Navy chooses 1553-to-Ethernet converter from Alta Data for landing craft upgrades
U.S. Navy shipboard electronics experts needed Ethernet appliances to remote MIL-STD-1553 databus operations onto 10/100/1000 Ethernet IP/UDP local area networks (LAN) aboard the Navy's Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC). They found their solution at Alta Data Technologies LLC in Rio Rancho, N.M.
Officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Fla., announced a sole-source contract to Alta Data for 85 of the company's eNet2-1553-1D-E data-remoting devices for the LCAC Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Navigation (C4N) project. LCAC is a fast air-cushioned hovercraft designed to transport Marines, soldiers, combat vehicles, and other equipment ashore from Navy surface ships during land invasions. The specialized landing craft skims across the surface of the ocean on a cushion of air, and can move at speeds faster than 40 knots. The entire hull rides about four feet above the ocean's surface, as well as above the sand on landing beaches.
Navy experts will use the Alta Data eNet2-1553 units for the LCAC C4N system baseline configuration 4 (SBC4) Ethernet 1553 assembly. The contract will have options for an additional 20 Ethernet appliances.
The LCAC C4N project seeks to upgrade the LCAC's electronics and other equipment to replace obsolete equipment, focusing on replacing the vessel's LN-66 radars with modern, high-power P-80 radar systems. LCAC C4N focuses on open-architecture systems with modern commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment.
In addition to Alta Data, LCAC C4N contractors include Aitech Defense Systems Inc. in Chatsworth, Calif., for single-board computers; Concurrent Technologies in Woburn, Mass., for single-board computers; and Tracewell Systems in Westerville, Ohio, for rackmount chassis.
FOR MORE INFORMATION visit Alta Data Technologies at www.altadt.com.
