COTS Computing for the Rugged Edge

Edge computing places high-performance servers near users so that computing and analytics are completed closer to the source of data creation, as opposed to relying on a distant data center.

Edge computing has grown in popularity because it reduces latency and enables real-time data-processing while saving costs and reducing bandwidth needs.

In military and industrial applications, these computing installations may be onboard ships or planes, in shipping containers, on the factory floor, on an oil rig or in a gas refinery.

These environments require more ruggedization than a typical enterprise server.

These rugged edge applications may expose servers to extended temperatures, shock or vibration and even battle situations.

A typical application would be in a shipboard data center, where the server could be mounted in shock-isolated racks for additional protection.

The server may provide video distribution for a carrier group’s defensive systems, taking advantage of legacy I/O for some sensors and modern I/O for others.

The system could be used for identifying objects, tracking them, and applying inferencing to gain visual understanding of the nature of the object and then raising alerts if needed.

In another application, intelligence and situational analysts may be deployed remotely in the field connected to a feed from a UAV.

The rugged COTS server may be mounted in a transit case, providing sensor processing from a variety of inputs.

Sensor inputs can include radar and infrared, or microphones that listen for gunfire or mortar fire and can be used to perform triangulation of the audio feeds to identify and track the actual source.

Such systems may also be transported in a trailer truck or shipping container.

An application that may apply equally to military and non-military security requirements is a non-staffed sentry post.

This application may use a variety of sensors (cameras, microphones, infrared) to restrict or allow entry, based on pre-defined parameters or inferred characteristics.

Such a system may be transported to the remote site as the need for perimeter security changes and therefore the server processing the sensor data needs to deal with moderately harsh conditions.

The SMART Embedded Computing RG1000 is a 1U rugged COTS server which meets the need for a compact, rugged, rack-mounted computing system that is at the leading edge of commercial Intel® processor technology while supporting the long lifecycles demanded by military and industrial applications.

Designed to be rack-mounted and ruggedized to meet challenging extended temperature, shock and vibration environments, the RG1000 server features the latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors (Intel codename, Cascade Lake).

For more technical information, please download the RG1000 Rugged COTS Server datasheet or contact SMART EC to speak with a technical expert.