LA Sheriff Shows Off New Toughbook Technology

Posted on January 13, 2012 by ekelly


An LA Sheriff was present at the 2012 CES in Las Vegas showing off some hot new technology that is being deployed in his department. The new technology highlighted in the two videos is centered around the Toughbook 31′s that are going to be inside of the police vehicle. In addition to the notebook inside the vehicle, the officers will be taking advantage of a small mobile fingerprint scanner that connects to the Toughbook inside the vehicle via Bluetooth.

The technology that is currently being used in the majority of the patrol cars is the same technology that was deployed in 1989. The Toughbook 31′s that they are upgrading to come with a number of advantages over the current terminals that are installed in their vehicle, including an advanced mapping system. The mapping system not only gives the officers a naviation system, but also allows them to see where other sister car units are, in real time, which previously had to be done through communication with a helicopter unit. The mapping system also allows the officers to geotag specific locations during a vehicle chase when they believe that the suspect has thrown some type of evidence out of their vehicle in order to avoid being charged with it’s possession. This is very helpful when the officers are later trying to find this tossed evidence because it helps to shrink the area that they need to perform their search within.

In addition to the new mapping technologies, the officers are being given a mobile fingerprint scanning device, which officers to verify the identity of individuals without having to bring them into the station. In the event that the officer has a legal reason to detain a suspect, the officer can scan the individuals fingerprint with the device, and then send that fingerprint to the Toughbook within the vehicle. If the individual has been arrested before, their fingerprint will be matched with a record in the database and the officer will be given information about the individual, including a photograph!

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Panasonic Toughpad vs iPad and Friends

Posted on November 18, 2011 by ekelly

Many Toughbook users have been contemplating to using a tablet like the iPad for a while. Some of the obvious benefits of the iPad are that it’s less bulky and lighter. Panasonic noticed that the form factor of the iPad could be really useful in some industries but that it would need to be modified from a consumer oriented device into something more rugged and suitable for use in the field.

Information on the Panasonic Toughpad was just recently released by Panasonic. The 10.1″ Toughpad A1 will be the first member of the Toughpad family to be released into the wild in 2012 and is the focus of this article.

The Raw Specs

What’s It Better At?

Durablity

The most obvious area that the Toughpad easily beats the iPad is durability. The Toughpad MIL-STD-810G and IP65 certified, signifying just how tough it actually is. MIL-STD-810G is the United States Military Standard for equipment and ensures that the product can pass a broad range of grueling tests. Some of these tests include low pressure altitude testing, exposure to high and low temperature extremes, rain, humidity, fungus, salt fog, dust, explosive atmosphere, shock, gunfire vibration, and more. The Toughpad is also capable of withstanding drops of up to 4 feet.

Hardware and Software

The Toughpad is currently listed as running the Android Honeycomb operating system and will hopefully be able to run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It’s dual-core 1.2GHz processor is made by Marvell and is said to include embedded hardware security, which hasn’t been seen on any other tablets.

Display

The Toughpad comes with a 10.1″ XGA LED touchscreen with a resolution of 1024×768, a negligable 0.4″ larger than that of iPad, with the same resolution. This touchscreen is multi-touch capable and daylight-readable. The daylight-readability is really important when you’re using a device like this in the field. Trying to use something like the iPad, with it’s glossy glass screen, is almost impossible without some kind of aftermarket anti-glare film, which then degrades the color quality and brightness of the display. A stylus is included for times when more precise input is needed, such as with digital signature capture. This stylus, along with the Toughpad’s digitizer, make for a much more precise input than is possible with a capacitive touchscreen, like used in the iPad, Xoom, and Galaxy Tab.

Storage and Memory

The Toughpad comes with the 1GB of memory that you would expect from any of the leading tablets today. Like the base model iPad, 16GB of flash storage is included. The Toughpad, however, has the ability to expand it’s storage up to 64GB by using it’s microSDHC card slot. This is huge not only because it allows the end user to upgrade their storage capabilities, but also because it is removable.

Many of the current Panasonic Toughbook users have very sensitive data on their machines. Whether it’s patient care reporting data or sensitive police data, this information needs to be protected. For this reason, it’s very common to have the hard drives removed from Toughbooks when they are sold or sent in for repair. It isn’t possible to take the hard drive out of an iPad but you do have the ability to remove the MicroSD card from a Toughpad. The application of this is, however, just speculation until the Toughpad is released and we can test how the microSDHC card can be used in place of the internal Flash memory.

