C4 Marine Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Nally - KMI Media Group

Users in the field need high levels of ruggedization to protect
the devices they rely on from everyday wear and tear, to allow it
to continue to operate in dense electronic environments without
either affecting or being affected by nearby systems, and to do so
in such a way that the device remains lightweight and with low
demands for power and batteries.
The challenge is a tough one, but one that industry is meeting.
A recent review of several manufacturers of ruggedized equipment,
many of whom were exhibiting at the giant AUSA exhibition in
Washington, D.C., last October, showed that the pace of development
is surging in terms of both added capacity and enhanced
durability.
general dynamICs C4s
One key program in rugged computing is the Army-led Common
Hardware Systems (CHS) program, which is designed to provide
and qualify the hardware and software sourced from multiple
providers that the Department of Defense needs for its computing
requirements across the full gamut of battlefield computing, buttressed
by a responsive worldwide repair, maintenance and logistics
support.
The current iteration of the program, known as CHS-3, is led by
General Dynamics C4 Systems. Reflecting the urgent demand for
rugged computing, the company recently received a cap extension
of $187 million, designed to bridge the gap between this contract
and CHS-4, the competitive contract for which is due to be awarded
in the next few months.
Providing as it does a significant portion of DoD computing
requirements, CHS provides a weathervane for trends in C4I. A
major thrust of the program at the moment is to provide the rugged
computing necessary to keep pace with headquarters as they
rapidly migrate from deployable static facilities to embrace battle
command on the move (BCOTM). This has tasked the CHS program
with providing new solutions that can operate not from desks
but from combat vehicles. A key requirement for that is the need to
switch to induction cooled devices rather than the air cooled solutions
used in traditional tactical operations centers.
One new product on CHS, brought in via a recent engineering
change proposal and delivered this quarter, is the Multi-domain
ATLAS. This device, which allows users to run multiple security
domains on the same device, is baseline on the Warfighter Information
Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2 program.
“It allows us to use General Dynamics C4 Systems’ Trusted
Virtual Environment so that we can have SIPRNet and NIPRNet or
even colorless [unclassified] data running on the same machine,
switching back and forth and transferring data that is vetted by inbuilt
software guard policies. We are bringing in a systems approach
at a box level, using the General Dynamics C4 Systems Information
Assurance division’s software,” said Scott Butler, who heads tactical
computing solutions for General Dynamics C4 Systems.
The Multi-domain ATLAS is in essence two computers—an
Atom-based solution and a second located on the device’s docking
station, which houses a Core 2 Duo processor. This allows
one application to run on the tablet with a second running on the
docking computer.
Butler cited two further new products designed to meet similar
BCOTM requirements. The first is a conduction cooled Cisco 5940
embedded router, designated V2 5940 under CHS. It is also a WIN-T
12 | MIT 15.1
baseline product and can be bolted anywhere in a vehicle, even
under seats. The second is the Distributed Computing Element,
which essentially comprises a high-end Core 2 Duo, 8Gb of RAM,
four Ethernet ports and solid state drive (SSD) in a small “brick”
that is conduction cooled and installed by bolting it onto available
space.
CHS originally had strict delineations in terms of ruggedization.
Butler explained that due to customer requirements, these
have lost their rigidity as users demanded custom ruggedization,
tailored to their requirements.
Looking to the future, Butler concluded, “What we are doing
is keeping up with COTS to reduce size, weight, power and cost,
with cost being key. We are continually driving costs down as DoD
budgets are shrinking.”
In addition to its prime contractor role on CHS, General
Dynamics remains a key developer of rugged computing equipment.
The GD300 represents General Dynamics Itronix’s next generation
rugged wearable computer, designed to take commercial
device technology further onto the battlefield.
The GD300 takes key advantages of cell phone technology, such
as low power consumption and versatile “apps,” while overcoming
their inherent fragility by integrating them in a rugged enclosure,
noted Jason Jacob, product manager for the device at General
Dynamics Itronix. “There is nothing else to date that is fully rugged
and weighs half a pound and designed from the ground up for each
ground soldier.
“There is a big initiative within the Army to leverage the latest
commercial technologies on the battlefield,” Jacob said, adding
that the 75th Ranger Regiment is in the process of acquiring
the device.
The GD300 has no radiating RF, but is simply a rugged GPS
computer, hardened to the same MIL-STD-810G environmental
standards as other devices and compliant with MIL-STD-461F. It
has the capabilities of a cell phone without being a phone, and can
run the Android operating system. “We did that because we wanted
to leverage the application development that happens in the consumer
world,” he said.
“The GD300 was built from the ground up, not just to be a
ground platform but also to be modular. This is the computing
platform only. A separate radio interface kit acts as a docking station
that you connect to a tactical radio, and is rugged from point to
point. You can have over 50 pins in the connector and create almost
any solution that docks to this unit and is rugged,” he explained.
“The value to the military is that networks can change frequently,
but all you do with the GD300 is unplug it and change as
radios change,” Jacob continued. “If for a particular mission they
are using JTRS radios but for another they want to use a different
radio, all you have to do is modify the radio interface kit.”
Developing a new, separable radio interface kit for the GD300
takes roughly two to six months depending on complexity of the
requirement, rather than the 12 months needed to adapt a conventionally
configured computing device, he added.
drs teChnologIes
To date, DRS Technologies has delivered more than 90,000 JV-5
computers under its current contract to provide computing and
display systems to support Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and
Below (FBCB2) and Blue Force Tracking (BFT) program require-
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