With so many rugged panel PCs on the market, selecting the right one for military use requires correct match of features to the nature of the operations involved.

In this article we will narrow our focus solely on military land vehicles.

Display Criteria
● The resolution,nits and also aspect ratio are important elements to consider relative to the intended application.
● Night mode: In the case of soldiers wearing night vision, the display must be able to accommodate lower levels of brightness
● Gloved touch: In certain operations the driver or operator is wearing gloves and this may impede the touch screen function, it is important that the manufacturer takes this operational concern into account.

Ingress & Cleaning
● Harsh wash-down protocols with water hoses will require a high IP rating of the computer.
● In operations where decontamination of the vehicle interior may be required or the vehicle electronics may encounter partial submersion, IP68 can be proposed.

High Shock
● Artillery and mortar solutions require a panel computer with a much higher than usual shock tolerance and a product’s ability to endure high g values in the long term is crucial for reliability.

Inputs/Outputs
• RS422, 485, CAN bus and digital I/Os are a common requirement of military Panel PCs for ground army use. The flexibility to accommodate customisation of I/Os is essential for solution architects. Joysticks, video controllers, EO cameras and many other sensors and subsystems bring with them their different connector and protocol requirements.

High MTBF
• High number of MTBF hours ensures that end users are able to operate their equipment out in the field for long periods of time with peace of mind while without easy access to depot repair support. An comparison of MTBF hours is 1 out of many factors in the evaluation criteria to get a clearer picture of how the various vendors compare against one another.

Ocean communications is a manufacturer of rugged military panel PCs, servers and other computing products specific to Land and Naval operations. For more information on our products and solutions, visit our Military Defence Products, https://ocean-comms.com.sg/military-defense/