Interface and Expansion

The Toughpad comes equipped with the standard USB 2.0 port that will allow it to easily interface with a number of different devices. In order to expand your storage capabilities, there is a microSDHC card slot, allowing up to a 32GB microSD card. If you ever want to use a projector or external monitor for presentations, there’s a Micro HDMI port that will allow you do so. In order to keep the Toughpad sealed, these ports are hidden behind some pop-out covers.

Wireless

All of the different Toughpad models will come standard with Wifi and Bluetooth. Mobile broadband will be available in both 3G and 4G (WiMax, LTE) through Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. Another interesting feature is the Toughpad’s ability to act as a Wifi hotspot, essentially providing a Wifi data connection for other devices within close proximity.

Another unique feature of the Toughpad is it’s satellite-based GPS receiver. Since it’s GPS is satellite based it will continue to work even when there is no mobile broadband connection to rely on. This is great for when you are going to be working in an area where the 3G or 4G coverage is spotty or nonexistent.

Camera

The Toughpad has both a rear and front-facing cameras, each with specific uses in mind. The 5MP rear camera has auto focus and an LED, which offers the possibility of taking some pretty detailed shots. The front-facing camera, however, has a much lower resolution of only 2MP and seems to be aimed at being used mainly as a webcam for video communication.

Battery

Battery life is something that you don’t want to be worrying about when you’re using your device in a mission critical situation. It’s not always possible to find an outlet to charge your device, especially if you need to be working while it’s charging. Thankfully, the battery life of the Toughpad’s Li-ion battery pack is said to be an awesome 10 hours.

Not only does the Toughpad have a battery that lasts a really long time, it has a battery that is user replaceable! Competitors like the Apple iPad and Motorola Xoom don’t allow the end user to replace the battery themselves. This means that any time you need a new battery you’re going to be sending your device to Apple or Motorola, along with all of your data that is on the non-removable storage. The Toughpad features a removable battery cover that does require the removal of some screws, but nothing too difficult to handle.

Warranty

A 3-year limited parts and labor warranty comes standard with the Toughpad.

Conclusion

While the Panasonic Toughpad is going to be a great devices for use within specific niches, it’s not yet ready to replace the Pansonic Toughbook family. Toughbook computers, such as the Toughbook 19, are necessary to run the applications that users depend on. The majority of the software that Toughbook customers currently rely on is made to run on machines running the Windows operating system. Until this software makes the change to be compatible with the Android operating system, it won’t matter what kind of capabilities these various tablets have.

If you’re thinking about transitioning to a tablet computer, the first thing that you should do is make a list of the software that the members of your team use. Next, find out whether or not that software is available for the tablet’s operating system that you’re looking at (iOS for Apple iPad, Android for most others.)

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eTicketing with Rugged Mobile Devices vs. Paper-based Ticketing Systems

Posted on October 25, 2011 by ekelly

Mounted Toughbook in Police Vehicle

One of the areas that computers have had the most impact on our lives is by helping to improve on slow and inefficient processes, which is exactly how the paper-based ticketing system has been described. Paper-based ticketing seems to be on it’s way out. This is made apparent as an increasing number of police departments are beginning to test out electronic ticketing solutions in order to improve the way that traffic violations are handled.

Four of the villages in Cook County, Ill., are currently engaging in a pilot for an integrated e-ticketing solution that they believe will improve upon their existing method of processing traffic violation tickets. The pilot is expected to extend to another 18 communities before the end of the year and, if all goes well, the system will eventually be put into use all across the state.

The current system requires officers to spend around 10 minutes filling out a hand-written paper ticket with all of the details of the violation. In addition to the officer wasting valuable time filling out the paper ticket by hand, it can take anywhere from 5 to 10 days to finish processing the ticket at the clerk’s office.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) shares Cook County’s goal of eliminating paper-based ticketing by utilizing mobile devices along with e-ticketing software. Like Cook County, the CHP is also limiting the number of counties that are involved with the pilot. Their initial trial was funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, which provided enough resources to include 3 counties to participate in the new system.

