High performance Rugged Tactical Visual Computer
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Quantum3D, located in San Jose, Calif., specializes in open-architecture, realtime computing solutions for industry-specific applications. They do that by packaging industry-standard components with their own image generator technologies, software, and services. Their Thermite TVC (TVC stands for "Tactical Visual Computing") product line includes a variety of fanless, ruggedized, sealed, mil-spec COTS computers that support advanced 2D/3D, I/O, video capture capabilities, and can run either Windows XP or a variety of Linux distros.

The Thermite TVC3 (shown above) measures 9.6 x 6.3 x 3.2 inches and weighs about 9 pounds. It's designed for vehicle applications and runs on 10 to 36VDC.

The TVC3 was designed as a tactical visual computer for applications that require high-performance computing, advanced graphics, shader-based rendering, and GPGPU processing in ground vehicles, aircraft, maritime, or other vehicles. The Model 1100 GPU uses NVIDIA CUDA, a general purpose parallel computing architecture that leverages the NVIDIA parallel computing architecture for maximum graphics performance. This allows the Model 1100 to solve complex tasks such as real-time ray tracing, video encoding and interactive volume rendering in the most demanding environments.

Below is a matrix that shows Quantum3D's Thermite models and where they fit in in terms of size and performance.