computer. Ground mobile mission computer design requires a mature, rugged, highly reliable, standards-based computing architecture that meets DoD Information Assurance (IA) requirements.
APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE
As the singular command and control display computer in a ground vehicle, the ground mobile mission computer is the network and application integration point. A mission computer embeds display controls for all vehicle processing, covering vetronics such as C4ISR and EW payloads, diagnostics, and power management. A mission computer must support multiple display interfaces, as well as Gigabit Ethernet and CAN bus, to fully network the sub-systems and support system scaling and failover. The mission computer must be rugged— MILSTD-810G of a shock and vibration profile following method 514.6—yet present the lowest possible power and cooling profile. It must also scale to support myriad displays and control applications and offer connectivity that complies with DoD IA requirements.
FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
I/O and Processing - A ground mobile mission computer must possess I/O flexibility, networking capabilities, and the right level of processing without taxing the available size, weight, and power (SWaP), and cooling available for the task. Driven by the need for specialized I/O to integrate between vectronic functions, a good mission computer must be flexible and configurable to match the ground mobile platform demand. To enable attlefield programming, removable storage and USB ports are a must. All storage and system functions must also offer the option to support DoD IA requirements. And all of this must be delivered in a ruggedized, standards-based platform with a low power, convection cooled design.
Balanced SWaP2C2 - A ground mobile mission computer is often integrated in a vehicle later in the design cycle and constrained by available space. The choice of a ground mobile mission computer is driven by a balance between its size, weight, and power, performance, cooling, and cost (SWaP2C2 ) versus required features; a mission computer with balanced SWaP2C2 minimizes impact to the ground mobile platform while chieving desired performance goals. Extra size—pounds of weight in either the power supply or cooling method used—can negatively affect the efficiency of the ground vehicle, so sophisticated power management that reduces onboard power consumption is a necessity.
ADLINK GROUND MOBILE MISSION COMPUTING SOLUTIONS
ADLINK provides a wide range of embedded computing products suitable for ground mobile mission computers, ranging from single board computers (SBCs) through to complete embedded systems, all designed to be Extreme Rugged™ from the ground up.
For emerging system-level payload computing opportunities, ADLINK offers its High Performance Extreme Rugged Computer, or HPERC™. Housed in a VITA 75 standard package is a rugged COTS computing platform with a 3rd generation Intel® dual or quad Core™ i7 and NVIDIA GPGPU, up to 16GB DDR3 memory, and up to two terabytes of storage - a combination ideal for UAV image processing, data compression, and storage. The HPERC-IBR is a small form factor, tightly integrated system with VITA 75 standardized outputs provided on MIL-STD 38999 connectors, making GROUND MOBILE MISSION COMPUTING plug-and-play. An HPERC solution deployed today can be easily upgraded tomorrow, without a major platform rework.
Many larger UAV make use of 3U Open VPX computing solutions. ADLINK's 3U VPX3000 Series is a rugged, conduction cooled 3U single board computer (SBC) with conformal coating, and is an ideal solution for existing 3U form factor payload computing designs. The VPX3000 processor blade is a 3rd generation Intel® dual Core™ i7 processor with up to 8GB DDR3 memory soldered onboard, one PCI Express x8 XMC.3 site with VITA 46.9 rear I/O, onboard soldered 16GB SLC SATA solid state drive, and additional rear I/O with audio, video, and storage inputs.
The PC/104 form factor offers standardized multi-vendor I/O and peripheral support. While a PC/104 solution can provide the payload processing required for UAV, its deployment benefit is often the availability of specialized I/O required in the avionics market. Having readily available third-party boards designed with widely supported standards for avionics-specific communication links, such as AIRINC 429 and MILSTD-1553, helps accelerate time-to-deployment. The ADLINK CoreModule® 920 is a PCI/104-Express SBC (Type 1) based on the 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor that provides the highest level of performance for our PC/104 product family.
Extreme Rugged™ CoreModule 920
Man-pak GROUND MOBILE MISSION COMPUTING solutions that require the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processing delivered in the smallest possible industry standard form factor, but delivered in a unique mechanical package, need ADLINK's Express-IBR. The Express-IBR is a Type 6 COM Express® module equipped with either a dual/quad-core 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 processor, up to 16GB DDR3 memory, and versatile IO support. Used as the processing core of a Payload Computing solution, a COM Express module provides all of the payload performance required, yet delivered in a cost-effective, rugged industry form factor.