The X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display is offered with several screen options and optional UHD (4K) resolution, with or without touchscreen and bezel keys. The standard touch screen is resistive, which is the most common type of touchscreen for rugged environments due to its reliability and ability to work with gloves. However, X9 Spider display can be optionally equipped with multi-touch projected capacitive, resistive or infrared touchscreen overlays, depending on the intended application environment.

The X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display screen is protected with the most robust glass available in the market, which can withstand a direct “boot kick” without damaging the display or the touch screen. The D12 (12”) supports 1280 x 800 resolution and there’s an optional 12” with HD (1920 x 1080); the D17 supports High Definition (HD) at 1920 x 1080 resolution (3840 x 2160 UHD 4K optional) and is sunlight readable with 800 nits (cd/m2, typ.) of brightness. The D24 displays sport 3840 x 2160 UHD 4K resolution, with optional lower resolution HD resolutions available.

All X9 rugged display products also support optional display coatings to maximize the screen readability and clarity in wet, bright or multi-light source environments. Coatings include: anti-reflective (AR), anti-glare (AG), polarizer and water-rejection options. The X9 Rugged Display also optionally supports NVIS MIL-STD-3009, which reduces eye strain in applications where night vision glasses are used. A unique “COV” (covert) button instantly lowers or extinguishes the LCD and keys backlights to a pre-programmed, ultra-low level for surveillance environments. All displays may also optionally be purchased with less robust glass to meet specific requirements, weight and price points. The family is modular and very customizable, and GMS electrical, mechanical, and thermal modifications are handled with ease.

The X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display provides two Thunderbolt™ 4 ports for daisy chain of up to 4 displays (depending on Host’s ability to drive multiple displays), and dual USB 3 each with 100W of Power Delivery. The X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display is connected to the Host computer via a Thunderbolt™ 4, which can provide 40 Gbps of data, including PCIe Gen 3, DisplayPort video, 10 Gbps Thunderbolt™ networking, USB and 100W of Power Delivery from a host computer. The display may be powered directly from the Host up to 50 meters away or powered with external +24 VDC power via Smart Power™ (patent pending) connector for safe, ultra-low EMI and IP67 waterproof operation. An optional internal MIL-STD-1275 power supply is available, with optional 50ms hold-up.

Thunderbolt™ 4 brings unique capabilities to the X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display and other devices connected via Thunderbolt™ 4. When connected locally to external power, the Display is capable of powering X9 Host computers or other X9 modules within the system while providing data throughput at 40 Gbps. Since PCIe Gen 3 is brought from a Host into the X9 Display, local removable storage and local I/O device(s) operate as if they were resident elsewhere in the Host. This allows a removable M.2 2280 storage drive to be used in the Display, suitable for mission planning, tactical maps, data recorder applications, or simply to declassify the entire X9 Distributed Computing Architecture (DCA) system including the Host. Add-in I/O on three separate M.2 3042 modules brings local functions such as 1/10 Gb Ethernet, MIL-STD-1553, ARINC-429, 4G/5G cellular, CANbus, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, APNT, and more. I/O connectors (such as for antennae) can be accommodated into the Display chassis. With X9 rugged display’s low weight, the 12” version is ideal for dismounted soldier/Marines applications.

Front and rear facing 2MP (optional up to 25MP) cameras are included for inter-personal communication, situational awareness, or can be used with AI functions such as facial recognition, NeRF generation, object tracking, and more. Security shutters can seal off the video, which can also be hardware disabled. The cameras interface with the on-board processor’s Qualcomm Spectra™ 480 Image Signal Processor capable of processing 2MP/s with 200 MP images. Audio processing is substantial, with L+R microphone inputs and outputs groomed by the onboard Qualcomm Hexagon 698 DSP and Aqstic™ Audio output. A convenient push-to-talk (PTT) signal is provided for connection with external switchgear.

Unique to the GMS X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display is the ability to be mounted and driven by a Host computer over Thunderbolt™ 4, or removed from the mount for portable operation, or merely to be used as a standalone lightweight portable tablet computer. At the heart of this capability is the Qualcomm QRB5165 embedded/artificial intelligence (AI) processor. Designed for highest performance and all-day operation in mobile and battery-powered systems, the CPU boasts an impressive array of features useful in the X9 Spider Rugged Thunderbolt Tablet / Display.

The Spectra™ 480 hardware acceleration Image signal Processor is intended to offer superior image processing and camera sensor input data manipulation, capable of processing 14-bit, 2 GP/s of image data at up to 8K video processing speeds at 30 fps, supporting cameras up to 25 MP @ 30 fps. This capability is tied to the Adreno 650 Visual Processing Sub-system and Adreno GPU/VPU (video processing unit) which can handle up to 4K HDR video capture, resulting in impressive image rendering, video processing, and vector manipulation. The GPU supports Open GL ES and Open CL.

The Hexagon 698 DSP with Hexagon Vector eXtensions (HVX), Hexagon Tensor Accelerator and Hexagon Scalar Accelerator, all work together to provide superior embedded and at-the-edge on-device AI processing for a variety of battlefield use cases. Capable of 15 TOPS of AI performance, all manner of AI and deep learning algorithms and data sets can be processed natively on the tablet, freeing users from the Host computer when dis-mounted or in mobile-only applications.

The panel Zero button can be connected to the Host or local CPU to execute SecureDNA™, GMS’ bespoke cybersecurity suite which erases storage media and can also erase a BIOS image (on the Host via Thunderbolt™ 4 or locally on the CPU) for complete system sanitization. An optional Tamper sensor can notify Host or local CPU of an intruder, or it can initialize SecureDNA™.

In addition, the onboard Qualcomm QRB5165’s Secure Processing Unit (SPU) contains a crypto engine, cryptographic accelerator, Qualcomm’s Trusted Execution Environment (TPM-like), and supports secure boot and other features. The engine core is FIPS-140-2 NIAP certified.  Collectively, these on-board features—between CPU and GMS low-level system sensors and firmware—provide rock-solid cyber security capabilities.

Onboard sensors for temperature, plus 3-axis accelerometers write to registers, where data can be moved to removable storage or queried by the Host. This data is useful for system health monitoring and use by GMS ReliHealth™ services. As well, the 3-axis position data can be used for dead reckoning, and with Host or local CPU programming, data can be used as a rudimentary position/navigation indicator should GPS data become unavailable, denied, or spoofed. The Display can be optioned with cooling fins and optional integral fan assembly which is separate from the sealed interior electronics. These thoughtful features showcase GMS’ understanding of the mission as well as rugged system architectures.