How to tell your ‘rugged’ devices are really up for the job: the true meaning behind different testing standards IP Rating and Military Testing Standards

How to tell your ‘rugged’ devices are really up for the job: the true meaning behind different testing standards

You’ve got a workforce that operates outside the traditional office space – maybe in transportation and logistics, in a warehouse or cool store, in field service, in construction or manufacturing. They need IT equipment and it needs to be tough.

So you look for equipment that is ruggedised, waterproof, dustproof, and meets the ultimate in toughness – military standards. Right?

Well, yes – but that’s not the full story.

The terms ‘rugged’, ‘waterproof’ and ‘military certified’ sound impressive, but the important thing to understand is that they are general terms, and cover a very wide range of different levels of protection and operability.

Having worked with enterprise grade rugged devices for years, I’ve found that many organisations are not aware of the different levels of standards and testing. Here’s what I share with them to help them select exactly the right equipment for their workers’ needs.

Xenarc Technologies manufactures Small Form Factor 7" to 18" Touchscreen Display Monitors that are thoroughly tested and certified according to IP and Military Grade Certifications

The two key standards

There are two main categories of standards when it comes to tough devices: Ingress Protection (IP Rating) and Military Testing Standards (MIL-STD-810G). IP Ratings explained Ingress protection is a rating that defines the level of protection that a piece of equipment has from dust and water. The higher the IP rating, the higher the protection. An IP rating consists of two digits, where the first rates protection against solids (dust and other particles) and the second rates protection from liquids. For example: IP54 means that the item is protected from an amount of dust that would interfere with its operation (rating 5) and that it is splash-proof (rating 4). IP65 means that it is dust-tight (rating 6) and safe against water jets (rating 5). IP68 (the highest rating level) means total dust protection and the ability to withstand total submersion in water. Beware of vague terms – like ‘waterproof’ So you can see that when a consumer device says that it is ‘waterproof’, you really need to be asking more detailed questions to find out exactly what level of exposure to water, and for how long, it will withstand

Ingress protection is a rating that defines the level of protection that a piece of equipment has from dust and water.

MIL-STD-810G Explained

MIL-STD-810G Tested and Certified Xenarc Technologies 7" to 18" Touchscreen Display Monitors

The second standard it’s worth knowing more detail about is the MIL-STD-810G certifications. As the name implies, these were designed by the US military to test its equipment limits under various environmental conditions before deploying it in the toughest of frontline environments. It has now expanded to become a global standard, not only for military, but commercial deployments. MIL-STD-810G includes 29 standards with extensive test specifications including drop/shock, rain, vibration, altitude/pressure, sand and dust resistance, humidity, high/low temperature and temperature shock.

The U.S. Military Standard (MIL-STD) 810G tests are designed specifically to gauge the performance levels of rugged tablets  – and other mobile computers –in a variety of harsh environments.

Though each rugged computer manufacturer may use a different set of parameters for their MIL-STD-810G specification testing procedures, Xenarc Technologies www.xenarc.com always performs multiple MIL-STD-810G tests on its rugged devices at various impact levels during the design and engineering phases. This allows us to clearly determine the rugged thresholds and durability of each of our tough mobile tablets and help identify the best use case scenarios for our rugged mobility customers. Xenarc's MIL-STD-810G testing methods for each rugged specification, as well as their resistance levels, are communicated in each of our rugged product spec sheets.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MIL-STD-810G TESTING

MIL-STD-810G Drop Resistance Tests

Your workers drop their mobile devices more than they probably admit. Save money, save productivity levels and save your data by choosing a rugged mobile computer with these minimum drop test ratings.

MIL-STD-810G Vibration Resistance Tests

Ordinary mobile computers aren't vibration-proof. Xenarc Technologies rugged vibration-resistant tablets are MIL-STD-810G Vibration tested to withstand industrial settings.

  

MIL-STD-810G Wind/Rain Waterproof Resistance Tests

It’s windy, it’s raining, and you have a job to get done – fast. If you need to power through inclement weather without interruption, you need a rugged tablet with specific weatherproof features.

