This project began with true collaboration, side-by-side discovery alongside the 181st Intelligence Wing, unpacking what the realities of field operations demand from mobile computing. Working closely with their leadership and technical staff, we quickly realized that a standard device wouldn’t deliver the resilience, power, or usability required for intelligence missions in rugged environments.
Discovering the Real-World Need
Field interviews, mission reviews, and spec deep-dives clarified that the ideal solution needed three things: unwavering reliability in harsh conditions, immediate multi-display access for rapid analysis, and true mobility to shift from command posts to tactical field ops. The team’s experiences, ranging from live intelligence reviews to on-site briefings, showed the constant challenge of balancing raw performance and transportability.
Matching Requirements to Rugged Solution
Our specification journey focused on benchmarks for workstations that could literally “go anywhere.” That meant triple full-HD displays, 16-core Xeon power, RTX-class graphics, modular SSD storage, and battery support integrated in a form factor built to survive field use and constant movement. The Acme NotePAC III Pro V rugged mobile workstation immediately aligned:
Triple 17.3″ screens for geospatial intelligence and side-by-side data streams
Military-certified durability, tested for shock, temperature and vibration
16-core Xeon CPUs and RTX GPUs for compute-intensive analysis and AI/ML workloads
Hot-swap SSDs for quick data turnaround and high-side/low-side storage
CAC reader and mission-specific connectivity for secure operations
Use Cases: Directly Informed by Customer Engagement
By inspecting requirements and workflows in partnership with the 181st, it became clear this solution delivers in multiple scenarios:
Live Mission Analysis: Triple screens let analysts compare live drone feeds, satellite imagery, and field reports all at once for faster decision cycles.
Mobile Briefing Centers: Teams set up temporary intelligence briefings anywhere, providing clear visuals and rapid access to mission-critical documents.
Command Mobility: In the field, the system deploys as a mobile command station, supporting real-time communications and data fusion during exercises or spontaneous events.
Training & Simulation: The workstation powers simulation environments wherever trainers need to deploy, eliminating dependence on fixed lab facilities
Fit for Other DoD Departments
What truly excites our team, and was clear during requirement review, is how this design extends to other DoD organizations:
Army Signal Units: Deploy as mobile server nodes during large-scale field exercises or disaster response.
Cyber Teams: Use GPU-accelerated rugged platforms to carry out cyber defense and threat analysis beyond the datacenter.
Marine Expeditionary Forces: Transportable workstations for geospatial mapping, logistics, and planning in remote locations.
Naval Operations: Temporary C4ISR nodes set up on vessels or in port environments where shock and vibration standards are mission critical.
Our work with the 181st Intelligence Wing demonstrates what’s possible when integrator and end-user collaborate deeply delivering a rugged, multi-display workstation custom-fit to real field needs, ready for broad adoption across modern defense missions.
