Posted by John Keller
CHATSWORTH, Calif., 7 Feb. 2010. Aitech Defense Systems Inc. in Chatsworth, Calif., is introducing its latest version of the NightHawk RCU rugged Intel Atom-based rugged computer remote-control unit for unmanned vehicles, armored vehicles, and aircraft.
The NightHawk RCU weighs 4.5 pounds, has a slimmer profile than its predecessors, and offers natural radiation and convection cooling that dissipates heat from as much as 22 Watts at 55 degrees Celsius in non-flowing air, or at temperatures as high as 71 C with an optional low-pressure fan or baseplate
Based on the low-power Intel Atom processor operating at 1.6 GHz, the NightHawk provides as much as two gigabytes of DDR2 SDRAM memory, as well as between four and eight gigabytes of solid-state drive memory with an optional expansion of as much as 250 gigabytes of solid-state disk memory for extended and remote data collection and remote data storage applications.
For military tracked and wheeled vehicle applications, the NightHawk RCU can provide condition based maintenance (CBM) to reduce the overhead costs of preventative vehicle maintenance.
The NightHawk will make its debut this week at CMSE 2010 conference on the engineering, design and use of electronic components in military and space electronics in Los Angeles.
The NightHawk RCU offers standard PC I/O interfaces including two Gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB 2.0 ports, and four multi-function RS232 serial ports, dual graphics/video ports, keyboard/mouse, and stereo audio in/output ports, as well as an I/O set tailored for embedded military and severe industrial applications.
Optional I/O includes MIL-STD-1553B, ARINC-429, ARINC-708, CAN Bus, WiFi and WAN ports, as well as video capture and processing, discrete and analog I/O, and an eight-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. All I/O is available via MIL-DTL-38999-style connectors mounted on the unit's front access panel.
The unit uses conductive silicon rubber O-rings and flat EMI gaskets to keep out sand, dust, humidity, and contaminant splash, and its EMI/RFI filter protection meets MIL-STD-461 emission and susceptibility limits.
The unit's black external surfaces are finished with hard anodize for corrosion resistance, with other colors and chemical agent resistant coatings available upon request. Internal surfaces are chemical conversion coated for corrosion resistance as well as to ensure high electrical conductivity.
Operating temperature is -55 71 C in extreme environments that involve shocks as strong as 40 Gs peak single half-sine, and vibration as strong as 10 Gs RMS sine at 5 Hz 500 Hz.
The NightHawk RCU complies with MIL-STD-1275, MIL-STD-704, MIL-STD-461, and MIL-STD-462, and features an input voltage range from 18 36 volts DC with reverse polarity protection. Total power supply output is 50 Watts to power optional user-defined I/O.
Supported operating systems include Windows Embedded XP, Linux, and VxWorks. For more information contact Aitech online at www.rugged.com.
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