Ultra Electronics Electrics - Vetronics Systems, Crew Station, Power Management, HUMS and Indirect Vision Systems

Ultra Electronics Electrics Ltd (UEE) has over 40 years' experience in the design and development of fighting vehicle systems and is a recognised centre of excellence within the land systems market for the development and supply of vetronics systems and software. Vehicle systems include crew station equipment, power management systems, HUMS and indirect vision systems.

CREW STATION / HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE

For many years UEE has been the leading UK supplier of crew station equipment for defence applications. More recently the land systems requirements have demanded digital interfaces such as CANbus or RS422.

Crew Station Equipment supplied by UEE includes:

• Control handles
• Control panels
• Gear select levers
• LED lighting
• Drive-by-wire solutions

MILITARY VETRONICS – CANbus and MilCAN

UEE has a recognised pedigree in providing comprehensive solutions in the emerging field of military vetronics.

UEE is seen as a leading edge supplier of CANbus solutions into the military market and is a founder member of the MilCAN group (a NATO spawned working party whose aim was to adapt CANbus for the military applications). As part of this group, UEE has co-authored the MilCAN specifications and successfully implemented the MilCAN protocol on Challenger 2, Warrior and CVR(T).

It is likely that safety critical databus technologies, suitable for vetronics applications, will be required on future programmes. UEE is the UK partner and distributor for Time Triggered Protocol technology developed by TTTech Computertechnik AG.

HEALTH AND USAGE MONITORING SYSTEMS (HUMS) SOLUTIONS

UEE is also able to offer open expandable Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) solutions using available, common databus modules. These systems are designed to be easily integrated within an existing vehicle architecture. This approach has the advantage of allowing system growth whilst minimising development costs and allows for common hardware across different platforms utilising different solutions.

INTELLIGENT POWER MANAGEMENT

UEE has considerable experience in developing power management systems for military vehicles and has recently completed the power distribution system for the British Army Trojan and Titan vehicles.

UEE has incorporated the latest silicone smart power switching within its power management systems. This technology reduces the volume, weight and cost of these systems when compared to conventional electro-mechanical devices and also provides load fault detection such as short circuit and open circuit. Databus interfaces are also integrated into power systems to enable distributed control and reduce vehicle harness requirements.

BATTERY MONITORING SYSTEM (BMS)

UEE power management systems can also incorporate the UEE Battery Monitoring System (BMS) to enable intelligent battery charging and power distribution.

The BMS is based upon conductance measurement that provides accurate real-time health and charge data for lead acid batteries within military vehicles.

The system enables the vehicle user to enhance operational effectiveness by maximising the use of batteries during silent watch activities and reduce instances of being unable to start the vehicle engine. The system also reduces the vehicle logistics burden by identifying the individual batteries that will require replacing.

The BMS has recently been introduced to the UK Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

INDIRECT VISION SYSTEM (IVS)

UEE has gained unique experience in developing and integrating vision systems to military vehicles and has recently completed the development of the Indirect Vision System (IVS) for the British Army Trojan and Titan vehicles. The UEE IVS is a modular, high quality, fully integrated, day / night surveillance system that provides the vehicle crew with 360º situational awareness from under armour, in all weather conditions.

The IVS allows for the connection of multiple low light day, image intensified and thermal imaging sensors to LCD crew display units via a video switching and power unit.