Transient Shock Resistance of COTS Electronics

United States Navy military shipboard equipment designers have utilized military rated components in their designs together with the application of military specifications to ensure survivability during conflict. These deisgns were subject to longdevelopment cycles and unique point designs with the associated high costs. Due to the rapid growth in commercial electronics, and especially the personal computer, commercial solutions to shipboard equipment designs have become appealing. Coupled withlittle growth in the defense budget and mandated acquisition reform initiatives, new shipboard equipment designs have seen increasing application of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solutions. The positive potential to the Navy in utilizing COTS equipmentis enormous. These include the ability to access state-of-the-art technology solutions in its surface ships and submarines coupled with avoiding costly point designs to military specifications. To realize the advantages of utilizing COTS equipment, theuncertainty in understanding the response of COTS equipment to shock loads must be addressed. This will help insure that the COTS systems will continue to support the war fighter during conflict. This Phase II proposal builds on the success of our Phase Ieffort addressing these uncertainties. The naval shock community, equipment vendors and commercial shipping industry will benefit from this research. An improved analytical modeling capability resulting from this research and associated COTS equipmentcertification process may be used by equipment vendors, military shipbuilding and the commercial shipbuilding industry. This research will allow the evaluation of new designs and associated risks related to vibration and noise control as well as dynamicloads encountered due to wave slamming, sea keeping, grounding, docking loads and collisions at sea.