Comtech EF Data CRS-200 REDUNDANCY SWITCH - Manual (Page 6)

CRS-200 COMTECH COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION
CRS-200 REDUNDANCY SWITCH - OPERATIONS MANUAL PAGE 4
COMTECH’S PHILOSOPHY:
SIMPLE = RELIABLE
2 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Why use a Redundancy Switch?
There is only one answer to this question – to automatically protect satellite traffic circuits
against failures in modem equipment, and to hence improve the availability of those circuits.
In order for the Redundancy Switch to carry out its mission, it must be inherently more
reliable than the equipment it is protecting. If it is not, then it is a waste of time and
money installing it in the first place. There are therefore several key design considerations:
! The design should be electrically and mechanically as simple as possible. The
minimum number of electrical components should be used.
! Major elements should be modular, and if a failure in a module should occur, it
should be capable of being replaced without any disruption of normal traffic circuits.
! Single point failures should be avoided. This is particularly true of the Power Supply.
! Cabling should be kept to a minimum. Cables are a traditional source of problems.
! The user interface should be as simple as possible – the software needs to be
intuitive, and easy to understand.
! Un-necessary switching should be avoided. It wastes time and accomplishes nothing.
The CRS-200 embodies all of these design considerations – the emphasis is on simplicity,
without sacrificing functionality.