Secure Communications Link

Situation

Our client, a major defence contractor, had a requirement to replace some vital secure communications link equipment which had a number of obsolete or unmaintainable components. Importantly the replacement solution needed to bridge between the 15 year old proprietary link technology and a standard Ethernet Local Area Network. The client had sought a replacement system around five years ago but had been told it could not be done.

Unfortunately, the regime of careful maintenance was no longer keeping the equipment reliably in service. The data link was a crucial part of a complex multi-supplier project, and there was a clear requirement for complete data integrity.

Replacement became an urgent need and Abelon Systems were invited to tender along with several other notable suppliers. We were the only company with the necessary expertise and experience to submit a successful tender.

Solution

We based the hardware part of the solution around a combination of an off-the-shelf Single Board Computer and a custom PCI interface card hosting an Altera FPGA. The design for manufacture of the hardware focused on long Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and robustness, while providing an upgradeable platform for future enhancements. Both the software and FPGA firmware are field upgradeable.

The FPGA handles the proprietary link, passing the captured data over to a TCP/IP stack on the single board computer.

Abelon needed only a few days on-site to demonstrate a working drop in replacement for the existing equipment. This was remarkable when compared to the many weeks required to commission the original system.

Please see our Products page for more details on the services we can provide in developing single board computer solutions and our communications services.