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20 Sep 07. China Tests New Electronic Battlefield System. China revealed its version of the “digital soldier” concept at its annual North Sword 0709 live-fire exercise, begun Sept. 18 at the Zhurihe training base in northern Inner Mongolia. According to a Xinhua press report, the exercise involved 2,000 soldiers, tanks and other vehicles equipped with electronic devices that instantly relayed data about battlefield conditions back to the command center. The system collected data on causalties, food, ammunition and supplies. “The system could let us know the exact conditions our troops are in under combat; how much ammunition, water and food remain; and when we should support them with logistics,” said Zhang Jixiang, vice commander of the Zhurihe training base, according to Xinhua. Richard Fisher, vice president of the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center, said the system is China’s attempt at creating a digital soldier system. The system would “shrink and graft computer/satnav/digital-video connectivity to the individual soldier,” Fisher said. “The idea is for the individual soldier to be able to broadcast intimate details of his combat condition and receive data of a magnitude to give him a thousandfold more situational awareness than before. Weight, power supply and ruggedness issues have been the main technical barriers. (Source: Defense News)
21 Sep 07. Sight Systems provide BAE with a state-of-the-art solution. As a preferred supplier and integrator of Axiomtek components, Sight Systems are able to react quickly to the demands of their clients by utilising the continual delivery of new and updated products from the Taiwanese applied computing platform provider. This desire to provide up to the minute solutions for its diverse client base was never more evident than when approached by BAE Systems to update 25 MoD touch screen surveillance systems monitors. Axiomtek’s high performance, cost-effective 3.5-inch embedded computing platform – SBC84602 – was one of the components selected to update the monitors; just two weeks after its UK launch. The low power embedded board supports VIA Mark CoreFusion 800/533 MHz processor onboard with facilitating silent, fanless operation design. The integrated Graphics features three display output including LVDS, CRT, TTL LCD. Along with native x86 performance and advanced hardware benefits, the embedded single board computer is extremely suitable for embedded and industrial automation applications with small, cost effective LCD display industries. With the STN, DSTN, TFT small size LCD support, Sight Systems quickly identified the SBC84602 as a perfect component for the defense market. The embedded platform offers full legacy support through ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) and provides usability of up to four COM ports, four USB 1.1a ports, and one PC/104 expansion interface. The flexible display function is supported by integrated Graphics controller which allows users to configure both CRT and TTL LCD or CRT and LVDS LCD as simultaneous mode. Furthermore, the SBC84602 is equipped with rich I/O features including four USB 1.1a ports, four +5V or +12V powered COM ports (one with RS-232/422/485 auto-flow control, three with RS-232), dual Fast Ethernet (optional in Gigabit), SMBus for battery monitoring, CompactFlash type II with DMA mode, AC’97 Codec Audio with amplify, and one PATA-100. The product is RoHS-compliant and proved to be perfect direct replacement for the obsolete boards that required updating.
Sep 07. Soldier Portable Charger product from ABSL launched at DSEI. To ensure the modern soldier can be interoperable with all in-field power sources (thereby minimising the requirements for additional batteries), ABSL has developed the Soldier Portable Charger (SPC). This unit delivers a step change in the soldiers charging flexibility and hence self-sufficiency in th