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Rugged Switch Ensures Reliability for UGV On-board Network

DEFENSE SOLUTIONS

ChallengeAll modern, unmanned systems depend on an IP-based network as the backbone for communications between sensors, computers, payloads, radios, and sometimes even the drive-by-wire system. This network must be extremely robust, reliable, and support ever-growing amounts of data traffic as sensors become more and more advanced. Due to the re-configurability of unmanned vehicle platforms, this network must also be easily expandable, and allow for advanced network capabilities including segregated subnets, VLANs, packet prioritization, and multicast traffic handling. While these are fairly common “features” of any modern network switch, it is difficult to find a switch that does all these things well, in an environmentally

Challenge• Rugged COTS small form factor Ethernet switch

• High port-density system qualified for ground vehicle

environments

• Re-use of switch across multiple UGV platforms and applications

• Money saved with pre-qualified COTS solution

• Simple set-up and management of network devices

• On-board network future proofed for growth

Solution Results• Continuously increasing network traffic from on-board sensors

• Extreme, rugged environment

• Reliability of vetronics network critical to mission success

rugged package, that can stand up to the rigors and harsh environments that unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) encounter.

TORC’s advanced UGVs incorporate the latest in autonomous and tele-operated vehicle technology, providing future warfighters with a strategic advantage that takes them out of the most life-threatening and dangerous situations. Larger than the well-known IED defeat robots in theater today, TORC’s systems operate on improved/un-improved roads and off-road at high speeds. To accomplish this, vehicles must perceive the environment with suites of high-bandwidth sensors that produce huge amounts of data.

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DuraNET 20-10

This data is processed by on-board computing systems that make split-second decisions and control the vehicle, all in real-time. Simultaneously, whether the UGV operator is remotely driving the vehicle or simply overseeing it as it drives itself, data from many different C4ISR, optics and situational awareness sensors must be piped to the operator with as little latency and data corruption as possible. With such a tightly-integrated, well-engineered system, TORC’s UGVs can act as a natural extension of the warfighter, or as just another member of the squad.

Solution When TORC conducted a trade study to identify an Ethernet switch for use on fleets of high mobility, reconfigurable semi-autonomous UGVs supporting multiple DoD customers, it identified the Parvus DuraNET 20-10 as a contender and contacted Curtiss-Wright for more information. Within a month TORC received the switch and was able to start testing. The unit’s high Ethernet port count, low power consumption, advanced management features, extreme qualification testing and overall reliability made it the right choice for TORC’s rugged, high bandwidth UGV platforms.

Application-agnostic, TORC’s UGVs can be quickly and easily adapted to a variety of missions. The vehicles can be configured with 3rd party payloads for specialized sensing, manipulators and devices, or simply used as a “pack-animal” to lighten-the-load normally carried by a human. Examples of some supported missions include route clearance, small-unit-mule/lighten-the-load, casualty evacuation, point-to-point resupply, convoy operations, reconnaissance and surveillance, persistent-stare, nuclear forensics and sample collection, combat runway surveying, battle damage assessment, and automated repair. To support such varied missions, TORC’s autonomous vehicle kits can often include multiple LIDAR units, GPS, IMU, and wheel speed sensors, multi-spectral cameras on controllable gimbals, radar and ultrasonic sensors, and bi-directional audio systems. A common LIDAR configuration for a TORC UGV will produce 84 planes and 1.8 million points per second around the vehicle. The DuraNET 20-10 is used by TORC to connect this large number of IP-enabled embedded devices on multiple TORC platforms used for varied applications.

Results Leveraging Gigabit throughput (1000 Mbps) and high Ethernet port density (20x) in a rugged IP67 (dust and waterproof) chassis pre-validated for the most extreme vehicle applications, TORC intends to re-use the DuraNET 20-10 switch for multiple vehicle platforms and do so without having to requalify the electronics each time. The unit’s network packet processing performance and intuitive Web-based management interface simplifies setup and operation for TORC, while the reliability and performance of the switch ensures that as TORC develops advanced algorithms and software, they won’t get slowed down debugging an underperforming network.

Power Input

12 x GigERS-232 Console

Zeroize

8 x GigE

Rugged 38999 connectors provide Ethernet, power and management interfaces