RUGGEDIZATION LEVELS

Aitech products are available in multiple levels of ruggedization- commercial, rugged, super-rugged military and in two mechancial/thermal formats, air-cooled and conduction cooled. Our off-the shelf military rated boards are capable of withstanding high shock and vibration, and tolerating temperture ranges from -55oC to +85oC, altitudes up to 70,000 feet, and relative humidity up to 100%.

What's even more beneficial is the fact that our designs are 100% hardware and software compatible across multiple levels of ruggedization. This enables you to prototype and test commericial level units more economically, then upgrade to military ruggedization levels quickly, easily, confidently and cost-effectively, without having to hcange your application software.

In addition, we design and manufacture radiation-tolerant products specifically for space environments. These products feature specially selected parts and materials with special conformal coatings and features for radiation tolerance to survive the widest range of environmental conditions. They also inlcuded latch-up protection/circumvention and single event upset detection and protection.

All levels of ruggedization are pin for pin compatible to allow for easy migration from one level to the next without any modification to the application software.

Defense Level Products

Three Fully Compatible Ruggedization Levels:

• Military
• Rugged
• Commercial

Wide range of applications, including:

• Ground Mobile
• Airborne Fighters
• Helicopters
• Shipboards

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Series-100 - Commercial

Aitech's Series-100 uses commercial grade components. These air-cooled boards are designed for use in benign commercial or laboratory environments and operate at temperatures ranging from 0^oC to + 55^oC. These boards use a front panel with switches, connectors and LED indicators.

Series-200 - Rugged

Using industrial grade components or equally screened, this level meets the rugged military and industrial standards. Series-200 boards are tested in temperatures ranging from -40^oC to +71^oC and meet the same vibration and shock conditions as series 400.

The air-cooled version has stiffening bars and finned heatsinks. The conduction-cooled version has an integrated heatsink/stiffener or a stiffening frame.

These boards are designed to operate in rugged applications with lower temperature extremes.

Series-400 - Military

Available for VME and PMC board design, this ruggedization level meets full military temperature range requirements, using the highest grade components or equally screened components.

Designed to operate within the harshest environmental conditions and sustain extreme temperature changes, vibration and shocks, Series -400 products achieve the highest reliability at competitive prices.

Series-400 boards are tested in temperatures ranging from
-55^oC to +85^oC.

The air-cooled version is equipped with stiffening bars and finned heatsinks. The conduction-cooled version has an integrated heatsink/stiffener or a stiffening frame.

Air-Cooled

Air-cooled rugged VME boards fully comply with ANSI/VITA 1-1994. These include a reinforced front panel, add-on stiffeners, and finned heatsinks for improved thermal and mechanical properties.

Air-cooled PMCs for installation on commercial and rugged air-cooled carrier boards fully comply with IEEE 1386-2001. They implement a finned aluminum heatsink for heat relieve for high power components.

A front panel is available with connectors providing some of the PMC's I/O signals.

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Conduction-Cooled

Conduction-cooled rugged VME boards fully comply with IEEE 1101.2. These include a pressed on aluminum hard anodized 3D heatsink plate with built-in stiffening ribs, add-on wedgelocks and ejectors and heatsink covers. This mechanical structure is extremely durable and particularly suitable for boards with through hole packaged components on the top side and SMT components on the bottom side.

Conduction-cooled rugged PMCs meet the ANSI/VITA 20-2001 standard for assembly on top an IEEE 1101.2 compliant VME board. This mechanical version of the PMC implements a conduction type aluminum heatsink to conduct the heat off high power components to the carrier's board frame.

There is no front panel and all PMC I/O signals are directed to P4 I/O connector and through the carrier board to the rear panel.

Heat dissipation for boards and mezzanines with fine pitch SMT devices on both sides and BGA devices on the top side is based on internal heavy copper thermal layers inside the PCB with thermal vias through the top and bottom layers.

This VME board technology includes add-on machined hard anodized aluminum frame with heatsink covers, wedgelocks and ejectors.

Space Level Products

In addition to the military, industrial and commercial product lines described above, Aitech designs and manufactures products specifically designed for use in space environments. Space level product designs focus on:

• Radiation tolerance
• Latchup protection/circumvention
• Single event upset detection and protection
• Special conformal coating
• Parts and materials selection and control
• Environmental survivability under a wide range of customized conditions

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Radiation tolerant boards and PMCs designed specifically for space applications

Mechanical formats

• Conduction-Cooled

Wide range of applications, including:

• Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)
• High Altitude platforms
• Mid-Earth Orbit (MEO)
• Mass Terrestrial Vehicles

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Click here: Ruggedization Levels for a document on Ruggedization.