Chatsworth, CA, July 21, 2006 – Aitech Defense Systems, Inc., a world leader in the development and manufacture of board and subsystem level products for harsh environment defense, aerospace and space applications, has delivered the first production lot of 30 Display & Mission Computers (DMCs) that drive the state-of-the-art glass cockpit avionics of the Indian Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Program to the LAHAV Division of IAI (Israel Aircraft Industries). The ALH helicopter, designed and built by HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), is being displayed and flown this week at the Farnborough International Air Show (July 17-23, 2006). IAI/LAHAV is under contract to HAL to develop and provide the avionics system for this aircraft.
The DMC is a cooperative design effort of IAI/LAHAV and Aitech that will provide IAI fully COTS and open systems architecture-compliant, integrated and tested, DMC systems. Aitech will build and deliver 400 DMC units for the ALH program over the next several years.
Aitech is also under contract to IAI to provide the next generation of the Digital Map Module (DMM), which will be part of the DMC. With the additional functionality of the DMM module, the DMC will become a complete and versatile state-of-the-art avionics computer, providing the performance needed by the IAI LAHAV division for its current and future avionics upgrade programs.
The DMC is an advanced avionics computer that includes state-of-the-art processor, memory, I/O and quad-head graphics boards packed in a lightweight 1 ATR short enclosure with a sophisticated MIL-STD-704-compliant power supply.
The DMC was designed to run the display and mission management software developed by IAI/LAHAV and is designed to be DO-178B-compliant. It is capable of driving four digital (DVI) MFDs (multi-function displays) simultaneously, displaying high-resolution synthetic graphics with instrumentation, navigation and mission data, as well as multiple sources of video. The full-featured graphics/video subsystem supports many different configurations and protocols in addition to input and display options, thus providing IAI/LAHAV the best performance and maximum flexibility to implement advanced glass cockpit systems.
The DMC also includes a large array of communication interfaces, including MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429, Fast Ethernet, USB (for external removable mass storage devices), high speed RS-422/485/232 serial I/O and high quality audio as well as support for ARINC 708 weather radar equipment. A large number of digital and analog (A/D, D/A) input and output lines used to read and control different sensors are also integrated into the computer.
The DMC was designed using a modular approach based on the VMEbus open architecture, providing the path for future growth, expansion and additional enhancements. In its present configuration, the computer has built-in provisions for internal and external mass-storage devices and for the DMM.
For more information please call 888-Aitech-8 (248-3248), visit www.rugged.com, or e-mail [email protected].
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About Aitech
Established in 1983, Aitech offers military and space-qualified, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products for rugged defense, aerospace and space applications, radiation tolerant and MIL-SPEC solutions; providing VMEbus and CompactPCI boards, power subsystems, mass memory, enclosures and hardware subsystem integration along with configuration and component obsolescence management services. In addition, Aitech utilizes its broad base of off-the-shelf products and technologies to develop customer-specific solutions, deliver superior cost-performance and reliability, and expedite time to market. Applications for its products range from mission processors, fire control and mission control subsystems for ground vehicles, surface and subsurface naval platforms, tactical and strategic fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and low- to high-earth orbit space vehicles.