MIL-STD-810G Sand/Dust Resistance Tests

If even a single particle of dust or sand can penetrate through a crevice or I/O port connection, you are prone to experiencing significant device and data damage. Don’t take a chance.

MIL-STD-810G Crash/Shock Resistance Tests

Want to keep your applications processing, your connections strong and your data intact even after the most powerful impacts? Find out how much shock resistance your rugged mobile computer should assert to survive a crash.

MIL-STD-810G Fluid Contamination Resistance Tests

Spills and corrosive chemicals don’t have to be devastating to your mobile device. Whether your workers frequent the flightline or need to frequently disinfect their device, you’ll benefit from a rugged tablet that’s resistant to common contaminating fluids.

MIL-STD-810G Extreme Temperature Resistance Tests

Even rugged mobile computers can be sensitive to extremely hot or cold temperatures and shut down at certain thresholds. Find the rugged tablet that will maintain peak performance levels in your operating environment.

MIL-STD-810G Salt Fog Resistance Tests

Salt fog is considered a hazard to almost any electronic device. But there are rugged tablets that provide sea-based military and transportation organizations genuine protection against the harsh effects of salt air exposure. Find a corrosion-resistant tablet PC suitable for your maritime applications.

MIL-STD-810G Humidity Resistance Tests

Humid climate conditions – whether manmade or natural – can be harmful to mobile computers lacking the right level of protection. Learn about the minimum performance standards you should expect from your rugged tablet in both Natural Cycle Humidity and Non-Condensing environments.

MIL-STD-810G High Altitude for Pressure Resistance Tests

Don’t let the low pressures of high altitude environments bring down your level of mobile productivity. See what it takes to keep your connectivity solid and efficiency levels soaring with rugged mobile computers at 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000+ feet.

What you need to know about MIL-STD-810G

Here are the important questions to ask about the hardware when it’s presented as MIL-SPEC certified.

1.      Which of the 29 standards has the equipment been tested for? It may be drop but not temperature, or temperature but not altitude. You’ll want to be sure you have equipment that has been tested for the conditions that your workers find themselves in.

2.      To what level has the equipment been tested? For example, a drop of 70cm or 2m, temperatures down to zero or minus 20 degrees?

3.      How many times was the equipment tested? Was it dropped 200 times or 2000 times?

4.      Were all the tests carried out on a single piece of equipment? Some manufacturers will drop test one unit, then temperature test another, rather than use a single device for all certifications. 

5.      Most importantly - if a piece of equipment has been tested for even just one of these standards and to the lowest specification, the manufacturer can state that it is MIL-STD-810G certified.

Reading that a device is ‘waterproof and meets MIL-STD-810G’ certainly sounds impressive – but as the above shows, it’s not enough in itself. It’s important to dig deeper and ask specific questions.

Other considerations

As well as IP Ratings and MIL-STD-810G, there are some other things to consider when looking for hardware to be used out in the field; including battery life, replaceable batteries, sunlight viewable displays, touchscreen technology with glove and rain modes, and the lifecycle of the device to ensure longevity of the docking and vehicle mounting solutions installed.

Isn’t rugged computing expensive?

If equipping your workforce with a device that is truly ruggedised sounds very expensive – think again. The gap is closing between consumer and enterprise grade hardware, and there’s an important conversation to be had around the difference in Total Cost of Ownership.

IT continues to move out of the office and into just about every conceivable outside environment, driving demand for tougher equipment – so it’s worth making sure you know just what you’re getting in your ‘rugged’ device.

Want to know more?  

