SPECIAL REPORT: NEXT GENERATION RUGGED COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT
Driving across the desert below, field artillery soldiers eyed a computer screen to navigate toward their RTHD-2 – AN ULTRA-RUGGED LIGHT-WEIGHT HANDHELD COMPUTER
for it, and (the information) will go right back up the chain.”22
The Integration of Field Service Representative to Improve Training and Reliability In many IDIQ contracts for new hardware, field service representatives (FSRs) who provide overthe-shoulder backup to lower TCO and improve soldier understanding and product reliability are an integral part of the deal: “The DSEs (Division Support Element) and FSRs (Field Service Representatives) serve as handson representatives who walk with a unit from the first training session on a new system, through deployment into theater, and eventual return to home station. For each system that requires field support, each unit is assigned one FSR who is an expert in that particular system. The unit is also assigned one DSE, who acts as a team captain and whose expertise spans the full spectrum of the unit’s systems.” DSEs and FSRs troubleshoot, mentor and provide over-the-shoulder training in both training and operational environments.
The Future with 20:20 Vision There are other developments in the field that need watching: many soldiers now want to be able to hold a weapon while accessing data
next target, exchanging text messages throughout the convoy’s journey.
on situational awareness, which is leading to talk about wearable computers. The drive to reduce the mass of computers through reduced bulk and battery weight may facilitate this. With a similar concern for reducing mass, developments in nanotechnology are seen by RAND Corporation as potentially revolutionary.23 This would mean creating and using structures, devices and systems with novel properties. Micro electro mechanical (MEMS) devices have been developed and commercialized into numerous applications, for example, airbag deployment systems, sudden motion sensors for electronics that are dropped, and near-infrared spectrometers. Similarly the manipulation of nano scale coatings, lithography and etching may change semiconductor fabrication and impact on the future of ruggedized mobile computing. WWW.DEFENCEINDUSTRYREPORTS.COM | 15