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First Raspberry Pi Powered Ultra-Small Form Factor Rugged for Defense, Aerospace
- windex 5y agoRPIs are increasingly hard to get or too pricey. What gives? Is it the supply chain issue?
- tenuousemphasis 5y agoYeah, same as everything else.
- squarefoot 5y agoOther boards are easier to find. As an example, over 18000 Beagleboards should arrive at Mouser by the next months, of which over 2500 are expected by tomorrow. TME.eu also have some ARM boards in stock, etc.
- reedf1 5y agoGiven that pi design files are open, they could presumably build their own. They would probably do this anyway.
- kristianpaul 5y agoNo pictures?
- miloignis 5y agoI believe this small picture to the right is of the Pi - I missed it the first time too. https://www.curtisswrightds.com/content/images/PR-DuraCor-PI-Product-Launch_No-Caption.png https://www.curtisswrightds.com/content/images/PR-DuraCor-PI...
- godelski 5y agoI downloaded the handbook[0] and can confirm that picture is it (you can fill in useless info). [0] I'm not sure what's the best place to anonymously host PDFs but this is what I got from google: https://docdro.id/MTN8qAT https://docdro.id/MTN8qAT I can upload somewhere else if anyone has a better suggestion.
- jay-anderson 5y agoAccording to this page the 40 pin IO is available through a MIL-DTL-38999 connector. I've always liked those military connectors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Military_connector_specifications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Military_connector_specif...
- c_o_n_v_e_x 5y agoThe connectors alone cost more than the Pi hardware.
- someweirdperson 5y agoTrue only for the hobbyist editions of the Pi.
- nextlevelwizard 5y agoThey are literally using Pi 4 compute modules with wireless, 8GB RAM, and 32GB flash which costs less than 35€
- metaphor 5y ago38999-like, which the marketing language generously omits. Make no mistake, Glenair proprietary interconnect is used here. See this[1] for some sense of why this subtle distinction matters. [1] https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-10000-toilet-seat-cover-doesnt-pass-smell-test-dod-flushing-taxpayer https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-...
- mdtusz 5y agoThis may seem somewhat silly to most people but if it isn't vaporware and can actually meet demand and fulfill procurement needs, could be a solid choice. Choosing and sourcing SBC's for hardware is an absolute nightmare these days because of the thousands of options, horrible supply chains, and essentially nonexistent documentation or BSP's for the vast majority of them. Raspberry Pi's are undeniably the easiest SBC to work with, and for a huge portion of industrial, defense, and aerospace products and devices are a near ideal choice except for their "hobbyist" level attributes. A robust Pi4 clone that supports nvme drives, has no Bluetooth or Wifi by default, and has something like ISO9001 certification to check the boxes for big enterprise contracts would sell like hotcakes. It's somewhat surprising to me that the Pi foundation hasn't made something to this tune yet (the Pi CM4 may as well be vaporware - they're basically impossible to find anywhere even in single-digit quantities).
- bigiain 5y ago> the Pi CM4 may as well be vaporware - they're basically impossible to find anywhere even in single-digit quantities That's near as damnit true for _all_ Raspberry Pi products right now. You can pretty much only buy any of them in single unit quantities, and it's like buying concert tickets, you need to keep your eyes open to find out exactly when someone has some for sale, and you need to jump on them before they sell out. https://rpilocator.com https://rpilocator.com I managed to snag a Pi Zero 2 W a week or so back, had to get it shipped from Spain to Sydney which cost more than the Pi. I was limited to a single one at checkout.
- shrx 5y agoNice, it is currently available at the tiendatec.es shop, I managed to buy one. Shipping inside EU does indeed cost more than the board.
- scopecreep 5y agohttps://rpilocator.com/ https://rpilocator.com/ is handy for anyone looking for them in stock anywhere.
- blacksmith_tb 5y agoHmm, I am sure the pricing is also mil-spec. I have always liked the look of the Astro Pi[1] case, I have to admit, even if it's a big chunk. 1: https://www.esa.int/Education/AstroPI/What_is_an_Astro_Pi https://www.esa.int/Education/AstroPI/What_is_an_Astro_Pi
- sriram_sun 5y agoHow do you design for and validate "rugged"-ness? Are there standardized tests?
- shubhamharnal 5y agoThe US military has standards, though I don't know which, if any does this product try to meet/comply with: MIL-STD-167: is a test method standard for mechanical vibration of shipboard equipment MIL-S-901D: is a Navy test specification for shock to simulate explosions in the water next to a ship or submarine. For the curious, you can grab PDFs at: https://cp-techusa.com/knowledge-zone/military-specifications/ https://cp-techusa.com/knowledge-zone/military-specification...
- somerandomqaguy 5y agoThey're claiming a few different specs: ============================== Parvus DuraCOR Pi * Raspberry Pi CM4, model CM4108032. * Low-SWaP IP67 rugged chassis [...] * MIL-STD-810, DO-160, MIL-STD-461 qualification (EMI, thermal, shock, vibration, altitude, humidity, etc.) ============================== - https://www.curtisswrightds.com/products/computing/systems/sff/duracor-pi.html#tabbed-table2 https://www.curtisswrightds.com/products/computing/systems/s...