Xenarc Technologies is an Enterprise Mobile Small Display Mobility Touchscreen Display Monitor 7" to 18" Manufacturer and Small Form Factor Computing manufacturers. For more information, please connect with Sales by email at sales@xenarc.com, or call us at 888-656-6536 

MIL-STD-810G Tested and Certified Xenarc Technologies 7" to 18" Touchscreen Display Monitors

Low Temperature Testing

Waterproof Testing

Impact Testing

• 【TRULY RUGGED】 Ingress Protection (IP Rating) and Military Testing Standards (MIL-STD-810G), FCC, CE, E13, RoHs & "E" Mark Certified If you need Customized 7" to 18" solution, contact us at sales@xenarc.com

What is Industry 4.0? Here's A Super Easy Explanation For Anyone

We’re in the midst of a significant transformation regarding the way we produce products thanks to the digitization of manufacturing. This transition is so compelling that it is being called Industry 4.0 to represent the fourth revolution that has occurred in manufacturing. From the first industrial revolution (mechanization through water and steam power) to the mass production and assembly lines using electricity in the second, the fourth industrial revolution will take what was started in the third with the adoption of computers and automation and enhance it with smart and autonomous systems fueled by data and machine learning.

Adobe Stock

 ADOBE STOCK

Even though some dismiss Industry 4.0 as merely a marketing buzzword, shifts are happening in manufacturing that deserves our attention.

Industry 4.0 optimizes the computerization of Industry 3.0

When computers were introduced in Industry 3.0, it was disruptive thanks to the addition of an entirely new technology. Now, and into the future as Industry 4.0 unfolds, computers are connected and communicate with one another to ultimately make decisions without human involvement. A combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems make Industry 4.0 possible and the smart factory a reality. As a result of the support of smart machines that keep getting smarter as they get access to more data, our factories will become more efficient and productive and less wasteful. Ultimately, it's the network of these machines that are digitally connected with one another and create and share information that results in the true power of Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 applications today

While many organizations might still be in denial about how Industry 4.0 could impact their business or struggling to find the talent or knowledge to know how to best adopt it for their unique use cases, several others are implementing changes today and preparing for a future where smart machines improve their business. Here are just a few of the possible applications:

Identify opportunities: Since connected machines collect a tremendous volume of data that can inform maintenance, performance and other issues, as well as analyze that data to identify patterns and insights that would be impossible for a human to do in a reasonable timeframe, Industry 4.0 offers the opportunity for manufacturers to optimize their operations quickly and efficiently by knowing what needs attention. By using the data from sensors in its equipment, an African gold mine identified a problem with the oxygen levels during leaching. Once fixed, they were able to increase their yield by 3.7%, which saved them $20 million annually.

Optimize logistics and supply chains: A connected supply chain can adjust and accommodate when new information is presented. If a weather delay ties up a shipment, a connected system can proactively adjust to that reality and modify manufacturing priorities.

Autonomous equipment and vehicles: There are shipping yards that are leveraging autonomous cranes and trucks to streamline operations as they accept shipping containers from the ships.

Robots: Once only possible for large enterprises with equally large budgets, robotics are now more affordable and available to organizations of every size. From picking products at a warehouse to getting them ready to ship, autonomous robots can quickly and safely support manufacturers. Robots move goods around Amazon warehouses and also reduce costs and allow better use of floor space for the online retailer.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing): This technology has improved tremendously in the last decade and has progressed from primarily being used for prototyping to actual production. Advances in the use of metal additive manufacturing have opened up a lot of possibilities for production.

Internet of Things and the cloud: A key component of Industry 4.0 is the Internet of Things that is characterized by connected devices. Not only does this help internal operations, but through the use of the cloud environment where data is stored, equipment and operations can be optimized by leveraging the insights of others using the same equipment or to allow smaller enterprises access to technology they wouldn’t be able to on their own.

While Industry 4.0 is still evolving and we might not have the complete picture until we look back 30 years from now, companies who are adopting the technologies realize Industry 4.0's potential. These same companies are also grappling with how to upskill their current workforce to take on new work responsibilities made possible by Internet 4.0 and to recruit new employees with the right skills.

Bernard Marr

Contributor

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things. Why don’t you connect with Bernard on Twitter (@bernardmarr), LinkedIn (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/bernardmarr) or instagram (bernard.marr)?

