The Renault Trucks Defense group, which is made by three entities, Renault Trucks Defense, ACMAT and Panhard Defense, exhibited at Satory some innovative systems which have been around for some time. The Battlenet Inside label has become the trade mark for RTD vetronics that provides a modular system based on an Ethernet high throughput network , allowing an upgrade of subsystems all along the life of the vehicle. Battlenet Inside has been provided to a number of export customers.
Health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) can be exploited through that same network, RTD adding a further system to facilitate stand-off maintenance: its interconnected goggles allow to carry out diagnosis at distance. They are fitted with a white lamp, a microphone, a laser pointer, and a head mounted display, all this allowing the maintainer on the field to be in contact in audio and visual with the expert at the RTD maintenance centre using a standard 3G or 4G network.
Photos can be exchanged, graphics can be added to the same in order to better explain how to solve the problem, while the operator works hand free on the vehicle. Moreover the adoption of evolved sensors, lessons learned on the field and decision aids all contribute to improve the awareness on maintenance problem, allowing to dynamically evaluate the risks, the aim being to optimise preventive maintenance, in what the company defines eSupport.
At dynamic presentations it was possible to take a ride with the VAB Electer, the hybrid propulsion armoured vehicle developed by RTD as a demonstrator, which is being used to validate new operational concepts based on that type of propulsion.
