Ruggedized PC Tablet for Extreme Environments
Posted by blogElectronica in 2.DISPOSITIVOS (práctico), PCs industriales
Today’s post is somewhat personal as I am going to talk about a product that I have been thinking about buying for myself for quite a long time. It’s a PC, quite a special PC.
We all have our hobbies. Some like to go out to eat often, others like to go dancing, others like mountain biking… As for me I like the world of motoring, specifically off-road racing. For some time I have had an Azel1100, a vehicle that’s prepared to go on nice hikes. But above all, when my son is a little older, I want to take him with me to go on an extra special trip. Someday I will do this…
Since then, although I’m not in a rush, I’ve been looking for some kind of PC to put in the vehicle. I want a PC that I can use as a GPS navigator and tracker, but that I can also use to film my trips. I also want to be able to control some of the dune buggy’s settings via RS232 port + a HW (temperature controls, electric fans, battery status etc.) and I want to be able to have internet access whenever possible.
At first sight you could think that there are hundreds of PCs that could do this but that isn’t true. The real problem is that the PC needs to be very ruggedized for the applications that I need. They need to be prepared for extreme conditions. So today I am going to talk about a PC that I think is perfect for these types of applications.
The PC in question is the Twinhead T7M model, and it looks like this:
Nice isn’t it?
It also has some very interesting features. I’ll talk about a few of them, but only the most special ones.
The first and the most important is the IP54. Remember the post that I put up a while ago with different IPxy degrees. We saw the IP54 which is “x = 5 = Protected against dust” and “y = 4 = Protected against water”. This is perfect for what I need as it is practically going to be out in the open.
Another interesting feature is the resistive Touch Screen. This allows you to use the screen whilst wearing gloves which is also very important to me.
Another important aspect is the brightness of the screen adapting to the sunlight, some mobiles and TVs have this. In outdoor environments it’s even more important to be able to see the screen well at all times.
It’s very robust. It has a magnesium alloy chassis (you could literally throw it on the floor and it wouldn’t break), just like its TFT screen which is highly impact-resistant.
Where the hard disk is, the PC structure is designed to absorb shock and vibrations so that the heads aren’t affected. If like in my case you are going to use a vehicle whose natural terrain isn’t exactly asphalt, it’s imperative that you have an anti-vibration system, if not the hard drive will break after a short period of time.
Something else I love which is related to the hard is that under 0ºC, the T7M warms up the hard drive like a mother keeps her son warm in winter. This way, the device’s total operating temperature is -20ºC a 60ºC which is perfect for cooler days.
Also at the start of the post I was talking about being able to record video. This device provides a very good solution as it has a camera (although the resolution isn’t brilliant but sufficient 2Mpx). The camera is situated on the back of the PC. This position isn’t very common on laptops as they are usually located on the front of the PC with the idea having videoconferences. I want the exact opposite so it’s perfect.
And finally I will talk about some optional and some serial modules that it incorporates. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication modules are among the serial modules. GPS and an internal 3G communication module (both interesting to me) are among the optional modules and so are others that I don’t need like RFID or barcode readers.
So that was a bit about the T7M, the PC that I like and have in mind. Now I have to save up a little bit (I’m not in a rush) and the most difficult thing is to try and convince my Mrs as it’s a military grade device and not exactly a trinket…
Soon I will post some short articles that I have in mind related to various new Cinterion modules (EU3 and BG2) and also related to Digi (more in the line of communication devices that I normally talk about on here) but I haven’t had the time to do it. I’m sure that you will find it interesting. Ciao.
Tags: pantallas lcd, PCs industriales