First conceptualized in 1986, FireWire was a powerful option that can no longer be found current on laptops. Many designers chose FireWire’s fast transfer speeds for their device, but those devices are locked out of interfacing with modern computers without an expensive FireWire adapter.

ProCustom Group has brought back FireWire to support customers with legacy requirements! The X500 Firewire solution comes with TWO dedicated 1394B ports and ONE 1394A port. When not in use, the ports can be protected by closing the doors of the laptop to retain the IP65 and MIL-STD-810 rating.

IEEE 1394B (aka FireWire 800) specification supports data rates up to 3200 Mbit/s (i.e., 400 MB/s) at 330ft (100m) with twisted pair CAT 5e cable. Later versions of the standard doubled the data rates but are easily out matched by USB 3.1 C ports on the Getac B360.

When you want the most in storage and data acquisition, the AGS-NetPAC has your back with 16 removable 2.5″ drive bays. This system has the RAID controllers and gigabit ports to handle the most demanding workloads. With Samsungs fabled 30TB 2.5″ SSD (that’s not for sale), the AGS-NetPAC could storage 480TB. Set a reminder to look at this article in 5 years when there are 500TB SSDs.

Massive removable hard drive (HDD or SSD)

A More Practical Storage Goal

Getting back to reality, the AGS-MRPC is the sensible, entry level approach to portable computers that covers a broad range of applications. The micro-ATX motherboard’s 4x PCI slots and the chassis’ 2x 5.25″ external bays enable customization for military connectors, communication ports, and proprietary cards.

Let’s see how much storage we can obtain if we forget budget, wiring and we dedicated every port, slot, and screw to storage.

Standard Available Slots:

• 2x 5.25″ external bays
• 1x 2.5″ internal slot (typically for OS drive)
• 4x PCIe slots (varying sizes)
• 1x M.2 slots (motherboard dependent)

2.5″ Storage

The external 5.25″ bays can be converted to 4x 2.5″ removable drive bays. Along with the internal slot, that’s 9x 2.5″ drives. The largest commercially available 2.5″ SSD is 4TB. Subtotal 36TB.

PCIe Storage

All 4x PCIe slots can fit 800GB PCIe x4 SSDs. Subtotal 3.2TB.

M.2 Storage

Many motherboards have a single M.2 slot. 2TB is the best available at this time. Subtotal 2TB.

Grand Total = 41.2TB in an AGS-MRPC with a Micro-ATX motherboard

Feasibility

This configuration is almost possible. There is only one micro-ATX motherboard that has 10x SATA ports, 1x M.2 slots, and 3x PCIe slots. The ASRock Fata1ty X99M Killer. No other micro-ATX motherboard on the market has 10x SATA ports. We would lose 800GB from one less PCIe slot bringing our new Grand Total to 40.4TB. Maybe this motherboard was meant for something like this…

If you have a configuration you’d like to explore with us, let us know in the comments or send us a request.

About the PCG TEMPEST X500

The PCG Tempest X500 is a rendition of the Getac X500 rugged laptop that is retrofitted to reduce electromagnetic emanations to meet TEMPEST standards.  This product and solution includes a multitude of circuit-level and hardware-level retrofits to reduce EMI throughout the laptop, including custom doors, EMI screen, silencing of bluetooth, silencing of GPS, and more.

Why Tempest?

Tempest is a specification defined by the NSA, defined for protection against information systems security leaks through electrical emulation, radio or electrical signals, and sound.  Meeting this specification is often a requirement for highly classified applications, including field-deployed military applications.

This product and service, along with wither customized ruggedization services, is available through the ProCustom group.

Graphics cards are an expensive yet essential component in any computer. The graphical processing unit (GPU) off loads computationally taxing rendering tasks from the CPU.  With the explosion crypto currency, crypto miners have harnessed the power of the GPU to turn clock cycles into crypto currency while driving up the price of graphics cards to record highs. The cost of a rugged portable computer moderately increases with GPU price increase because a graphics card is just a single component in most rugged portable computers, unless you have a whole world to see with multiple displays.

3 x 3 AGS-MCCS-3U System

The above pictures shows 1 AGS-MCCS-3U and 2 AGS-MCCD-3U stacked with mounting hardware to create a 9 monitor system with 5760 x 3240 resolution. The AGS-MCCS-3U has 3 17.3″ displays totaling 5760 x 1080 resolution and can be customized to meet a wide variety of needs within an ATX motherboard form factor. The AGS-MCCD-3U has the same display resolution without the computer.

AGS-MCCS-3U

A standalone AGS-MCCD-3U has a DVI-D, VGA, and DisplayPort port for each display and 3 x 6′ DVI-D cables are included. An additional graphics card is recommended to drive the 3 displays. If your system does not have space for a full sized graphics card nor the required ports (i.e. a laptop), the USB upgrade for the AGS-MCCD-3U has a single USB 3.0 input to control all 3 displays.

1000-nit sunlight readable MilPAC Triple Display C4ISR computer

Since 2015 the MilPAC-III has been a powerhouse portable serving the US Navy as part of their C4ISR suite in the combat information center. Now the MILPAC-III 1000-nit display upgrade lets the MILPAC-III come out of the darkened environment of the CIC and into the direct sun without losing display clarity or readability. With new 1000-nit hi-resolution FHD displays that are clearly readable in direct and diffused sunlight, the MILPAC-III can be deployed forward in harsh desert environments that call for extraordinary display capability.

Nominally specified at 1000-nit brightness, the new displays have a contrast ratio in excess of 400:1 while providing deep blacks and extremely bright and readable detail. The 1000-nit displays were tested for maximum brightness and uniformity using a Topcon BM-9 Luminance Meter: Measured maximum white luminance was 1053 nits.

White Luminance Measurement

Screen test and calibration

To make sure the upgraded MILPAC-III survives the hottest environments, a new desert filter back can be fitted so the MILPAC-III can survive the temperature extremes found in bright sunlight and desert environments

The MilPAC-III deployable workstation’s is available with a high-capacity filtered cooling system, the DFB (Desert Filter Back).  Utilizing a washable electrostatic filter and four high performance fans, the high airflow cooling system allows extended operation in hot, dusty and unpleasant environments.  The positive pressure system ensures that contaminants are stopped the filter.

The four fans were selected and tested to perform well as a high-pressure input to the cooling flow.  All air entering the MilPAC-III is filtered through the filter-back, and all the other fans exhaust, keeping the interior clean and cool.

The MilPAC-III filter is constructed of multiple layers of custom woven electrostatic polypropylene media, plus non-woven polyester.  The triple action filters promote free airflow, and have superior dust holding capacity.  Particulates are captured and attracted together electrostatically to form larger clumps. These settled particles are washed out through drain holes during periodic cleaning.

MilPAC-III

The MilPAC has been designed to work in forward deployed environments and on board ships.  It has passed the Mil-Std 901D test for shock in ship-borne applications.  This violent test simulates the ship running into a mine, or being torpedoed.  After the test (which is usually regarded as destructive) the MilPAC-III powered on without issue.

Performance:

Dual Xeon – Server-class motherboard with two Intel Xeon E5-2687W V2  processors – each independently liquid-cooled.

Up to 256GB of ECC registered RAM

18TB of HDD storage (along with RAID-0 SSD removable boot media)

8 Channels of video capture

3 x 17.3″ HD displays for a total of 5760 x 1080 workspace.  Mirroring for each display via HDMI for external monitoring on HD TV systems.

High performance power supply is field replaceable with no tools and has been tested and certified to MIL-STD-461.

6 x GB LAN ports

AUGUST 1, 2017 BY MYLES KELVIN