Artificial intelligence and machine learning are reshaping the way we live through the advent of automated and autonomous vehicles, smart cities, smart factories and much more. Modern technologies are enabling increased automation across multiple markets with the help of rugged, robust, reliable systems from Crystal Group.

Autonomy

Early adopters and continued investors in AI and ML, military organizations and defense contractors helped to pioneer autonomous vehicles, which rely upon AI and ML capabilities.

• U.S. Armed Forces employ the Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned autonomous helicopter, which uses Crystal Group’s RS255 2U Rugged Server that can withstand high levels of shock and vibration and the Fire Scout’s ground station and operational environments.
• Commercial automotive manufacturers and makers of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are harnessing Crystal Group RIA™, which enables AI and ML with real-time data processing, sensor fusion, data storage, fast networking, and high reliability in even rough terrains, tough conditions, and harsh environments.
• Technology companies are deploying Crystal Group rugged, robust systems in autonomous commercial trucking applications. An Arizona company is leading the way toward autonomous commercial trucking and deploying Crystal Group rugged servers to help address the truck driver shortage issue.

Energy

Critical infrastructure sectors – including power, oil and gas, telecommunications, and more – are undergoing modernization and digitization, and in turn, increasingly relying on AI, ML, and rugged, reliable systems to increase automation, efficiency, safety, and security.

• Smart digital power substations rely on real-time data handling, which requires robust compute, networking, and data storage equipment designed to withstand tough environmental conditions, cyber and physical threats to security, as well as lightning and other electrical surges.
• Leading utility companies continue to choose Crystal Group rugged, reliable systems incorporating Intel, VMware, and Ruckus Networks technologies and solutions for substation control, plant monitoring, outage identification, and field monitoring applications.

Smart cities and factories

AI and ML technologies, in concert with Crystal Group rugged computers, are playing an ever-larger role in various industrial settings, as organizations modernize through increased automation, use of new robotics, and digitization. Rugged compute, networking, and data storage systems are also finding a home atop utility poles, cell towers, and buildings in smart city applications.

Helping to enable AI and ML at the edge, these rugged devices can:

• Facilitate sensor fusion
• Transmit and store critical data securely
• Provide fast network switching
• Support 5G technologies

Crystal Group hardware provides rugged at the edge computing, while communications, and connectivity are cost-effective with less network infrastructure, relieving cybersecurity and physical security concerns using anti-intrusion technologies at both the system and component levels.

As a growing number of organizations invest in AI and ML, continued technology advances promise to enhance our lives even further, potentially to the limits of our imagination. AI and ML are only going to become more prevalent and integral to day-to-day life, enabled by a variety of rugged, high-performance systems – including rugged embedded computers, servers, networking devices, data storage solutions, and hyperconverged systems from Crystal Group Inc. in Hiawatha, Iowa.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Haag is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Crystal Group. He joined the company in 2016, and is responsible for global business identification, capture and delivery. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Computer Engineering.

Prior to joining Crystal Group, he spent 10 years in various executive leadership positions at Rockwell Collins including Vice President & General Manager, Communication & Navigation Products and Vice President, Sales & Marketing.

ABOUT CRYSTAL GROUP, INC.

Crystal Group, Inc. a technology leader in rugged computer hardware, specializes in the design and manufacture of custom and commercial rugged servers, embedded computing, networking devices, displays, power supplies, and data storage for high reliability in harsh environments. An employee-owned small business founded in 1987, Crystal Group provides the defense, government and industrial markets with in-house customization, engineering, integration, configuration management, product lifecycle planning, warranty, and support services.

Crystal Group products meet or exceed IEEE, IEC, and military standards, including MIL-STD-810, 167-1, 461, and MIL-S-901; are backed by an industry-leading, 5-plus-year warranty with in-house support; and are manufactured in the company’s Hiawatha, Iowa, USA, facility certified to ISO 9001:2015/AS9100D quality management standards.