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Military / Aerospace (Mil/Aero) storage applications require the utmost in reliability and performance. Whether its operation in extreme temperature climates in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or subjection to the intense shock and vibration of a tank or helicopter, there's no question that these applications will stress most storage products to their breaking point.
Mil/Aero applications demand long term product support for programs that may last decades with bill of materials that must remain "frozen" throughout this period. STEC brings a focused approach to support the Mil/Aero community with commerical off-the-shelf (COTS) and customized storage products with unmatched integration support.
Faced with shorter design cycles to enable military modernization, companies specializing in Mil/Aero solutions are seeking storage products with increasing performance and capacity requirements as well as support for the latest secure erase methods for sensitive data. STEC is the right partner for advanced storage solutions and engineering support for Mil/Aero applications.
• Data Record/Log-in
• Rugged/Field Computing
• Operating System/General Storage
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• Operation in the harshest of environments
• Longer duty cycles
• Compliance with various military specifications
• Lower profile form factors
• Good sequential performance
• Long-term support
• Customizable |
• Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) twice that of a hard disk drive
• Low 9.5mm case height for use in the tightest of spaces
• Sustained performance for multiple streams of data recording
• Dedicated program management & engineering support
• BOM control
• Resistance to intense shock / vibration, operational in extreme temperatures
• Compliance with MIL-STD-810F and various agency secure erase standards
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Conditions
Military and Aerospace vehicles and devices are subject to high shock and vibration and need to operate at both very low and very high temperature conditions.
STEC flash products are made with state-of-the-art components, and there are no moving parts inside because of the inherent benefits of flash memory technology, inside the products there are no moving parts. As such they can withstand extreme shock and vibration conditions and are therefore perfectly suited to the particular needs of the automotive industry. Since we sign and qualify our sub-systems, we can offer products that are able to operate accurately under vibrations up to 16.3G and 1500G operating shock as defined by the most stringent specification such as MIL-STD-810F. Furthermore, STEC also offers all of our products in the industrial temperature range. The quality of the product is guaranteed by a functional test performed in the temperature chamber both at -40°C and +85°C.
Government data is strictly confidential information that should not be easily accessible. To protect sensitive information, STEC TotalDriveProtection offers varying levels of security to protect data from unauthorized users, encrypt content, or eventually, to sanitize the drive in the most efficient way.
Long-term product stability and complete traceability are fundamental requirements of the Mil/Aero industry. STEC implements rigorous Bill of Material (BOM) control to provide to the customer the degree of traceability, stability, and long-term availability they require, which in turn minimizes resource-consuming re-qualification efforts. Raw flash component technology changes every four quarters. Since we know how difficult it is for Mil/Aero customers to qualify new devices, we strictly apply Product Change Notification (PCN) procedures to inform well in advance of any changes and extend product availability with exceptionally long last-time-buy periods. For the most exigent customers, we also offer multi-year stocking service.
Maintenance of electronic devices mounted within a vehicle can often be very expensive. For this reason, these devices must be able to operate for many years without any failure.
Powering each STEC flash products is a proprietary microcontroller able to perform error detection and correction. This mitigates the risk of data corruption, as even a single bit error can be fatal when the flash products are used to store the code of the application. The same controller utilizes an extensive wear leveling algorithm to spread the write operation over the full memory array and extend the endurance of the drive. Consequently, the memory will survive the lifecycle of the vehicle without the need for maintenance or replacement.
Due to the nature of the industry, Mil/Aero customers do not have the luxury of time when issues arise in the field. For such emergencies, STEC has a strong network of competent Field Application Engineers (FAE), situated around the world. They will facilitate rapid problem diagnosis and solutions, and will gladly assist in any phase of the product cycle, from its design until its obsolescence.
Overview