How To Build an In-Car Computer System: PC Peripherals

How To Build an In-Car Computer System: PC Peripherals: Hello and welcome back to my blog on building a custom in car computer. In the previous posts I discussed in detail how I designed and built...

How To Build an In-Car Computer System - Xenarc Technologies Screen Installation

Screen Installation

Hello and welcome to post # 8 of my blog on how building my very own custom in-car computer system.

Today has been a massive day in terms of progress. With some much appreciated help, I have fitted the screen to my Patrol by building a custom bracket and trimming the factory bezel to fit the screen.

To start off with, I'll provide a list of the materials and tools used for the build. All materials were purchased from my local hardware store and are readily available.

Galvanized steel, note it is L shaped.

I used a long (roughly half a meter)  piece of 2mm galvanized steel pre-bent into a L shape. It turns out the spaced pre-fabricated round and diamond shaped holes would be a huge advantage later on.

For fasteners I chose 316 grade stainless steel M6 bolts, contact washers and locknuts. The bolts coming loose from vibration was a key concern for me so I decided to use contact washers for extra piece of mind. I also bought a small bottle of Locktite 202 thread lock and some stainless M3 washers (not pictured). In summary, the materials used for the bracket are:

• 500X100X2mm Galvanized steel L-bracket
• 4X M6 Stainless Steel Bolts
• 8X M6 Stainless Steel Contact Washers
• 4X M6 Stainless Steel Locknuts
• 4X M3 Stainless Steel Washers
• 1X Bottle of Locktite 202 Threadlocker

 The tools I used are:

• Screwdriver (Philips Head)
• Long fine tipped Philips head screwdriver
• 10mm ratchet spanner
• 10mm spanner
• Drill & Drill bits
• Hammer
• Vice
• Flat medium file
• Round medium file
• Angle Grinder w/cutting & grinding discs
• Ozito rotary tool (cheaper alternative to a Dremel)
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Bench vice

The challenge was to find a way to mount the screen in place of the after market double DIN form factor head unit. 

After market DIN head unit (note the two steel brackets that screwed in on either side of it are missing) and iIm holding it where it originally sat for the photo with one of my fingers.

Cavity where the head unit sat. The wiring on the right is for the switch for my reversing lights.

After some thought and planning, I decided not to not use the stand that came supplied with the screen as there are no solid places to mount it in the cavity where the head unit sat. Instead we made use of the four M3 screws on the back of the screen that are presumably there to fit a stand/bracket. 

The back of the screen with the four M3 screws. The black bracket in the centre is for the supplied stand and won't be used for mounting the screen in the car.

 To start off with, I cut off two pieces from the L bracket with the angle grinder and filed the edges to smooth them. In a huge stroke of luck, the spacing of the prefabricated holes lined up almost perfectly with the screw holes on the screen. After drilling out the holes to a slightly larger diameter, fitting the brackets to the screen was simple.

screen bracket without the holes drilled out to suit the M3 screw holes.

To secure the brackets to the vehicle, I measured and cut another section of the L bracket, then bent it flat using the hammer and vice. Then I drilled holes in the now flat plate to coincide with the holes that were originally used to mount the head unit.

Backplate mounted using the head unit holes. Note drilling extra holes for the two plastic locating pins was slightly tricky as marking them from behind was impractical.

After doing some mocking up and approximate measuring, I decided to bend the two brackets for the screen by 90 degrees and bolt them straight onto the backplate. Any small errors in spacing could be fixed by bowing the screen brackets in slightly to adjust the distance of the screen from the backplate. Tilting the screen at an angle to position it more perpendicular to the user was not necessary as the viewing angle of the screen is excellent. 

Screen with the two bent brackets installed. Note the holes on the screen brackets are drilled out to accommodate the M6 bolts.

