By Geoff Fein
Synexxus, a small Virginia-based defense firm, will be demonstrating its Electronic Keel, a “plug and play” information backplane capable of operating in any vehicle and with any weapon, communication or sensor systems and devices, according to company officials.
The company is now fielding its fifth generation system and in the midst of developing the sixth generation. The Army has bought one and is testing it in a Cougar 6×6 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., Gregory Glaros, the company’s president, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
“The fifth generation will go into the Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response Vehicle (JERRV),” he said.
“They didn’t want the full suite of what we call the Electronic Keel-which is plug and play any sensor, ISR device, communications device and weapon. All they wanted was ISR,” Glaros said. “Now they are asking for more.”
Adding to the Electronic Keel doesn’t cost very much more money to do, he added.
Synexxus is taking in iRobot‘s [IRBT] Pacbot and Foster Miller’s Talon to plug into and operate from the Electronic Keel.
Foster Miller is a unit of the U.K.’s QinetiQ.
Synexxus also brought in a gyro camera that will enable the sharing of whether someone is internal or external to the vehicle. And the Electronic Keel will enable a soldier with a PDA and a sensor to share information with personnel inside the vehicle.
“We are showing the community how to do it both affordably, cost effectively, and today,” Glaros said. “[We are] also allowing them to change systems, and allow competition to prosper on these innovative ideas that other companies may have.”
Synexxus is also bringing in shot detection systems. “It’s as simple as plugging them in,” Glaros added.
Other add-ons include a driver vision enhancement system and satellite communications, he noted.
The fourth generation model was built for a Chevrolet [GM] Suburban and could accommodate any radio. It also includes the capability to run a cellular system, WiFi, GPS, and satellite communications, “so these guys can talk anywhere…” Glaros said.
Other devices being hung on these vehicle platforms can just be plugged in, he added. There are USB and Ethernet inputs for every station for the driver, the gunner, and the commander.
Glaros noted the idea was to keep the Electronic Keel simple, so Synexxus built it on the Linux operating system for its open source code.
The fifth generation Electronic Keel is approximately a third the size of the fourth generation model. The smaller size makes it a good fit in an environment with weight, room, and power constraints, like a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.
“We are able to shrink, miniaturize, reduce the weight and significantly eliminate redundancy of the system…but give it expanded capacity and capability that is almost un- definable right now because there is no requirement out there. So how do you define something like that,” Glaros said.
“We are putting the fifth generation inside vehicles right now,” Glaros said.
The fifth generation Electronic Keel also has a 15-inch touch screen monitor that allows personnel to access everything from the screen, a keyboard, or even a remote controller, he added.
The sixth generation is a little bit bigger, Glaros said, because folks wanted more than just one processor and all the radios inside of it.
Last week, the Marine Corps fielded requests for information (RFI) from industry for commercially available integrated computer display systems. Glaros noted that some of the requirements in the RFI were similar to things he had discussed with Marine Corps Systems Command a year ago.
Considering the company just completed the latest iteration of its Electronic Keel two months ago, they appear to be on a roll.
The Army will run full tests on the unit they purchased this week, and Synexxus will have a demo at Modern Day Marine, the company’s first trade show, Christopher Dour, company vice president, told Defense Daily.
“I started with one principle,” Glaros said, “guaranteed reliable delivery of information.”