Curtiss-Wright Control’s New Digital Beachhead™ brings Digital Networking, VICTORY Services, CBM+/HUMS and Vehicle Manag
Digital Beachhead™ Rugged COTS System Supplies Combat Vehicles with Integrated, Low-Cost, Open Architecture GigE Networking and Vehicle Management Capabilities for <$5K
ASHBURN, VA - September 20, 2012 – Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS), a business unit of Curtiss Wright Controls, has announced an innovative new solution for quickly and cost-effectively adding a rugged VICTORY-compliant networking backbone to new and legacy military ground vehicles. The new Digital Beachhead™ system combines a 16-port Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) Network Switch with a high performance, power efficient Vehicle Management Computer. With its advanced Vehicle Management Framework software simplifying vehicle management and pre-integrated VICTORY services software, Digital Beachhead is the industry’s first low-cost rugged COTS solution for modernizing ground vehicles to comply with the U.S. Army’s new VICTORY (Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability) initiative for interoperable digital network services. Housed in a compact and lightweight enclosure, Digital Beachhead is designed to deliver optimal performance in space/weight/power/cost (SWaP-C) constrained vehicles deployed in harsh military environments.
In addition to dramatically simplifying and lowering the cost of modernizing a combat vehicle with a modern digital network and VICTORY compliant architecture, Digital Beachhead also features a complete vehicle management computer system. By installing a single Digital Beachhead unit it is now possible to quickly integrate a modern vehicle control system into a ground vehicle that previously had no embedded on-board electronics. Digital Beachhead’s ARM™ processor-based system computer runs the vehicle’s health management (HUMS/CBM+) software as well as monitoring the vehicle’s primary systems. Digital Beachhead comes pre-installed with Curtiss-Wright Control’s Vehicle Management Framework (VMF) software that significantly eases the process of defining vehicle operations for use by the CBM+ and other in-system vehicle management services.
Fulfilling the Promise of VICTORY
Today’s combat vehicles are typically deployed with multiple independent systems that have no ability to share their functionalities or data. To address and mitigate this problem, the U.S. Army’s VICTORY architecture encourages the use of COTS open-system standards, which helps reduce redundancy and makes additional space available by optimizing SWaP-C. Digital Beachhead is the first COTS system to deliver an integrated VICTORY solution featuring GigE switching and routing, along with VICTORY Data Bus, Management and Shared Services to quickly and easily integrate this powerful architecture into any vehicle. To support similar initiatives around the world, CWCDS plans to introduce variants of Digital Beachhead in the near future that support other localized standards such as the U.K.’s Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) with Data Distribution System (DDS).
“Digital Beachhead is a game changer for ground vehicle networking and system management,” said Lynn Bamford, senior vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions. “By leveraging adjacent market technologies, such as ARM processors from the automotive industry and low-power network switches designed for cell towers, we have met the Army’s challenge to deliver a radically affordable high performance Digital Backbone in a single, lightweight rugged package.”
Digital Beachhead leverages key adjacent industry technologies to enable its low-cost without compromising ruggedization, features or performance.
Digital Beachhead Network Switch and Vehicle Management Computer Features:
- Fully Rugged 16-port Ethernet Network Switch
- Supports 16 ports of tri-speed 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet connectivity
- Full featured Layer-2 managed switch supports a wide range of networking features including VLANs, QoS, Multicast, Spanning Trees, and Link Aggregation
- IEEE-1588 / PTP Precision Time Protocol for network synchronized time
- Flexible in-band and out-of-band management, including HTTP/Web, CLI and SNMP support
- VICTORY / GVA compliant dual-port 38999 rugged Ethernet connectors
- VICTORY compliant Network Services
- VICTORY provides an open standards approach to vehicle common interfaces and services
- ie: locally connected GPS receiver can provide time and position information to all VICTORY enabled network nodes
- Supports VICTORY Data Bus Shared Services, Access Controls, and Management Services
- Also supports VICTORY Automotive System Bus interfaces
- Built-in Inertial Measurement Unit and optional internal GPS receiver
- VICTORY provides an open standards approach to vehicle common interfaces and services
- Vehicle Management Computer
- Vehicle Management Framework provides high-level logical access to common vehicle interfaces (CANbus, analog and digital I/O, camera, audio, etc.)
- Interfaces with HUMS logistic services, such as CBM+/CLOE and DDS
- Includes an event-driven framework for vetronics control and status
- Local user interface via VGA/DVI and USB keyboard/mouse
- Remote GUI via Web services
- ARM Dual-Core Automotive Processor
- Low power ARM core with proven pedigree in automotive applications
- Manages vetronics interfaces, including CANbus, analog and digital I/O, camera and audio interfaces
- Locally attached GUI using VGA/DVI and USB
- Secure architecture through ARM High Assurance Boot and secure operating system ensures only trusted OS and software can run
- Designed for rugged deployed systems
- Extremely small footprint: 10” x 7” x 3” size, combined with <4lb weight
- Low power, natural convection design
- 30 watt max. power consumption, with <20 watt typical
- MIL-STD-1275 compliant 28VDC power with optional Nuclear Event Detector (NED)
- MIL-STD-810 and MIL-STD-461 environmental qualifications
Sales & Editorial Contacts
Pricing for Digital Beachhead starts at less than $5,000 in quantity. Availability is Q4 2012. Please contact the factory for more information. For additional information on CWCDS’s Digital Beachhead Network Switch and Vehicle Management Computer, please visit: http://www.cwcdefense.com/digital-beachhead.
For editorial information regarding Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions products or services, contact John Wranovics, public relations director, Curtiss-Wright Controls, Tel: (925) 640-6402; email. [email protected].
Sales inquiries: Please forward all Sales and reader service inquiries to Jerri-Lynne Charbonneau, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions, Tel: (613) 254-5112; Fax: (613) 599-7777; e-mail: [email protected].
About Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions
Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS) is a long established technology leader in the development of rugged electronic modules and systems for defense applications. CWCDS serves as a technology and integration partner to its customers, providing a full range of advanced, highly engineered solutions from modular open systems approaches to fully custom optimized solutions. Our unmatched capabilities and product breadth span from industry standard based COTS modules to complete electronic subsystems. The company’s modules and systems are currently deployed in a wide range of demanding defense & aerospace applications including C4ISR systems, unmanned subsystems, mission computing, fire control, turret stabilization, and recording & storage solutions. Additionally, the company’s broad engineering capabilities combine systems, software, electrical, and mechanical design expertise with comprehensive program management and a broad range of life-cycle support services.
About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc.
Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the Motion Control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. With manufacturing facilities around the world, Curtiss-Wright Controls is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally for the aerospace and defense markets. For more information, visit www.cwcontrols.com.