The improvements made by switching from paper-based to e-ticketing seems to be promising. The up to 10 minutes that was previously necessary for an officer to spend filling out the paper ticket by hand can now be done electronically in less than 2 minutes using a mobile device. Even more impressive, the 5 to 10 days that was previously necessary for processing after the ticket had been filled out has been almost completely eliminated. With the e-ticketing system, the data is automatically processed as soon as the officer finishes filling out the e-ticket.

Of course, there are also disadvantages to using an electronic vs. a paper-based system. One of the most immediately obvious roadblocks is the initial cost of the mobile devices. In order to be able to participate in an e-ticketing system, the officers involved are going to need to be equipped with mobile devices that are capable of interacting with the various components of the e-ticketing system. The laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices that are necessary in these circumstances are not your average $300 laptop from Best Buy. These officers are going to need something rugged and durable that will be able to keep up with them rather than slow them down. Everybody knows that it doesn’t matter what kind of cool stuff your new electronic device was initially capable of after you’ve dropped it on the pavement a few times. Many departments don’t have the luxury of buying brand new rugged computers to support this system but they do have the opportunity to take advantage of Telrepco’s refurbished Toughbooks and save a large amount of money.

Panasonic Toughbook computers, with their ability to function both as a regular laptop and a touchscreen tablet (only certain models), would be an excellent choice for a device capable of taking on this task. Many police departments already use Panasonic Toughbooks for other tasks and the value of their ruggedness has been proven. Panasonic has also recently announced that they will be coming out with an Android powered Panasonic Toughbook Tablet, which seems like it would be another great choice for electronic ticketing.

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Toughbooks Used for Landing Unmanned US Navy Aircraft

Posted on October 21, 2011 by ekelly

Anybody recognize the awsome rugged laptops being used to help the United States Navy land their unmanned aircraft on aircraft carriers? Looks like one of the newer Toughbook 30 or 31 models. If you’ve ever wondered whether or not Toughbooks were powerful, I think you’ve found your answer!

The aircraft shown in the video is the Northrop Grumman X-47B, an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. It began as part of one of DARPA’s programs but has now become part of the US Navy’s UCAS-D (Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration) program.

The X-47B looks like a UFO straight out of a Sci-Fi movie but this thing is anything but fake. This is the real deal when it comes to extremely aerodynamic aircraft – it doesn’t even have a tail!

This drone was designed to be used as a robotic strike aircraft with the ability to take on a number of different missions at much higher speeds than the previous Predator and Reaper models.

The X-47B is also the first unmanned aircraft that is designed to be able to take off and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier deck.

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Toughbook S10: Faster, Lighter, Stronger

Posted on August 10, 2011 by ekelly

In late September of 2010, Panasonic unveiled the Toughbook S9, the predecessor to the Toughbook S10. The Toughbook s9 was Panasonic’s newest addition to it’s Toughbook brand of rugged mobile computers. Weighing in at just three pounds, Panasonic proclaimed that they would be releasing the lightest 12.1-inch business rugged notebook with a built-in optical drive. They weren’t talking about releasing a lighter, less rugged Toughbook, this was a machine with great specs that came standard with a 2.4GHz Core i5-520M processor, 2GB of RAM, and a shock-mounted 320GB hard drive.

Today, Panasonic let out a new best-in-class claim of a 12.5 hour battery life with their announcement of the new model of the Toughbook S9 – the Toughbook S10. In addition to the battery life improvements, the Toughbook S10 now comes standard with a 2.5GHz Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5-2520M processor, 4GB of RAM, a USB 3.0 port (in addition to two USB 2.0 ports), an SDXC card reader, and your choice of 32 or 64 bit Windows 7 Professional.

This new version does weigh less but you shouldn’t worry about losing any of the rugged durability or top notch security features that come to be expected from the Toughbook brand.

According to Panasonic, the Toughook S10 will be made of magnesium-alloy and will be capable of withstanding two and a half foot drops onto it’s base while it’s in use and drops of up to a foot to any of it’s 26 impact points while not in use. It also features a full-size, spill resistant keyboard that can handle up to 6 oz of liquid, and a circular touchpad with similar spill resistance.

As for security, the Toughbook S10 sports a physical lock-slot, Computrace theft protection, a TPM security chip with Intel  Anti-Theft technology, and an optional fingerprint scanner.

