Reliable Electronics for Situational Awareness in Defense
Note: A version of this article initially appeared in the publication, Army Daily News.
The ability to gather and use real-time intelligence is critical for situational awareness in military applications. This requires advanced electronic systems that perform flawlessly for days, weeks, or months, often operating in extreme conditions on land, at sea, or in the air.
Companies involved in designing and delivering high-reliability defense electronics must meet stringent requirements, industry standards, and certifications for high performance and reliability in the harshest environments. This presents a two-fold challenge: ensuring reliability and durability no matter the conditions and striking the necessary SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) balance by keeping the form factor small and lightweight without impacting performance.
Atrenne, a Celestica company, designs and manufactures ruggedized electromechanical solutions that meet the unique requirements of military environments. We help our customers achieve their C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers (C4) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) goals. With 50 years of industry experience, our ruggedized, high-performance embedded computers are in hundreds of military technology programs.
Requirements of Modern Military Systems
Sea, air and ground vehicles carry an array of advanced military electronics, including sensors, navigation and communications equipment. Processing speeds needed to collect, analyze and deliver data immediately and directly to the end user are constantly increasing. Atrenne helps enable high-speed digital signal processing while safeguarding signal integrity and shortening the time between sensing and responding.
Reliable processing power for communications is critical for situational awareness. Processing systems or computer boards like CPUs, GPGPUs, and FPGAs require robust operations of up to 100 Gb Ethernet and PCI Express Gen-4 backplanes. Atrenne’s high-performance 25 Gbaud Gen- 4/5 Series backplanes are designed to address the continuous growth in digital signal processing for intense data throughput applications, including C4ISR.
Additionally, we adhere to the Open Group’s Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA™) consortium standard for the military’s electro-optical/infrared, signals intelligence, electronic warfare, and communications systems to ensure flawless interoperability among all C4ISR systems.
Accelerating time-to-market: From development to deployment
Atrenne’s vertical integration manufacturing delivers a significant advantage to customers by consolidating key elements such as design, fabrication, manufacturing, and testing (e.g., shock and vibration, thermal, and digital signal integrity) within one facility.
Together with our parent company, Celestica, we shorten the supply chain and reduce the risk of outsourcing to multiple contractors. Our Boston-based operation enables quick-turn collaboration, effective program management, and assured quality. We also have global flexibility when it comes to deployment – leveraging Celestica’s expansive supply chain, purchasing power, and resource pool to access constrained parts and accelerate time-to-market. Celestica’s global network not only supports customers that require U.S. ITAR, but with ITAR authorized agreements and licenses, and industry certified facilities in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia, we can also help meet offset and regional requirements.
Celestica and Atrenne are helping to bring mission-critical products to market through the design, engineering, manufacture and delivery of reliable, high-performance electronic solutions.