Steatite has developed a modular concept for multi-function consoles (MFCs), aimed at showcasing their systems engineering capability. It brings together various competencies of design, development and qualification, utilising their own cost-efficient COTS subsystems into customer-specific consoles.

Major challenges in engineering operator consoles and integrated rack cabinets include hitting cost targets, achieving environmental ruggedness qualifications, designing for manufacturability and maintainability as well as providing through-life support.

“Our engineers are very experienced in the process of balancing all of those, and in designing to regulatory requirements on things like low EMI, high shock resistance, and defence standards,” says Andrew Weekes at Steatite.

“As well as best practices on designing COTS products and subsystems into the military, and naval sectors, we can also undertake compliance testing in-house with our own EMC, shock, vibration and climatic chamber, to really de-risk component selection.”

“Our key COTS products can be brought together into customer specific MFCs – per customer preferences – include rugged displays, keyboards, mouses, control panels, and a range of computers from small fanless to larger and power rack-mount servers.”

“While those are all principally COTS systems, we can do modified subsystems to fit specific capability or performance requirements, while doing everything we can to keep costs low at a system level, and prevent timescales getting too lengthy,” Weekes adds.

“We can support Windows among other OSs, though more often we are seeing Red Hat as the OS of choice for a lot of our hardware, while maintaining firmware control in a lot of the COTS equipment.”