Databus in a Box - Scalable Electronic Integration Solutions for Tactical Trucks

Modern Army Trucks have undergone an evolution that has spanned sixty-plus years and countless iterations of drive-train and system technology. From the erstwhile mechanically controlled internal combustion engines of days gone by to the robust electronically managed networks of todays warhorse tactical wheeled vehicles, the ever-present requirement to integrate and maintain these technologies remains. For some systems in the Armys inventory, this is a more pressing problem. A great many vehicles in Army service lack the network based electronics to integrate new age electronic control modules ECUs. This missing ingredient is paramount in enabling the use of embedded diagnostics computing to troubleshoot the entire system via networked communications, and to host diagnostics software such as interactive electronic technical manuals IETMs. The costs associated with integrating these electronic networks into Army trucks are high, sometimes running into the tens of thousands of dollars per vehicle. For lower cost platforms such as High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle HMMWV figure 1, this cost is prohibitive. As technologies in the areas of engine and transmission evolve to be available as only electronically controlled subsystems, the need to create an affordable, scalable module to serve as a low cost electronic integration point becomes necessary. The approach calls for this module or data bus in a box to have standard vehicle and electronic information interfaces, suitable processing to handle many data inputs, designed-in scalability for non-electronically controlled sensor inputs, and the requisite ruggedization properties to handle the rigors of todays military environment.