Advanced Display Processor Deployed in Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)
The expanding Littoral Combat Ship fleet is being outfitted with the most effective naval defense technology devised, the SeaRAM® Rolling Airframe Missile and Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), manufactured by Raytheon Company. The SeaRAM Phalanx missile defense system provides the highest level of ship self-defense. It is designed to identify and destroy approaching supersonic and subsonic threats, such as cruise missiles, drones, small boats and helicopters.
The Phalanx CIWS incorporates RGB Spectrum’s high performance VIEW™ image processing technology in its fire control operator console. Raytheon commissioned RGB Spectrum to custom-design a multiple input, multiple window display processor, the VIEW 7000, for the Phalanx Block 1B fire control station. The Phalanx control station provides operators with display of target acquisition, identification, and tracking data.
Raytheon needed a solution that would allow the station operator to simultaneously view multiple disparate images from various sources in real-time on a single console monitor. One of the integration challenges was overcoming the limited space constraints in the operator console. RGB Spectrum’s ultra-compact VIEW 7000 integrated ideally into the console and fulfilled the system’s mission-critical display requirements.
More than 900 Phalanx systems have been deployed worldwide, with installations on all U.S. combatant ships and on those of 25 allied nations. The first LCS vessels deployed with Phalanx SeaRAM are the USS Independence and USS Coronado.
Phalanx CIWS Operator Console equipped with RGB Spectrum’s VIEW™ 7000 multi-image display processor
RGB Spectrum’s high performance VIEW 7000 processor combines high resolution computer sources and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) thermal imager video inputs in real-time. The Phalanx system computer provides the VIEW 7000 processor with visual data comprised of a range table, target searching, tracking and acquisition, weapons control and ordnance data.
The FLIR integrates multi-spectral thermal detecting and target tracking ability into the system. The VIEW processor receives video from the thermal imager in a unique 1360 x 422 resolution, combines the various input signals, and resizes them to fit the resolution of the console monitor. Its advanced de-interlacing techniques provide excellent vertical resolution and motion characteristics. The VIEW 7000 gives operators the ability to see critical computer data superimposed over the thermal images.
The VIEW 7000 processor accepts up to twelve inputs and displays them on a single screen. Inputs can be video, FLIR, and high resolution RGB signals. Each window can be independently positioned, scaled to any size, overlaid with computer graphics or overlapped with other windows. Users can pan and zoom within each video image to emphasize a particular area of interest.
RGB Spectrum is a leading designer and manufacturer of mission-critical, real-time audio-visual solutions for a civilian, government, and military client base. The company offers integrated hardware, software, and control systems to satisfy the most demanding requirements. Since 1987, RGB Spectrum has been dedicated to helping its customers achieve Better Decisions. Faster.™