And what is this upgraded model going to cost me you ask? About the same as the previous model. The Toughbook S9 will retail for around $2,449 when it becomes available in September.

Here is Panasonic’s official press release:

PANASONIC UNVEILS TOUGHBOOK® S10 12″ PC – A MERE THREE POUNDS WITH DVD DRIVE

The next-generation device features an enhanced processor and 12.5 hour standard battery life – the longest in its class

Secaucus, NJ, August 10, 2011 – Panasonic Solutions Company, provider of collaboration, information-sharing and decision-support solutions for government and commercial enterprises, today announced the Panasonic Toughbook® S10. Powered by an Intel® Core™ i5-2520M vPro™ processor, the Toughbook S10 delivers up to 12.5 hours of standard battery life – the longest in its class – and weighs only 3.0 pounds. The notebook offers optional Gobi2000™ mobile broadband and other enhancements to increase performance and drive return on investment. This lightweight device is ideal for road warriors and other highly mobile workers in a variety of markets.

Additional Enhancements for Improved Performance
Panasonic has designed the Toughbook S10 for the most demanding mobile users, offering exceptional battery life, connectivity, security features and performance. The Toughbook S10 also supports both USB 3.0 and 2.0, analog (VGA) and digital (HDMI) video and the latest SD card standard (SDXC) to enable faster file transfer speeds and greater flexibility. A host of security features, including an optional fingerprint reader, are available to keep your data protected and secured while on the road.

“The vast majority of business notebooks lack the durability to survive a hectic travel schedule; however, the Toughbook S10 is designed to address the needs of business professionals with the integration of security and remote management capabilities, protection against drops and spills, and exceptional performance and battery life,” said Kyp Walls, director of product management, Panasonic Solutions Company. “The Toughbook S10 provides road warriors a reliable and lightweight device that allows them to work virtually anywhere.”

Business-rugged Durability
In order to withstand a highly mobile work environment, the Toughbook S10 is designed to survive drops, bumps and spills. Due to its magnesium alloy case and shock-mounted flex-connect hard drive, the device can handle up to a 30″ drop to the base of the unit while operating. The Toughbook S10 also features a spill-resistant keyboard that can protect against spills up to six ounces (200 cc).

Embedded Wireless Connectivity
The Toughbook S10 offers a variety of embedded wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® and optional Gobi2000™ 3G mobile broadband technology from Qualcomm, allowing workers to stay connected virtually all of the time.

Panasonic Toughbook S10: Select Features and Specifications
Genuine Windows 7® Professional (32-bit or 64-bit)
Intel® Core™ i5-2520M vPro™ Processor (2.5GHz)
Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
Intel® Smart Cache 3MB
320GB 5400rpm shock-mounted flex-connect hard drive
4-8GB RAM
12.1″ widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) LCD display with LED backlighting
Anti-glare screen treatment
12.5 hours of battery life with standard battery (MobileMark 2007)
3.0 lbs.
DVD drive
HDMI and VGA video outputs
Magnesium alloy case
Business-rugged1
30″ operating drop (to base only)
26 sides 12″ drop (non-operating)
220 lb compression-resistant
Spill-resistant keyboard/touchpad (protects against 6 ounce spills)
Embedded Connectivity
Optional Gobi™2000 3G mobile broadband
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205 802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth® v2.1 + EDR (class 2)
Integrated Security Features
o Cable lock slot

o Trusted platform module (TPM) security chip v.1.2

o Computrace® theft protection agent in BIOS®

o Intel® Anti-Theft technology

o Optional fingerprint reader

11.1″ (H) x 8.3″ (W) x 0.9-1.5″ (D)

Pricing and Availability
In the United States, the Toughbook S10 is expected to be available in September 2011 from authorized Panasonic resellers starting at an estimated street price of $2,449.

The Toughbook S10 is backed with a three-year limited warranty, parts and labor.

Images of the Toughbook S10 can be found on the brand’s Flickr page, and a post discussing mobile computing needs for road warriors can be found on the brand’s blog – Toughbloggers.com.

Follow the Toughbook Brand
The Panasonic Toughbook brand can be followed on various social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and via our blog on mobile technology, Toughbloggers.com.

For more information on the Toughbook S10 and other Toughbook mobile computers, go to www.toughbook.com.

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