DEVELOPMENT OF A RUGGEDIZED LOW COST MICROCOMPUTER

STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY IS CURRENTLY UNDER-UTILIZED IN SEVERE ENVIRONMENT APPLICATIONS. THIS SITUATION IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE SEVERE ENVIRONMENTS. LOW COST COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY RUGGEDIZED TO PROVIDE RELIABLE OPERATION IN THESE ENVIRONMENTS WHILE FULLY MILITARIZED COMPUTERS ARE PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE FOR USE IN THESE APPLICATIONS. THIS PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT EFFORT WILL APPLY INNOVATIVE RUGGEDIZATION TECHNIQUES TO STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTER HARDWARE. THE RUGGEDIZED MICROCOMPUTER TO BE DEVELOPED WILL UTILIZE MICROPROCESSORS SUCH AS THE Z-80 AND 8088TO INSURE SOFTWARE COMPATABILITY WITH DEFACTO OPERATING SYSTEMS SUCH AS CP/M AND MS-DOS WITH THEIR LARGE BASE OF APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE.