Rugged laptops like the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK or the Getac lineup have unique features that are not available on consumer grade notebooks. The rugged computer lineup is purpose built to meet the needs of the rugged field folks that need to use computers in the rain, snow, daylight, off the grid, on the grid, hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, earthquakes, keeping the streets safe from crime, running head first into a fire, climbing mountains, going to the deepest parts of the ocean, saving lives in hospitals, everywhere the computer needs to work and cannot afford to fail. They come with some amazing features you just can’t get anywhere else.
2D Barcode Reader (BCR)
We’ve all been to a grocery store where they blip blip blip our groceries across the belt and then ask us to pay. Most the time in our ordinary life we see these kind of areas at set stations where people bring the goods to the counter where the equipment lives. What if you can’t bring the items to the equipment? What if you need to bring the barcode scanning to the items? There are USB barcode scanners or even bluetooth but there’s nothing more simple or elegant than having the barcode reading directly in the laptop. Think of something like a Utility meter reader. They may have to go to a home, scan the barcode of the building, and input the energy use. What if they had to drive 20 miles to that location and realize they left the USB / Bluetooth scanner back at the house? They have another 40 mile trip to get back there with the scanner. If they had the 2D BCR built in they’d be done and moving on! One of the most common applications is for reading the barcode on the back of a state ID used for EMS or law enforcement.
True Serial Port
The RS-232 serial port was invented in 1960. Yeah, over 60 years ago! It was originally this massive 25 pin connection and was later reduced down to a 9 pin connection. This was the original USB port before USB existed. The whole world of peripheral connections was built on the standard of the RS232 cable. This translates into a reality where there is a world wide amount of equipment made over the last 60 years built to use this technology. If someone has a diesel generator that was built to have its diagnostics reported through a serial cable should the user need to replace a generator that costs $10’s of thousands of dollars? No business wants to expense that when their equipment still works! Consumer tech has completely cut out the serial port because consumer devices are built with forced obsolescence whereas commercial goods ar built to last as long as possible. Consumer goods stopped using serial cables back in the 90s but commercial goods are still working. That’s one reason why we promote commercial laptops, they just last longer! Well the tech industry has made these USB to DB9 RS232 adapter cables. Sometimes they work but there’s a lot behind the COM port a computer assigns to the serial cable, the baud rate, and how the technology generally works. The original programming that is in the firmware of many of these older devices that need serial just weren’t programmed to recognize these USB or otherwise seen as UART on many devices. The USB to RS232 DB9 cables just don’t work often times so the true serial port is needed. As far as we know Panasonic is the only company that provides them through their TOUGHBOOK devices. We ran down with other manufacturers before and while many of the reps would say they are true serial when we worked with the field engineers we found they were USB adapters.
Contactless Smart Card Reader
Contactless Smart Card Readers are a way to provide data over a short distance wirelessly. When we say a short distance like less than an inch. This is commonly seen on NFC devices like cellphones or the “tap to pay” on POS terminals. Oftentimes the term “CAC” is associated to the contactless or insertable smart card readers. CAC, or Common Access Card, is a term used to refer to using these technologies for security authentication. Instead of having to type in passwords a CAC can be used or it can be a multi factor authentication method so the user can type in a password and have the physical token / card for better security.
Insertable Smart Card Reader
Very much like a contactless smart card reader the insertable is used to authenticate with a physical token but this one requires a chip that is inserted. Much like the small chip located on a credit card when pushed into the reading device. The insertable version was introduced earlier than the contactless. This is used most often in US Department of Defense applications.
2nd LAN
Nearly 100% of all computers made come with a LAN port. This is the RJ-45 ethernet port known to hook up internet at your home, hotels, work etc. Oftentimes today people use WiFi instead of the LAN port however one can never beat the speeds or reliability of the hard line RJ-45 LAN cable. If nearly all computers come with a LAN port one may ask why does someone ever need two? Consumers nearly never need two LAN ports but in specific commercial environments a computer may need to be able to access two networks simultaneously and have the data sent in private controlled easy for security. Another application of the RJ-45 is just for a high speed data transmission. Used often in video equipment you can send data from in vehicle cameras or outside cameras to a modulation device that will aggregate all the video and upload to a central server. Ethernet cables can be used as a cable to transmit data on any kind of device that is designed for it, not just internet.
Fingerprint Reader
This feature is found on some consumer laptops as well as “Pro-sumer” devices. It is not exclusive to ruggedized laptops. A fingerprint reader operates much like the insertable or contactless smart cards in the way that it has another method of authentication that requires the unique fingerprint of the user operating the computer .THis can be used to logon to the windows environment or for secondary authentication in systems like law enforcement CJIS. Fingerprint reading was originally made to be stored locally. This was setup so if one or a small number of users were operating the computer they could store their fingerprints to the device. This became outdated as soon as companies wanted to ability to issue out a laptop for a day and have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of different employees be able to access the data and systems of the device. In this instance the laptop will connect through a network to an “Active Directory” server. This centralized server holds all the data that the end point devices like the rugged notebook will connect to for authentication. This way each computer does not need to be updated to know what fingerprints will be accepted, only the centralized server.
