You're Answer to Smaller, Lighter, and Faster Computing For Airborne ISR

Eletter Product

A universal requirement in virtually all rugged military computing applications is Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) optimization. Whether the mission is airborne, shipboard or terrestrial the principal is the same: make it smaller, make it use less of the available resources, and make it contribute more to the overall system functionality.

What constitutes optimal SWaP for a mission computer varies greatly depending on the target platform and application. In the case of airborne ISR, where the mission is often driven by the capabilities of the payload, there is a relentless drive for lighter, more compact and ever more capable rugged mission computers.

To tackle these challenges, ZMicro designed the ZM3 Mission Computer. The ZM3 is a small form factor mission computer housed in a new rugged design that is the size of a shoebox and weighs less than 10 pounds. The unique design is driven primarily by the need to fit an NVIDIA GPU accelerator into the smallest possible form factor. Instead of building a solution by first thinking of the motherboard and CPU required and then including the GPU as an add-on, it starts with a GPU-centric approach. This new approach has the most significant impact on the overall weight of the system.

ZMicro also took advantage of what they believe to be one of the most important breakthroughs in military embedded computing: COM Express Type 7. The COM Express Type 7 allows processors such as the Intel® Xeon to be designed into COM Express modules and enables GPUs to be added via carrier boards. It also supports NVMe drives, which increase read/write speeds three to four times compared to SATA 3 and provides 10GbE LAN for rapid communication of video over the network.

The ZM3 Mission Computer is unique because it is the smallest, lightest, most cost-effective rugged mission computer available that can support an NVIDIA GPU card. With versatile mounting options and a convenient shape, the ZM3 enables system designers to utilize available space in a vastly more efficient manner, opening up new possibilities for configurations with greater processing capability or lighter, more compact loads.

Design Features