After fitting the M3 washers and locktite to the screen bracket screws, It was time to mock up the screen on the backplate again using the plastic bezel for position reference. It became clear that the top two plastic slots that house the bezel clips were interfering with the screen's fit, resulting in a gap between the top edge of the bezel and the screen when installed. Consequently, the bottom part of the screen that houses the buttons, light sensor, ect was completely covered by the bezel. To rectify this I used an angle grinder to remove the inside bottom corner of each slot to allow the screen to snugly fit between the slots. Fortunately this did not interfere with the function of the bezel clips as the clips used the vertical sides of the slots to grip and not the corners. 

One of the plastic slots with the inside edge removed.

After this was done and the screen checked for fit again, it was time to position the screen and mark out the holes to attach the screen brackets to the backplate. This was a difficult two person process that involved one person holding the screen against the backplate, while the other positioned the plastic bezel in place to check the position of the screen, then adjusting the screen's position by hand until it was successfully aligned. Then a graphite pencil cut approximately 5mm long was used to reach in behind the screen and mark through the screen bracket holes onto the backplate. This was especially difficult as during this process the screen could not be moved and had to be held in place by hand.

After the holes were marked I used the drill to make four holes through the backplate. Then I removed the backplate from the vehicle, and bolted the screen onto it.

Once the screen was secured to the backplate, the whole assembly was then secured back onto the vehicle using the four factory screws originally used to secure the head unit. 

screen secured to the vehicle

Some final adjustment was done by using the plastic bezel for reference and the screen mounting was then complete. In order to make the plastic bezel fit back into the dashboard properly, some cutting was required. This involved using a combination of the angle grinder, flat and round files and dremel tool to take away material where necessary until a snug fit was achieved. Unfortunately when cutting the plastic bezel the angled corners of the bottom of the screen was not accounted for, resulting in a slight gap at the bottom corners. 

Overall the fit turned out to be quite snug, and the screen feels secure in place and won't move from vibration when the car is driving. I am quite pleased about the design of the bracket as it is just as easy to remove as the factory head unit, as it uses the same four screws to secure it to the vehicle. 

The final product with the screen fitted.

After the screen was fitted, it was time to prepare the computer and console for fitting to the car. Back at my workshop I removed the computer from its testing arrangement and screwed it back onto the console using the four large wood screws.

In order to manually power on and off and reset the computer (the computer's power supply has a configurable system that has an on and off delay based on a wire that will be connected to the accessory position on the ignition, a power/reset switch is required. I used a Carling rocker DPDT (Double Pole Double Throw) switch, so that using the single switch I can power on/off the computer or reset it (in the unlikely event it hangs or crashes).

DPDT Carling switch installed in the console's 6-switch holder. I will order a custom made laser etched labelled cover for the switch later.

After connecting the wiring for the power/reset switch, ground and crimping the terminals for the computer power, map light power and ignition signal I did some cable management.

Managed cables

That is the extent of the work for today, there are a couple of minor things to mount to the console such as the dual band bluetooth/wifi antenna for the computer and the GPS unit, then the console will be ready to mount to the car. 

Special thanks to my Dad for helping me with the screen bracket, you can't appreciate the help of your old man too much :)

That's it for this massive post, and as always, thanks for reading. 

Friday, 20 March 2015

Screen Testing and More Software

Hello and welcome to post #7 of my blog on building a custom in-car computer system. In the last post I discussed the different types of software used to give the computer various abilities to meet the requirements I set in post #1. This post will cover the software configuration of the touchscreen and optimizing the computer for in car-use.

Good news, yesterday the touchscreen arrived!

For more specs see the link in the text above

 After unboxing the unit i was eager to test it with the computer.

Front view of the screen, the three round holes in the lower center area are for the IR remote control, ambient light sensor and power indicator LED, respectively.

 The unit is solidly built and overall feels like it is very good quality.

Rear view of the screen with the supplied malleable copper base attached. on the lower left you can see the area where the proprietary multi plug for the inputs and outputs goes, and the hole for the power connector.

 Straight away I noticed that Xenarc didn't skimp on the accessories. The unit comes with mains and 12V cigarette power adapters, a DVI to HDMI converter (which I will be using later), a driver CD, an extra U-bracket for securing the main pug to the screen (this will be handy to prevent vibration from loosening the plug), a full featured remote control and of course the stand and large main plug.