FLIR Camera
Arguable one of the coolest technologies to have emerged. The first thermo camera was invented in 1929 but it wasn’t until Texas Instruments started researching infrared technology in 1956 that lead them to inventing the Forward-looking infrared camera (FLIR) in 1963 with manufacturing starting in 1966. What we know as a brand of FLIR really came into the market over the last 10-20 years. It’s like something out of a movie where the predator alien can see humans through the thick jungle because of the heat they generate. This is commonly used in the commercial market to see if there are heat generating things (mechanical or biological) where it should not be or the absence when it should be there. This is very common in fire departments so they can determine the threat of places. If someone calls 911 for smoke the fire department will often take a pass through the area using thermal imaging cameras to determine what kind of threat neutralization is required.
Cellular Modem
Some but not many consumer devices have access to a cellular modem. Some “Pro-sumer” devices have access. Nearly all rugged laptops can have a cellular option built into them. There’s seldom ever a time on a consumer device that someone needs to have internet access as a real priority. For most consumers the internet is a luxury to look at cat videos, see what rank a favorite sports team is, or what the latest celebrity gossip is. For commercial or industrial users they have to have internet access in order to accomplish the task they are paid to do. Often times a lack of internet connectivity can cost the business thousands of dollars per day of no access. For this reason a cellular modem could be one of the most valuable technologies you can have on a rugged computer.
Dedicated GPS (dGPS)
Nearly zero consumer or “Pro-sumer” laptops have dGPS capabilities. This is nearly unique exclusively to rugged notebooks like the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK or Getac lineup. Sure, one could get a USB device and plug it in but now you have this whip that you have to manage and damage. dGPS is used for location services and pushed to Geographic Information System, GIS, software. We all see this every day in our cell phones when we use google or apple maps. The GPS functionality in our phone operates with the android / apple map software to give us turn by turn directions. This is commonly used with a laptop in many professions. Municipal departments like law enforcement and fire will use it to manage their fleets within the computer aided dispatch (CAD). The forest service industry will use it to map out what trees they need to cut, plant, treat, etc. Waste management will use it to update their route and where they are going next. Naturalists will use them to determine what species of living plants or animals they are counting and documenting live. There are hundreds of industries that rely on the dGPS to map where they are. There are a few different kinds of dGPS. dGPS requires a clear line of site to the sky to connect to the satellite systems and triangulate their signal. If it’s too cloudy, there are too many trees / leaves, or someone is in a vehicle they will not be able to get the line of site necessary to connect. The accuracy of the dGPS is an important factor to pay attention to. Many dGPS are not accurate so it is important to review what level is advertised. A good dGPS accuracy will be sub meter.
MIL-STD-810H
We covered this in great detail in an earlier blog but this standard measures how rugged a device is and if it can live in extreme environments. The MIL-STD-810H standard is literally what determines if a laptop is rugged or not so this is critical when choosing your rugged device. Read through our blog to learn that not all rugged is created equal. Make sure the manufacturer you select can provide credible 3rd party documentation showing the devices meet the standard. At Rugged or Die we recommend the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK or Getac lineup for a rugged laptop.
Mounting & Docking
This is a rugged notebook exclusive. There are some “universal” trays that can be used for mounting but a proper docking station with mounting is only available for the rugged computer lineup through a company like Panasonic TOUGHBOOK or Getac. We will cover mounting & docking in greater detail on a later blog. The concept allows the rugged laptop to be connected to a dock and have all the ports it needs like power, USB, LAN, etc all connected. Things like printers, internet, camera systems, etc. When the rugged notebook needs to be removed it can be easily popped off. Reputable companies that make the mounting & docking like Gamber Johnson and Havis make these docks with locks so only authorized users have a key to unlock and remove the expensive technology. Some people may not need to take the laptop out so the mounting & docking creates a safe place outside the airbag deployment for the laptop to exist in the vehicle.
Antenna Passthrough
This is another rugged laptop exclusive. No consumer or prosumer grade laptop has been made with antenna passthrough. So what is antenna passthrough? Wireless technology all works mostly the same way. There’s a device that shoots a signal like a cell phone tower, WiFi Access Point, etc. There is a device that has a modem built in that will modulate and demodulate the signal from or to the wireless point of origin. The device needs to have adequate signal to receive or send data back. The antenna power or “gain” which is measured in decibels (dB), much like sound volume, is based on the size of the antenna. Antennas have the ability to receive different kinds of signals like WiFi, Cellular, and dGPS. For Cellular it’s very common to use multiple signals for what is called “carrier aggregation” to get the best speed, range, and quality. Buildings and metal walls like in cars are some of the biggest obstacles to getting a good signal. The antenna pass through allows for an antenna to be placed somewhere that is not obstructed, like outside a house or on top of a vehicle, and then with a cable connect to the docking station. That signal is then pushed through the docking station to the laptop. THis enables the laptop to get much better signal, speeds, and reliability. The passthrough only works by using a “donor” antenna and utilizing it through the docking station. Without a vehicle docking station it will not work. You do not have to use it in a vehicle though. There are mounting accessories that allow a vehicle docking station to be used on a flat horizontal or vertical surface.
Intrinsically Safe Class 1 Division 2
This is another rugged computer exclusive. Intrinsically safe devices are built to not emit any sparks so when they are used in a flammable environment they will not cause explosions. There are a few different certifications of note. ANSI creates a C1D1 rating which is able to be used for longer periods and in more flammable environments. This is a very difficult standard to meet so very few devices pass this certification. C1D2 is more common in the rugged computer field given that people want processors that have enough speed, which requires voltage, which creates risk of sparks. There are other standards like the ATEX and IcEX but those are used outside the US.
