Engineers at Thales U.K. in Addlestone Nr Weybridge, England, sought a real-time data processor (RTDP) subsystem for Watchkeeper, a surveillance solution used by the United Kingdom’s armed forces. The RTDP accepts compressed video from the Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), as well as processes and distributes it to supervisory consoles within the ground control system.

Watchkeeper, part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence’s unmanned aerial vehicle program and a component of the United Kingdom’s Network Enabled Capability (NEC) initiative, is designed to provide intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities.

For Watchkeeper’s RTDP, Thales turned to Radstone Embedded Computing in Towcester, England. The RTDP will include three Radstone PPCM2 6U VME dual-processor single-board computers, a StarSwitch multipurpose StarFabric switch with a PMC-StarLite switched-fabric interconnect PMC, and a third-party Fibrechannel PMC.

“We were able to demonstrate an ‘off-the-shelf’ subsystem that delivered the required operating characteristics, shortening the development cycle and reducing program risk,” Peter Cavill, president of Radstone Embedded Computing, says.

For more information contact Radstone Embedded Computing online at www.radstone.com.