Chassis Plans - Mark Lovett Joins as President

As a recognized technology leader serving the telemetry and instrumentation needs of military and commercial customers throughout the world, CALCULEX understands that there is no "one-size-fits-all" platform that can meet every situation. However, it is very important to leverage core chassis technologies that can be flexibly configured to meet different application requirements and that can smoothly adapt from one product generation to the next.

For example, the data monitoring platforms used to capture and record remote telemetry flight data in the aerospace industry regularly have to be updated with new capabilities to keep up with the airborne systems being tested. Every newly developed aircraft, missile guidance system or weapons system brings with it a unique set of challenges and places additional demands on ground-based telemetry monitoring stations. Ever-escalating levels of data require more storage capacity and special processing subsystems, while shorter time cycles between monitored events are simultaneously pushing the envelope for real-time data processing and analysis.

In addition, in order to provide sufficient proximity to the systems under test, many data monitoring stations must be deployed into very unforgiving environments. For instance, an entire data monitoring station might be packed into the back of a four-wheel-drive or tracked vehicle and subjected to a series of jarring rides across a dusty desert to set-up in remote monitoring sites. Other monitoring stations could be deployed within airborne labs that are designed to fly along with the aircraft or missile systems under test in order to provide additional real-time analysis and management of the test flight.

To meet these demanding performance and deployment parameters, today's telemetry monitoring systems must be highly adaptable from both a form and function standpoint. In addition, they must be designed from the ground up to withstand a wide range of ambient temperatures, humidity, mechanical shock, dust, vibration, potential mistreatment, and many other hazards that are never encountered inside an air conditioned computer facility.

The CALCULEX Mission

Since the company's inception, CALCULEX Inc. has specialized in the development and production of state-of-the-art electronics and software systems that satisfy a diversity of engineering applications - including a leadership focus on real-time telemetry systems.

CALCULEX systems engineering provides hardware and software solutions for many diverse applications, such as real-time, high-speed data acquisition and analysis, fault-tolerant closed-loop control, and man-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop computer-based simulation and training.

Custom system solutions designed by CALCULEX engineers have been used in a wide range of airborne, ship-board, ground and laboratory environments. With deep systems knowledge and broad real-world applications experience, CALCULEX engineering, design and development, and systems integration teams have consistently met and exceeded even the most demanding customer expectations.

A key element in CALCULEX's on-going track record of success has been the ability to bring together best-of-breed technologies from leading edge design and development partners, such as Chassis Plans. According to Joe Downing, Manager of CALCULEX's Systems Administration Group, "Chassis Plans is a true turnkey partner for us. They started by asking 'what's your application' and then tailored all of the system elements, integration and testing to meet our specific requirements."

The Chassis Plans Difference

Chassis Plans provides custom designed industrial rackmount systems, allowing partners such as CALCULEX to build their own value-added features around a quality industrial chassis while minimizing development cycles and maximizing results for their end customers.

Chassis Plans' design philosophy is to provide exceptionally engineered, cost effective industrial computing platforms, tailored for unique requirements and delivered at a competitive price. Every Chassis Plans design project is characterized by consistently being: on-time, on-budget, technically sophisticated and thoroughly documented.

For CALCULEX, Chassis Plans has developed specially tailored, ruggedized system configurations that are designed to handle the temperature excursions, vibration, shock and dusty conditions that are inherent to test range and airborne deployment.

In addition, all of the Chassis Plans platforms are optimized for configuration flexibility, which enables CALCULEX system engineers to tailor the right amount of computing power, slots, components, internal storage, etc., for each data monitoring application; while leveraging the same underlying system designs across multiple projects. Once each project's specific design has been established, Chassis Plans documentation and tight configuration control processes also assure that every system delivered for that program will be optimized for quality, consistency, and maintainability.

Summary

Working closely together, the Chassis Plans and CALCULEX design teams have created a solid technology foundation that addresses all of the configuration, power, cooling and ruggedization issues, while simultaneously providing the adaptability to support rapid deployment for a wide range of data monitoring applications.

According to Tom Beams, CALCULEX COO, "We consider Chassis Plans to be a key strategic resource when it comes to designing, deploying and supporting many of our field-based telemetry monitoring and instrumentation systems. By selecting Chassis Plans as our partner for designing ruggedized computing platforms, we've been able to create an on-going relationship that works smoothly at all levels between our two companies - and most importantly the ability to provide excellent capabilities, quality and responsiveness to meet the needs of our customers."

More about Chassis Plans:
Chassis Plans is a specialized designer, and manufacturer and integrator of award-winning custom and COTS rackmount computer systems and LCDs for critical industrial and embedded applications such as telephony, commercial and homeland security, defense and aerospace, command & control, simulation, factory automation, imaging, instrumentation, control test & measurement and other environments which require performance, ruggedness and reliability. Please visit www.chassis-plans.com for more information or e-mail at saleseng@chassisplans.com .

More about CALCULEX:
CALCULEX, Inc. was founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1986. The company began by developing specialized applications such as real-time high-speed data acquisition and analysis hardware and software for airborne, ship borne and ground environments. The company developed its ARMORTM (Asynchronous Real-time Multiplexer and Output Reconstructor) multiplexer family, an IRIG standard, starting in the early 1990s. The second generation multiplexer, ARMOR II, based on CCSDS type packet architecture, was the basis for the newly adopted IRIG 106 Chapter 10 for solid state recorders.

The MONSSTR (MOdular Non-volatile Solid STate Recorder) family of solid state recorders offers both ARMOR and IRIG-106 Chapter 10 mulitplexers integrated into the recorder saving weight, volume and power for the host vehicle. MONSSTR 5000 and 6000 recorders are currently being used extensively on the following programs: