New Products

Tough membrane switch resists temperatures, dust, and dirt

Bergquist UK Ltd. in Crownhill, England, is offering membrane switches for harsh environments. Based on the company’s HeatSeal manufacturing technique, the switches function underwater, in rain, snow, and at high and low temperatures. They also function after exposure to harsh chemicals and solvents, as well as exposure to changes in atmospheric pressure in aerospace applications. The switches do not have microscopic voices, do not suffer from collapses of the membrane cell, and are immune to electrostatic discharge. For information contact Bergquist online at www.bergquistcompany.com.

COTS networking products for defense applications

ACT/Technico of Ivyland, Pa., is partnering with Interface Concept of Briec De L’odet, France, to offer a range of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) networking products for military, transport, medical, and communications applications. Offerings include 3U and 6U Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switches; PowerPC- and PowerQUICC-based intelligent Ethernet interface controllers; and synchronous/asynchronous serial communications platforms. The product range is available on PrPMC, VME, CompactPCI, and PMC boards. For more information contact ACT/Technico online at www.acttechnico.com.

Dual-port Ethernet PMC interface for AFDX/ARINC 664 Protocol

Condor Engineering in Santa Barbara, Calif., is offering the CNIC Ethernet 10/100 network interface card (NIC) for AFDX/ARINC 664 and real-time Ethernet/IP/UDP protocols for testing and simulating AFDX/ARINC 664 networks, which can reduce costs compared to proprietary multiprocessor designs. PCI and CompactPCI form factors are also available. The CNIC module offers two independent ports for traffic monitoring, traffic generation, external triggering, and analysis. It time-tags incoming Ethernet frames simultaneously with traffic generation. An IRIG-B receiver/generator is included for synchronization to an external IRIG-B time source and for synchronization between multiple CNIC boards. For more information contact Condor online at www.condoreng.com.

Environmentally sealed connectors for Ethernet applications

Tyco Electronics Corp. in Langen, Germany, is offering environmentally sealed connectors for Ethernet applications. The connectors are based on Tyco’s Etherseal system to combat harsh operating conditions in industrial environments. The system, which is based on the IP 67-rated connector with a push-on/twist-off connection, comes with special cables and patch leads that can be installed in harsh environments and that resist acid, oil, and sunlight. These components have Category 5 or Category 6 performance and exceed all TIA/EIA and ISO requirements. For more information contact Tyco Electronics online at www.tycoelectronics.com.

90-nanometer digital signal processors runing at 1 GHz

Texas Instruments Inc. in Houston is offering 1-GHz digital signal processors (DSPs) manufactured on a 90-nanmometer fabrication line. When these nanometer-scale version of the TMS320C6414T, TMS 320C6415T, and the TMS320C6416T moved to TI’s advanced 90-nanometer CMOS process technology and 1-GHz speeds, they are candidates for applications such as processing as many as eight channels of MPEG-2 video, and 64 universal and as many as 128 simple voice ports in telecommunications infrastructures on one device, company officials say. For more information contact TI online at www.ti.com.

Solid-state relay for 28-volt aircraft power applications

Dionics Inc. of Westbury, N.Y., is offering the DIH-144-SM power metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) dual N/O SPST photovoltaic DC relay for 28-volt aircraft power applications where speed, current overload protection, and immunity to transient voltages are critical. The device has current-limiting networks and thermally sensitive integrated circuits that disable the output if the output MOSFETs approach unsafe operating temperatures. The thermally sensitive integrated circuits have output MOSFETs that automatically restart when reaching a safe operating temperature. This auto-restart feature eliminates the need for system restart signals. If the overload condition continues, the cycle repeats. For more information contact Dionics online at www.dionics-usa.com.

Rugged notebook computer with swappable hard disk

Getac Inc. in Lake Forest, Calif., is offering the MobilForce M220 rugged laptop computer that runs on the Intel 1.4-GHz Dothan LV microprocessor. The M220 meets military standards for shock and vibration, and is for military, fire and emergency services, oil and gas exploration, utilities, and construction work. The computer has a Bay 1 and removable hard-disk bay design, and can accommodate an optical drive or second battery in Bay 1. The computer meets the IP54 standards for dust and water resistance, meets MIL-STD-810F, and will survive a 3-foot drop. The M220 computer also operates in temperatures between -4 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and MIL-STD-410E for resistance to electromagnetic interference. For more information contact Getac online at www.getac.com.

Heat-shield display filter protects from IR light

Silver Cloud Manufacturing Co. in Millville, N.J., is offering the Duralan II heat-shield display window that provides protection against heat generated by infrared (IR) light in outdoor applications. The shield is for applications where liquid-crystal displays are exposed to direct sunlight where the potential for heat buildup exists. The shield has a special film laminated with other plastic materials that reflects the IR light instead of letting it pass through the filter. At the same time visible light easily transmits through the filter so users can view the display clearly. The filters reflect about 80 percent of infrared light. For more information contact Silver Cloud online at www.silver-cloud.com.

Controller links analog RGB connection to flat panels

Digital View Inc. in Morgan Hill, Calif., is offering the AL-1280 display interface controller, a multisync device for analog RGB connection to a wide range of LVDS-interface TFT-type liquid-crystal-display panels. The card supports panel resolutions from 640 by 480 pixels to 1280 by 1024 pixels. It features automatic upscaling of relatively low-resolution inputs onto a high-resolution flat-panel display. The card is for military, industrial, medical, transportation, and signage applications. For more information contact Digital View online at www.digitalview.com.

Pentium M-based single-board computer

Dynatem of Mission Viejo, Calif., is offering the Intel Pentium M-based DPM x86 single-board computer for embedded applications that require low power consumption. The 855GME and 6300ESB chipset supports a 66-MHz PCI-X expansion bus than can use the Gigabit Ethernet ports available on the DPM with no data-transfer bottleneck, company officials say. A 10/100BaseTX port, and RS-232 communications port, and DVO/VGA port, and two USB 2.0 ports are accessible from the front panel. The RPM, a ruggedized version of the DPM, has stiffener bar, conduction cooling, and operates in temperatures from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius. For more information contact Dynatem online at www.dynatem.com.

Security-improvement module for SCADA networks

Thales in Weston, Fla., is offering a security-improvement module to protect relatively old supervisory control and data-acquisition (SCADA) networks that deliver services and commodities such as electricity, natural gas, and water. Originally designed with little or no security, SCADA networks are vulnerable to cyber attacks that can result in public-safety concerns and serious disruptions. The Datacryptor encryption module supports point-to-point, multidrop, and mixed-modes (secured and nonsecured) network configurations using serial asynchronous communication, and is compatible with standard communications protocols such as MODBUS and DNP. For more information contact Thales online at www.thales-esecurity.com.

Software toolset to help implement IEEE 1641

Racal Instruments Inc. in Irvine, Calif., is offering the newWave toolset that helps designers use and install the newly approved Signal Definition Standard, IEEE 1641. The new standard defines signals in a nonprocedural manner to enable test engineers to use the same standards-based signal in several test environments and situations. The newWave tool enables signal-definition exports into ATML, C++, and other common test programming environments. For more information contact Racal online at www.racalinstruments.com.