Wessex Advanced Switching Products

Wessex Advanced Switching Products (WASP) has designed and manufactured rotary switches, membrane and silicon keypads and more recently touchscreen assemblies for many of the world’s leading defence manufacturers.  From its initial involvement in the British Army’s Clansman tactical radio system in the 1970s, it is today, still supplying components for its replacement, the Bowman digital radio system. WASP’s success in its chosen specialist market, customised rotary switches, is based on its engineering skills and its ability to work closely with customers to develop solutions which meet their specific requirements.  Also key are the quality and reliability of its products which are 100% tested at several stages during their production cycle to ensure their total quality and reliability when deployed in the field.

ROTARY SWITCHES FOR MILITARY EQUIPMENT

WASP is currently working with Cobham Defence Communications (CDC) to develop a range of rotary switches to meet the most rigorous standards and to ensure that the levels of quality and reliability expected of the system are always achieved or surpassed.  The company’s range of standard rotary switches that satisfy the majority of requirements include multiposition, miniature variants, binary coded, clipped wafer, rotary wafer with in-line terminations and open structure versions. In addition, WASP has developed sealed switches suitable for particularly hazardous environments where the prevention of dust and water ingress is paramount. Despite the fact that rotary switches represent relatively old technology, they continue to be designed into and used on even the most sophisticated military equipment because of their unique physical and electronic characteristics. These characteristics include mechanical memory, robustness, high levels of reliability, few moving parts and very low or no power requirement.          

For security purposes, WASP developed the Pull to Turn rotary switch that prevents accidental switch movements. It adds an extra position to the switch so that it is not operational until the spindle has been pulled and the switch turned to the required position where it is locked until an alternative setting is required.  This facility can be supplied in as many positions as are required and at either end of the mechanism travel. Similar systems such as Push to Turn and encoder switches of varying angles are also included in WASP’s comprehensive range.         

MEMBRANE SWITCHES FOR HARSH ENVIRONMENTS

From rotary switches, WASP moved on to develop a range of custom designed membrane switches and military style keypads which have been supplied to Thales, Racal and Redifon and are used on equipment supplied to US, UK, Australian, French and other leading defence forces around the world.  Among the many variations offered are printed luminous ink membrane panels, translucent panels for backlighting and light guides that can give a low or high intensity light depending on the situation. For particularly harsh environments, including extremely cold or hot, dusty, salt water etc, WASP has designed and manufactured a number of fully sealed front panel assemblies. Full RFI shielding can also be incorporated into the units.  Units for gloved hand operation with low activation force requirements can be supplied.  Contact within the pads can be silent contact pill and legends can be either screen printed or incorporated in the silicon. On board electronics can also be added.  

SILICON RUBBER KEYPADS

Another of WASP’s manufacturing capabilities involves the initial design concept to fully manufactured Silicon Rubber Keypads. There are numerous design options that can be used including Front Panel Sealing, Illumination, Tactile Feel, Mounting, Actuator, Fitted Bezel and Legends. WASP’s silicon keypads have enjoyed success with leading military equipment suppliers.  Their products are used on equipment supplied to US, UK, French, and other leading defence forces.

MILITARY TOUCHSCREENS

WASP has always known that many of the applications where their traditional components are used would benefit from a touchscreen system which would provide much faster operation and greater functionality. However, historically touchscreens have not been renowned for their resilience. WASP has answered all those old and previously warranted criticisms and created a touchscreen system which is not only tough, but which can be integrated into equipment which also uses the more familiar push-buttons and switches.

By using glass which is laminated with near invisible wire mesh, or toughened and pressure resistant acrylics, and by calibrating the new materials to be just as touch sensitive as their less rugged counterparts, WASP can produce a fully EMC shielded component which has changed the face of modern military instrumentation.   

On communications equipment where high quality graphics add a totally new dimension to the already essential facilities of sound to create both sound and vision, WASP touchscreens are already in use as the vital component in the next generation of communications systems.      

The addition of a touchscreen offers all the benefits of ease of use, with the added opportunities to programme in specific actions which can be activated by push buttons mounted in the surround as an integral part of the screen. This enables the user to use ‘hot’ switches without interrupting the screen’s imagery. All of the actions can be carried out by a gloved hand.               

Planned as the next generation of military capable human/machine interfaces (HMI), this new design enables the use of sophisticated graphics in addition to performing the more basic functions.        

Applications for touchscreen activated systems include onboard surveillance equipment on military vehicles to avoid the need for personnel being exposed to dangerous situations e.g. CCTV systems on tanks or armoured vehicles to monitor external activity.           

Furthering the functionality of the touchscreen, WASP can also seal the unit to IP68 standards to make it impervious to liquid, dust or other aggressive airborne contaminants.  Other essential benefits associated with electronic equipment such as RFI and EMC shielding can be incorporated into the design of the touchscreen system.                

WASP is the UK's only designer and manufacturer of resistive and capacitive touchscreens and manufacture in a purpose built clean room to ensure the touch screens are assembled in the cleanest possible environment.  The main advantages of using a touchscreen include their ease of operation and excellent cursor stability.  They are accurate in use and the surface material offers a high degree of visibility and will withstand > 10 million touches.                               

WASP is a privately owned, ISO 9001-2008 accredited electronics/engineering company based in the UK.   WASP was formed in 1974 and today employs 100 people and has an annual turnover of £10M.