Instead of cheap, lightweight plastic, these devices need durable magnesium or titanium alloy cases and transportable chassis. Hinges, connectors and seals for slots and ports must be rugged, too. Disks are often mounted in shock-proofing polymers with built-in sensors to detect an imminent drop.

Industry likes the adjective “robust” for any IT product. Brand names such as Panasonic Toughbook and the Itronix Hummer evoke on-the-go durability. But the Defense Department insists on demonstrable standards for ruggedness. Mil-Std 810F specifies that portable computers must resist:

• Multiple-gravity shock
• 1-meter falls onto concrete
• Side-to-side and front-to-back vibration
• Temperatures from -46 to 55 degrees Celsius (-51 to 131 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Dust, sand and snow
• Explosive air mixtures.

What about computers carried by non-combat personnel? A subcategory known as semirugged systems, priced lower than their Mil-Std counterparts and with tailored features, serves these users. Inspectors and health care workers, for example, might need touch-screen tablet PCs instead of keyboards for faster data entry. Field technicians might order several removable hard drives to store repair manuals for equipment and weapons.

By the Specs
In addition to Mil-Std 810F, Mil-Std 167 measures the vibration level of rotating and reciprocating components. Mil-Std 461 evaluates radiative and conductive emissions from components such as antennas and power leads. And Mil-Std 901D applies to shock resistance of rugged RAID array chassis and enclosures.

To achieve compliance with any of these standards, vendors submit a product to a test facility accredited by a national or international engineering group. DOD maintains an online database of its standardization program documents at assisdocs.com.

To cut the cost of standards compliance, vendors such as Telos Corp. of Ashburn, Va., have devised rugged electromechanical packaging for ordinary commercial servers, switches, routers and other equipment destined for use in adverse environments.

With modifications designed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association of Rosslyn, Va., Telos develops thermally safe enclosures as well as desk-sized, shock- and vibration-protected modules from which technicians can access repair manuals in the field and order and track parts by wireless LAN.

“The marketplace in the last five or 10 years has evolved from expensive, custom device development to multipurpose rugged modules” for flexible configuration, says Tom Badders, Telos’ director of wireless strategy development. He says a deployable, rugged enclosure incorporating a server, keyboard, display, wireless LAN and router or switch starts at around $25,000.

Wireless LANs “save a ton of money compared with laying fiber from tent to tent,” he adds.

Battlefield No-Nos
Under battle conditions, however, automated wireless connectivity can cause radio interference and even endanger personnel. The Intel Centrino processor’s wireless capability “can be turned off, and we get that request many times,” says Alan Shad, sales vice-president at Rugged Notebooks Inc. of Anaheim, Calif. “To avoid having to exchange data on CDs in a field situation, you can enable and then disable wireless connectivity in software.”

As small forces strive to maneuver and gather intelligence under harsh conditions, computers need “more mobility and more performance than ever,” Shad says. “They have to withstand all kinds of abuse, and anything but the most rugged will disintegrate.”

Combat in southwest Asia has put greater focus on screen readability in bright sun as well as heat and dust resistance.

Sunlight can render an ordinary notebook’s LCD too dim to read, so rugged models have either transmissive (backlit) or transflective (sunlight-reflecting) lighting to keep screens legible in both high- and low-light conditions. The transflective variety gives better legibility the brighter the sunlight.

When temperatures exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit in the Iraqi desert, one of the world’s hottest places, notebook PCs have been known to melt. To compensate, some rugged models now have an engineering component known as a heat pipe instead of a cooling fan.

The heat pipe acts as a wick to transfer heat away from the motherboard. The miniature, passive version used in notebooks is borrowed from larger heat pipes used to dissipate heat buildup on the sunny side of satellites and spacecraft, as well as in fighter jets to cool the engine while warming the cockpit.

On the Horizon
What’s in the future for rugged computing?

Although the computing form factor seems to be evolving in a fairly stable fashion, the future Microsoft Vista operating system could affect current graphics, mapping and Global Positioning System applications, Rugged Notebooks’ Shad notes.

DOD buys twice as many rugged military as nonrugged commercial notebooks, Shad says, and “laptops still lead sales compared to tablets. Many civilian users want to buy the military specifications just for the MTBF,” or mean time between failures, which theoretically runs about 10,000 hours or about five work-years for rugged models, he adds. “And the total cost of ownership is as important to military buyers as the initial cost. It’s computed into the procurement price. They do keep records.”

Rugged Notebooks: Recent Results from the GCN Lab*

Model	Durabook N15RI	GoBook III	GoBook VR-1	Duo-Touch	MobileForce M220	Toughbook CF-18
Product
Vendor	Twinhead Corp. usa.twinhead.com Fremont, Calif. 510-492-0828	Itronix Corp. itronix.com Spokane, Wash. 509-624-6600	Itronix Corp.	Itronix Corp.	Getac Inc. getac.com Lake Forest, Calif. 866-464-3822	Panasonic Computer Solutions Co. panasonic.com/ toughbook Secaucus, N.J. 800-662-3537
Pros	Competitive price, good shock resistance, long run time	Almost as fast as nonrugged notebooks; many wireless and GPS features	Adaptable for homeland security uses	Tablet PC, GPS radio, touch screen	Well-cushioned LCD	Light and compact;legible under most conditions; long battery life
Cons	Weighty 6 pounds, 12 ounces; not fully ruggedized	Substantial price	Semi-rugged	Keyboardless	14.1-inch display standard; moderate performance	10.4-inch display; high price
Price	$1,976	$3,623	$3,329	$3,195	$3,000	$3,805

* GCN is a Defense Systems sister publication.

Related Stories

• Mobile computing: Rugged on a budget about the Durabook N15RI
  
• Rugged notebooks don’t leave speed behind about the Itronix GoBook III and Getac MobileForce M220
  
• Ultraportable meets ultrarugged about the Toughbook CF-18

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