- c_o_n_v_e_x 5y agoThe USS Gerald Ford recently underwent shock testing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDohTHEfOI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDohTHEfOI Amazon did one on their Snowball server: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ooXhq5gZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ooXhq5gZ4
- nonrandomstring 5y agoOne of the few applications you can still use leaded solder, as it's less brittle. Even though the board can be hardened, and temperature ranges of the Broadcom seem acceptable, what bothers me is that the Broadcom still boots via unauditable "mystery" code in the GPU. Am still correct, or has that changed?
- 5y ago
- ulnarkressty 5y agoI wonder what the pi foundation's stance is on using their product geared towards teaching ( https://www.raspberrypi.org/about/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/about/ ) to create military applications.
- bogantech 5y ago"I like money!"
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoProbably the same as their stance on using Pis for retro gaming, media players, and magic mirrors. Just because much of western academia has a deep hatred for all things military related doesn't mean that anything created for use in education is fundamentally at odds with use in the military. As shocking as it might seem, the military actually does a lot of teaching.
- numpad0 5y agoTechnical advancement in civilian space is surpassing military, so military worldwide has no choice but to adopt civilian offerings in 21st century. The argument that civilian technologies shouldn’t be used to accelerate military development assumes military is way ahead. This is no longer the case and a new thinking is needed. (OT & mini Ask HN: I was told this from a right-leaning friend, who I suspect was just replaying a lecture or an essay. And basically I am too, shamefully. Have anyone heard a similar blurb somewhere?)
- haxtormoogle 5y agoare they just putting a Pi in a Mil spec case? where are they getting the mil spec chips from?
- c_o_n_v_e_x 5y agoThey're almost certainly putting a standard spec pi into a mil spec case. They might do some torture tests to weed out the bad ones / "uprate" the components. The Broadcom BCM2711 is already rated -40 to +85C which is considered industrial or rugged. I have no idea what the rest of the components on the Pi board are rated for though.
- O5vYtytb 5y agoThe CM4 is technically rated -20 to +85C on the datasheet: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.org/cm4/cm4-datasheet.pdf https://datasheets.raspberrypi.org/cm4/cm4-datasheet.pdf
- c_o_n_v_e_x 5y agoGood point. Chip specs don't always represent hard operating limits, they are just the limits to what the manufacturer has tested to. Either the mfg has done some additional testing that the chip can work down to -40C or they've done something like else (like add a heater... not unusual for rugged machines).
- verytrivial 5y ago/verytrivial existentially sighs ....
- wohfab 5y agoCan we have the important part of "Mission Computer" in the title as well?
- INTPenis 5y agoI love it when the term "military standard" or "military spec" gets thrown around. If you want a company with a long history of making industrial computers then Onlogic[1] just released a raspberry pi box. Onlogic used to be called logicsupply and they've made industrial and fanless computers for rough operating environments for many years. 1. https://www.onlogic.com/industrial-raspberry-pi/ https://www.onlogic.com/industrial-raspberry-pi/
- amelius 5y agoThe case may be rugged, but the connectors/sockets are still a weak spot.
- numpad0 5y agoCurtiss-Wright is a legit defense aerospace company though…
- fsagx 5y agoIndeed. Can't have a better aero pedigree than that. The Wright in Curtiss-Wright are THOSE Wrights.
- ckozlowski 5y agoAnd Curtiss is that Curtiss. Always fascinating to me how two rivals ended up with their companies merged together: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Curtiss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Curtiss
- INTPenis 5y agooic, I had no idea what it was. Thought it was some guy named Curtis and his blog tbh.
- colechristensen 5y agoThey built a box to put a raspberry pi compute module in that meets certain standards, this isn't some shitty amazon product putting that label on but an actual product targeted towards the defense market.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoWouldn't be surprised if more of these end up in industrial civilian use than in actual military use.
- fsagx 5y agoprevious discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30686772 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30686772
- formvoltron 5y agoAn idea: RC sized electric car that can deliver a tank mine under the tread of a tank. implementation: Using cheap, off the shelf parts: raspberry Pi (such as this one in the post), camera, GPS... It allows operator to choose a tank target and then this bot self-drives in front of a track. The only way a tank mine can detonate is if a tank rolls over it. So as long as you are not a tank.. this little bot would be pretty safe. Would possibly be a game changer for the ukraine war if these could be made en masse cheaply.
- yodelshady 5y agoHard to see how that tactically beats a Javelin or other anti-tank missile, which are clearly affordable enough.
- VectorLock 5y agoAnd Javelins don't get stuck in dirt, wallowed in ditches or stymied by curbs.
- jhgb 5y agoIt may not beat Stugna-P but it should beat Javelin when it comes to not exposing yourself. Also I imagine that such a vehicle could perhaps carry other payloads, too.
- danbr 5y agoHaving worked with CW products before, I imagine this will be in the $500-$1k+ price range and won’t satisfy many aerospace needs/constrains. There’s plenty of “oh we’re not using a raspberry pi, that’s a kids toy” in the industry, so I’m finding it difficult to find the niche this product satisfies, when there are plenty of more powerful/established options.