Engineers at Northrop Grumman needed support components for a single-board computer (SBC) upgrade on the U.S. Navy Hawkeye carrier-based surveillance and early warning aircraft. They found a solution with Elma Bustronic in Fremont, Calif.
Elma will supply VME and PCI adapters to provide mechanical interfaces for new system cards and a custom backplane.
The Northrop Grumman single-board computer retrofit is an upgrade to the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 airborne early warning and control aircraft, meant to increase the processing reserve capabilities of the CP-2319/ASQ Mission Computer. The Navy is currently developing an SCS-05 software upgrade for Hawkeye aircraft, with fleet introduction anticipated in early 2006.
The VME adapter designed by Elma Bustronic can accommodate up to two SBCs, a network switch, and a DC-DC power converter. The initial upgrade will be limited to one SBC and a DC-DC converter card. The PCI adapter provides the mechanical and electrical interface between a dual Compact PCI mezzanine card (DCPMC) and the custom PCI backplane. For more information, see www.elmabustronic.com.
