this looks interesting, could this be heading for a skyquest competition
A&CS receives order for airborne mission computer from Metropolitan Police
AC&S Ltd, an aerospace consulting and services company based in the north west of England have received an order from the Metropolitan Police for a number of mission computer and symbol generators for use in their EC145 helicopters.
The Mission Computer and Symbol Generator (MCSG) is an extensible mini PC for use in non-essential airborne operations. It works with Microsoft Windows® embedded Operating Systems and may have optional applications such as image processing software for airborne or similar missions added to it.
The MCSG was developed to address the demand for integrating existing typical aircraft systems which traditionally are installed as separately switched systems which do not integrate.
It is capable of integrating with numerous existing product systems such as GPS or camera feeds, and acts to integrate these systems to expand their abilities and increase utilisation.
The MCSG is no ordinary ruggedized unit. It has been especially developed for mission systems both in Rotary and Fixed Wing sectors.
The basic specification includes a fanless Solid State hard drive and Mil Spec connectors to address vibration and handling issues. It is currently DO160 tested for vibration, dust and shock. However, the MCSG also features user specified connectivity as requested by customers including RS232/422, multiple Mil Spec USB and PS/2 ports for connections to Keyboards, Tracker ball, Mouse, VDU, flash drives, etc.