Electronic Military & Defense Annual Resource

3rd Edition

Electronic Military & Defense magazine was developed for engineers, program managers, project managers, and those involved in the design and development of electronic and electro-optic systems for military, defense, and aerospace applications.

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Trends Budget Constraints Drive Adoption Of Advanced Interconnects Off-the-shelf fiber optic and M12 connectors are enabling military systems to maintain I/O speed performance and reliability in harsh environments. By Stephen Webster T Effective interconnect designs with these attributes help he first decade of the 21st century saw a sharp military computing systems offer the necessary ruggedincrease in terrorist attacks, followed by the United ness and reliability to perform in harsh environments. In States becoming more heavily involved in the addition to designs that work well with today's technolMiddle East. As a result, the U.S. government began ogy, military systems also rely on interconnects that conspending greater amounts on military campaigns and efforts tinually adapt to new, rapidly emerging technologies to to thwart terrorists. But now that it is winding down its avoid obsolescence. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. is likely to lower its expenditures on foreign military campaigns. In Role Of System Backplane Interconnects addition, budgetary constraints such as the Budget Control A key consideration in addressing this challenge is the Act will also prompt decreases in military spending. design of system backplane interconnects. Within comAn array of faster, smaller, lighter, and cost-effective mercial sectors, interconnect technologies used by duracommercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and modified off-the-shelf ble systems already achieve maximum I/O and are firmly (MOTS) products exists that offer economical options to established. Many systems efficiently achieve up to 25 GB achieve design goals in mission-critical applications. While speeds — but in relatively mild environments. government purchasing agents must focus on driving down When it comes to deploying these same systems in costs by utilizing COTS and MOTS military-grade lines, new harsh military environments, manufacturers face environequipment still requires rugged, high-performance solumental challenges. Military systems and their intercontions. Concurrently, technology advancements — such as nects have thus lagged behind commercial industries in cargo trucks that do not require human drivers, vehicles that the I/O speeds they provide. For the military, backplane employ on-the-move SATCOM systems, and military comspeeds are just reaching the 1 GB threshold. puting systems — will increasingly require more advanced system interconnects. Not only must I/O Speed Now Critical military systems perform at high Until recently, slower I/O system input/output (I/O) speeds and offer speeds have not created a major high reliability, they must also funcproblem, but as commercial techtion within harsh environments. nologies advance and create greatTo meet both the budgetary coner possibilities for what military straint challenge as well as the need systems can achieve, the need for for advanced technology, designers greater speed is evolving rapidly. of military systems are now charged Achieving greater throughput prowith ensuring systems that perform vides military users with more data at sufficient levels for longer periods that helps them perform their jobs of time. To meet these needs and perform effectively in harsh condi- Figure 1: Rugged fiber optic interconnects and cable solutions more efficiently and safely. intrinsically resist RF and EMI, making them ideal for missionMany military vehicles today are tions, computer systems and their critical applications such as military ground vehicles with radar, now fully equipped with electroninterconnects must meet several video surveillance, target identification, and night vision. ics, including onboard networking requirements: systems. The amount of data to transmit is thus increasing rapidly, and there's a greater need to link quickly to • Large data-volume processing other systems via data links and exchange information. • Minimal size and weight requirements The system complexity and other factors are pushing the • Sufficient and continuous power need for reliable, high-speed interconnects that hold up • Internal heat and ambient heat dissipation in harsh environments. • Functionality while subject to excessive dust, extreme To support systems like these, computer systems must temperatures, shock, and vibration 48 Electronic Military & Defense ■ www.vertmarkets.com/electronics

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