Other end of the main wiring harness plug. the connectors are: 3.5mm (for carrying audio to the inbuilt speaker), two RCA video plugs, an RCA audio plug (for mono audio), USB (for supplying the touch screen signal to the PC),  HDMI and VGA. If I had a bone to pick with this layout it would be that there were no dust-caps supplied for the plugs that won't be used (Ie everything except HDMI and USB).

Setting up the unit was as easy as attaching the stand and plugging in the main wiring harness and power plugs.

Testing set-up, the larger monitor in the background is no longer needed

 Adjusting windows to work properly with the display took a little bit of tweaking but overall it was a relatively simple process. Getting the resolution correct was somewhat challenging, as the monitor's native resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels was not supported by the Intel HD graphics chip build into the computer's CPU. However the screen supports many different resolutions, so to work around this I set the resolution to 1920 by 1080 (1080P HD) and then configured windows to have extra large (250%) Windows and text for easy use on the touchscreen. Interestingly when I tested the screen at 1280 by 720p resolution, windows disabled the mobile (RT) apps stating that the resolution was too low to run them. Strange.

I made the mistake of installing the touchscreen's supplied touch driver software, however this was not needed as the driver software (which comes with a fully featured software suite) emulates a USB mouse and therefore Windows would not recognize it as a touchscreen. This meant that all the touch features native to windows 8.1 would not work. To fix this I simply uninstalled the drivers and software suite and let windows automatically install generic drivers. From then on I had full multi touch support and access to the gesture based windows features.

Using the touch screen feels as responsive and smooth as as using a brand new Android or iDevice. Being capacitive, no pressure on the screen  is needed to register a touch, and multitouch pinching and zooming works flawlessly. I have no regrets in spending the extra money on this monitor over inferior resistive touchscreen technology though I do believe Xenarc has the monopoly as it was the only capacitive one I could find. 

The monitor's built in OSD (on screen display menu) has a few handy features, other than the standard brightness, color & contrast adjustments; you can disable the hardware buttons on the front of the screen, disable the extra (VGA, RCA, ect) Inputs, turn on or off the automatic brightness adjustment, and tweak many other features.

Testing the screen with Google Chrome was a pleasant surprise, as Chrome has inbuilt touch-screen support. Pinch to zoom, forward and back navigation by swiping and easy tab changing are all supported. 

Chrome running on the touchscreen

To improve its ease of use, I installed an extension called Speed Dial 2. Its basically a replacement homepage that lets you configure it to have links to your favourite websites with large icons (pictured above).

Here is the corsair link software that I discussed in the previous post. The iteration you see below is an early configuration I created for testing and monitoring the temperatures. Later I will set up various safety features such as automatic CPU temperature based fan control, high temperature warnings, automatic overheat shutdown and fan failure warnings.

Tomorrow I will start work on building a system to mount the screen in my vehicle, be on the lookout for more posts soon, and as always, thanks for reading.

http://patrolpc.blogspot.com/2015/03/  Original Blog  Thanks for letting me Post it. 

How To Build an In-Car Computer System: Computer Installation

How To Build an In-Car Computer System: Computer Installation: Hello and welcome back to post #9 of my blog on how I built my own in-car computer system.  It has been a while since I last posted, ...

702GSH Industrial & Automotive Display Monitor IK08 Tested and Certified against 5 Joules of Impact Force

Xenarc Technologies recently received IK08 and IK07 Certifications for the 702GSH 

Xenarc Technologies 702GSH Display Monitor was recently tested and certified against 5 joules of impact force on the touch screen and passed.

The 702GSH is now IK 08 Tested and Certified against 5 joules of Impact.

The test consisted of dropping a 500 Gram Steel Ball Mass from a height of 110 cms to achieve a 5.3 Joule of Impact Force on the touchscreen.




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Our mission is to provide the best customizable solutions for both display and touch that save you time and money.

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