SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT Displays and Panel PCs for Naval Systems
Net-Centric Push Drives Shipboard Display and Panel PC Upgrades As naval systems upgrade their networking and EW capabilities, display system upgrades are going along for the ride. A variety of new technologies and products feed those needs. Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief
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isplays and panel PCs are the key human interface points that are part of major ongoing modernization efforts on U.S. Navy ships. There are a couple factors driving that. First there’s a fundamental shift in technology network-centric operations. For naval systems, that’s translating as complete consolidation of shipboard networking and computing systems. At the same time there’s an acknowledgement that a reduced military will need to increase its situational awareness capabilities, and that increases in collecting, sharing and displaying of information feeds into that trend (Figure 1). It’s often on these large, rugged highresolution displays and panel PCs, that the naval warfighter gets the complex situational awareness data—maps, video, images and text—interfaced directly to military weapons platforms on networks. On the panel PC side, there’s a growing base of product solutions— some designed for industrial use—that provide military system integrators a complete PC embedded within a flat panel. These can be simply connected to a keyboard or used as touchpad panels if that feature is available.
Replacing Legacy Systems Because of hardware obsolescence issues in legacy systems, integrating new electronics technologies to aid Navy electronic warfare has been an ongoing challenge. COTS-based 34
COTS Journal | June 2014
to increase capability and affordability across the fleet. Consolidation through CANES will eliminate many legacy, stand-alone networks and provide a common computing environment infrastructure for dozens of command, control, intelligence and logistics applications. Displays, of course, make up the user interface part of those systems.
Figure 1 At a recent trade show, Chief Editor Jeff Child is briefed on a custom configured military rackmount LCD display from Core Systems. approaches have come to the rescue as the Navy replaces closed systems with scalable, upgradable architectures. The stakes are high when it comes to improving ship defense, especially as advanced anti-ship missiles have become a threat. And with the shift to an AsiaPacific defense, Navy modernization in general will be a priority. One of the most sweeping changes in shipboard systems is the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program. CANES consolidates and modernizes shipboard, submarine and shore-based command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) network systems
EW Upgrades Also Drive Display Tech Meanwhile, the Navy’s Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) replaces the AN/SLQ-32, the legacy surface ship EW detection and countermeasures system initially installed in the fleet during the late ʼ70s. This spiral-block development program has numerous phases, but among them Block 1A includes 18 installs completed and 103 additional installs planned. It incorporates the updated Improved Control and Display (ICAD) Human Machine Interface and the Electronic Surveillance Enhancements (ESE) upgrades that provide COTS-based technology refresh for the obsolete AN/SLQ-32 display and pulse processing. On the technology supplier side, over the past 12 months there’s been a steady roll out of a variety of display and panel PC products suited for shipboard systems. These range from highly rugged products designed specifically for military use to those made