General Micro Systems (GMS) Demonstrates the X9 Spider Manpack Mobile, Rugged Tablet, X9 Artificial Intelligence Computer, and Mission Computer
General Micro Systems unveiled multiple live demonstrations of its X9 Spider open distributed computing architecture (DCA) products, including the X9 Manpack, the X9 Thunderbolt Rugged Display, the X9 AI (artificial intelligence), and the X9 Mission Computer. Intended for wearable, mobile, portable, and mounted applications on the body, in a vehicle, or airborne-, ship- or ground-based applications, X9 Spider products, first introduced at AUSA 2022, are small enough to fit anywhere. Interconnected via Thunderbolt™ 4 on GMS LightBolt™ fiber or copper cables, X9 small form factor systems and displays can be standalone, separated for convenient system installation, or physically connected to form rigid stacks.
X9 Spider Manpack
Running off a standard soldier battery, the X9 Spider Manpack mobile computer is intended for dismounted soldiers and Marines who need on-the-move, high-performance processing, communications, video, database access, and artificial intelligence (AI). Designed from the ground up to offer the most compute power and I/O in the smallest, lightest weight battery-powered package, X9 Spider Manpack can drive up to four on-body displays such as the X9 Rugged Thunderbolt Display, connect to wireless LANs and personal area networks (PANs); uplink to mounted assets like vehicles or command posts; store up to 20TB of onboard data, and connect to high-rate body sensors while processing onboard AI algorithms such as image/facial recognition, target tracking or sensor fusion. GMS is also developing other soldier-wearable technologies to accompany the X9 Manpack.
“Combining our X9 Spider Mission Computer with a manpack housing creates our X9 Spider Manpack computer,” said Ben Sharfi, CEO and Chief Architect of GMS. “This light but rugged mobile computer can run all day on a soldier battery, directly drive our X9 Rugged Thunderbolt Display, power it on a single cable, combining most of the functions found in a tactical operations center (TOC) into a backpack for squad use. This isn’t like any other battlefield wearable. It’s command post capability with multiple radio interfaces, LAN ports, data recorder, and GPGPU AI processing, but entirely dismounted-mobile.”
Modern warfare is digital, connecting air, sea, ground, and continental US (CONUS)-based assets to soldiers and Marines as never before. A dismounted warrior needs access to the digital battlefield and wearable, autonomous compute power. A warrior’s modern equipment includes a high-resolution range finder, NVIS HMD, smart weapon, moving maps with Blue Force Tracking, “buddy display” for squad members, and on-the-fly voice and facial recognition. These work best with local, on-the-body compute resources since wireless, RF, and SATCOM links can be congested, denied, or compromised. The X9 Spider Manpack is the first product to provide this level of battery compute resources to soldiers and Marines in a manpack (MP) form factor processing, but entirely dismounted-mobile.”