Electronics maintenance of the future is goal of new military facility
TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa., 26 July 2009.Military electronics maintenance experts at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pa., have created the Depot Maintenance of the Future (DMOF), a 10,000-square-foot facility to stimulate ideas and improve work techniques for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of Army, Navy, and Air Force equipment for command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, better known as C4ISR.
The Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pa., is the largest electronics facility in the world, depot officials say. The DMOF will showcase, test, and demonstrate methods and systems, and serve as a working laboratory for technology and processes.
"DMOF is our vision for how Tobyhanna will look and operate in 2015 and beyond," says Col. Ron Alberto, depot commander. "It is a working laboratory to test tools, processes, equipment and facilities-we will propagate what works across the depot and will scrap what does not fit into our system. The greatest part of DMOF is that it is designed as a flexible and agile workspace that we can rapidly reconfigure to workload, processes, or customers."
The facility includes a flexible design, electronic technical data, technologies and equipment, and electrostatic discharge (ESD) control. Employees in two Command, Control and Computers (C3)/Avionics Directorate organizations will be the first to work in the DMOF. Workload in the Navigation Systems and the Computer Service and Repair branches was selected based on specific characteristics.
"We are moving the Tobyhanna Multimedia Language Lab (TMLL) and the Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) from the Computer Service and Repair Branch," says George Bellas, C3/Avionics director. "Both of these systems are high tech, equipment consisting of state-of-the-art computers."
"Using the DMOF to roll out and test concepts, procedures and equipment will enhance our capabilities in and around the depot," says Jerry Dougher, C3 Division chief.
The DMOF will provide an environment of continuous improvement that can help employees repair older components faster and more efficiently.
The Navigation Systems Branch showcases Tobyhanna's capability to design, build and use modern automated test equipment (ATE) such as the PXI (PCI extensions for Instrumentation) system and the Agilent 3070 board test system. Branch employees will overhaul AN/ASN-128 doppler global positioning system (GPS) navigation systems, AN/ARN 149, 147, 123 and 89 receivers, and miniaturized airborne GPS receivers (MAGR) in the facility.
Another main have of the DMOF is its flexibility. As workload requirements change, the room can be converted to support any mission. DMOF has modular moveable walls and doors. Glass partitions will provide privacy without confinement, and acoustic materials will ensure the area is quiet.
An overhead utility grid system will provide power, networking, compressed air, and even fume extraction. Unlike a raised floor system, which requires the relocation of furniture and equipment whenever utility changes are needed, the overhead utility grid enables reconfiguration of the area with little disruption to other processes.
Solar panels were placed on the roof to provide energy for such things as ambient and task lighting. Solar tubes will provide natural light to the room. The roof is made of a reflective material and designed to provide water reclamation. All technical data will be available electronically at each workstation.
The DMOF facility will also have state-of-the-art audio-visual presentations. Holographic staging and touch light displays complete the advanced presentation format.
For more information contact Tobyhanna Army Depot online at www.tobyhanna.army.mil.
