Ruggedized interconnects support military computing platforms

This need for high-performance interconnects is increasing sharply as the military and aerospace sectors also move toward a heavy reliance on real-time streaming video collected from a variety of mobile ground sources, as well as from aerial and underwater platforms that operate in harsh atmospheric conditions. There’s also an increased need for battlefield-networked vehicles with video-computing systems that require the compilation of data collected by sensors in the battlefield.

In addition to performing effectively in these conditions, computer system and sub-system interconnects and components must meet several requirements for the military and aerospace sectors:

• Capacity to process large volumes of data
• Minimal size and weight
• Access to sufficient and continuous power
• Ability to dissipate internal heat created by devices as well as ambient heat created by the environments in which systems operate
• Ability to maintain performance while standing up to excessive dust, extreme temperatures, shock, and vibration

In addition to working well with today’s technology, military and aerospace systems—and their interconnects—must continually adapt to rapidly-emerging technologies to avoid obsolescence. This is a key consideration because advanced systems are starting to require computing systems with 1-Gb/s I/O speeds and will eventually begin requiring operation at 10 Gb/s and 25 Gb/s. This article discusses how effective interconnect designs help military and aerospace computing systems meet these challenges while also offering the necessary ruggedness and reliability to perform in harsh environments.

Maintaining performance in harsh environments
A key consideration in addressing the computing challenge is the design of the interconnects on system backplanes. The answer begins with taking a good look at the interconnect technologies used by durable systems already achieving maximum I/O and firmly established within the commercial computer sectors. Many of these systems efficiently achieve speeds as high as 25 Gb/s—but under relatively gentle conditions.

When it comes to deploying these same systems in harsh military and aerospace environments, manufacturers face a host of environmental challenges that commercial vendors do not, including temperature extremes and contamination like sand and dust. Military and aerospace systems are also subject to persistent vibration as well as occasional severe shocks when in the vicinity of explosions. In some cases, systems need to perform at high altitudes while in others, they must perform at significant depths under water where the abilities to withstand extreme pressure and maintain tight water seals are critical.

Because of these conditions, military and aerospace systems and related interconnects have lagged behind commercial industries in terms of I/O speed. Commercial systems with backplanes routinely operate at 25 Gb/s, while military equipment is just reaching the 1 Gb/s threshold. Currently, most systems built for the military and aerospace simply can’t consistently provide reliability at faster speeds for long periods of time while operating in harsh environments.