Rugged Displays in the Wild: 5 Unique Applications for DSE’s MIL-Spec Displays
Rugged Displays in the Wild: 5 Unique Applications for DSE’s MIL-Spec Displays
For nearly 30 years, DSE has designed and built rugged displays meant to withstand the most extreme environments across the globe. While DSE’s rugged displays are known primarily for defense and aerospace applications, the ability to perform under extreme conditions has proven to be useful for a variety of industries and integrations.
In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the lesser-known applications that DSE rugged displays have supported throughout our company’s history.
Law Enforcement
It’s not uncommon for DSE rugged displays to find their home in aerospace applications. In fact, the FHDRM—one of our signature rugged displays—was recently put to the test in a series of third-party laboratory tests before being fielded in an ISR application on a multi-use fixed-wing aircraft.
But many may not know that DSE rugged displays also play a role in federal agencies and law enforcement aircraft. From rescue missions to identifying, tracking and capturing dangerous suspects, DSE rugged displays have aided in critical missions for law enforcement agencies and even the United States Coast Guard.
Fighting Wildfires
In addition to partnering with federal agencies in law enforcement applications, DSE products have been used to fight wildfires. The AWM rugged display has been integrated on several fixed-wing aircraft programs to aid in aerial firefighting. These interactive screens allow the crew members to survey the area with thermal cameras to identify hotspots to extinguish.
Wildlife Conservation
The last thing that comes to mind when considering a MIL-Spec rugged display is wildlife conservation, but the AWM rugged display played its part when wildlife biologists were looking for an effective way to monitor salmon populations via implanted tags.
By monitoring and tracking movement at various watersheds, biologists are able to analyze migration, survival rate and human interruptions in order to encourage healthy, sustainable fish populations.
Open-pit Mining
We’ve all seen the photos of people posing next to giant dump truck tires, being dwarfed by the size of these colossal machines. The world’s largest dump trucks are often deployed in open-pit surface mining applications, meant to haul hundreds of tons worth of materials while often in continuous operation.
DSE’s ALPHA rugged mission computer is often used in these heavy industrial applications, but many may not know that DSE rugged displays have also proven useful in mining applications. Our displays have been integrated on giant mining trucks—661 tons to be exact!
Aerial Mapping
DSE displays are designed with flexible options such as high-definition resolution, multi-panel configurations and large format screens. This proves especially beneficial for applications where optical performance is critical, including aerial mapping.
DSE displays have supported aerial mapping applications in Africa, in a process where visual imagery captured by air is then overlaid with property boundaries, GPS and other inputs. This allows researchers to chart geophysical terrain for mining, exploration, fleet management and other governmental exercises.
A rugged display designed for the battlefield is uniquely positioned to take on the challenges of any extreme environment. DSE’s long history of engineering solutions to meet the needs of aerospace and defense applications has resulted in a deep product catalog of MIL-Spec and MIL-STD compliant rugged displays that can be found in unique applications across the world. From fighting fires to monitoring fish populations and much more—DSE’s rugged displays help its partners achieve success no matter what the mission has in store.
Situational Awareness: Rugged Electronics that Enhance Battlefield Intelligence – Part 3: Distribute
Situational Awareness: Rugged Electronics that Enhance Battlefield Intelligence – Part 3: Distribute
Enhancing Situational Awareness
In parts one and two of our blog series on situational awareness, we examined the importance of battlefield intelligence in critical decision making. We dove deeper into the technologies and electronics that enhance situational awareness, and ultimately mission success and safety.
We started first with capture—covering how information is collected before it is interpreted by operators on the battlefield thanks to tools such as cameras, sensors, radar and unmanned systems. In our second blog, we turned our focus to how data is processed. We dove deeper into how mission computers and rugged displays (including DSE’s own FHDRM) take these signals, camera feeds and other inputs to help operators make real-time decisions with collected intelligence.
In our final post, we will cover the last step in this process: distribution.
Part Three: Distribute
Once data has been collected and processed, it’s time for it to be distributed. In this third installment, we will take a deeper look at which technologies, tools and processes are used in order to distribute information to crew on and off the battlefield.
This critical step has important applications not only for real-time decision making, but also for enhancing future operations through review and training.
Video Hubs
During ground vehicle operations where multiple cameras are simultaneously capturing video, a video hub is often used to switch between video feeds and to repeat video from one display to another. Video hubs can help switch these signals automatically through user-defined settings, such as switching sources on a certain cadence or switching to a rear-view video feed when a vehicle is put in reverse. Ordnance detection systems can also dictate a change in video source following identification of an incoming threat.In addition, sources may be switched manually, such as when a vehicle commander finds something of note in the field view and pushes a particular video view to crew members.
By appropriately distributing information and video sources throughout the vehicle, video hubs can help vehicle operators make more informed decisions—from avoiding hazards in the road to changing course altogether.
DSE has a long history of developing MIL-Spec video hubs for ground vehicles, including the VH3 and VH4. Both of these rugged video hubs are designed with demanding environments in mind, featuring fully-sealed enclosures with a miniature footprint. The VH3 supports composite video, NTSC and PAL formats, while the VH4 enables high-quality video processing with SD-SDI, HD-SDI and 3G-SDI inputs/outputs.
Embedded DVR Systems
DVR, or digital video recorder, systems are essential in the distribution of mission-critical data. Not only do these systems allow for incoming video to be recorded and evaluated in-vehicle, but also they permit video to be distributed to commanding officers for operational review at a later time.
DVRs can typically be found as standalone “black box” devices that record at all times, or as an integrated portion of a display that allows for incoming video to also be viewed.
DSE’s own embedded DVR systems, such as the PSM, support image capture, secure erase, encryption level security, on-screen playback and removable media. In addition, these highly ruggedized displays offer ASCII or HEX code (via CANBus, RS232, or RS422) protocol for control of external systems and/or internal display features.
Communication Channels
We can’t mention information distribution in the context of situational awareness without touching on the many communications channels that enable intelligence to be shared outside of the vehicle in real-time.
This includes traditional methods, such as radio or SATCOM, satellite communications. These technologies allow for the near-instantaneous transfer of information from an in-field unit to commanders and other forces anywhere around the globe. As technology continues to advance, more and more rapid and reliable methods of data distribution are available, including distribution via gigabit ethernet.
DSE products support a number of these communication formats to interoperate with various onboard systems or ancillary devices, including radios, computers, switches and more.
Closing the Loop on Situational Awareness
Situational awareness can be summarized as the process of capturing, processing and distributing intelligence in order to make more informed decisions. Not far from the age old saying “knowledge is power,” greater situational awareness is the cornerstone of mission success and safety.
From the first use of radio in World War I, to the modern military’s application of drone-based systems to detect explosives, as technology evolves, so do the tools and products that enable intelligence and safety on the battlefield.