By Braden Cooper, Product Marketing Manager
The most powerful artificial intelligence computing hardware is designed to thrive in a datacenter environment where there is uncapped clean power, near limitless cooling capacity, and a vibration-free environment. The growth of AI use cases in vehicles including automated crop management, autonomous long-haul freight, and military ISR aircraft necessitates the use of datacenter-oriented hardware in vehicles – particularly for initial developments while more customized size, weight, and power (SWaP) optimized embedded platforms are developed. The transition from friendly environmental conditions to the rigors of the road require system designs which mitigate the thermal, structural, and other challenging environmental conditions of the transportable application. The thermal design is in a critical state – with the latest AI-oriented GPUs and CPUs reaching heat flux densities never before seen. Advanced thermal management designs provide a path to solving the heat flux challenge – but each come with advantages and disadvantages in implementation. This infographic highlights some of the methods which can be used to cool systems in AI transportable applications.

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The best cooling method depends on many variables – from heat flux density to the SWaP constraints. With these existing technologies and ongoing industry innovation – powerful enterprise hardware can be used to solve the most demanding AI transportable challenges. The next few years are pivotal in the advancement of thermal management within datacenters – as immersion cooling and improved thermal interface materials see wider adoption. Transitioning these same cooling methods to AI Transportables solves the need for higher compute capacity at the location of data generation.
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Watching the conflicts play out recently in the Ukraine and Iran, it is certain that there has been not only massive adoption in implementation of AI, sensor processing, sensor fusion, and autonomy but also massive advancement of those technologies in relatively short time periods compared to any other time in history. The leaders on the battlefield are those that have harnessed and deployed these technologies without delay in alignment to standards, timing, or bureaucracy in acquiring. Because the level and pace of technology today is so steep, those who fail to adopt and move with a sense of urgency run the risk of falling behind in a technology battle from which they may never have the time or ability to catch up.
Before starting college in 2022, I had considered artificial intelligence (AI) a thing of the future, something I wouldn’t see until I was later in my years. With the birth of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and the rise of machine learning systems, my world flipped on its head. Since joining the tech industry, I see I am not alone with this experience. From one year to the next, there is no telling what kind of technological developments we will bear witness to. When it comes to the defense and security of our nation, capitalizing on these advancements is paramount, lest we fall behind our adversaries. As a result, within the defense industry, marketers are required to become adaptable to the shifting needs of their company’s customers.