High-performance solutions to equip your mission

Macrolink® is a trusted name in the design and fabrication of computing hardware components for the aerospace, defense and transportation sectors. For decades, our engineers have been innovating in the field of custom electronic assemblies, providing customers with some of the most advanced fabrication, assembly integrations and in-house testing services in the industry.

Now, as part of Collins Aerospace, our capabilities and commitment to helping customers solve challenges have grown exponentially. You can count on our skilled technicians to be well-trained on the latest assembly and testing technologies. And our products are backed by the Collins reputation for high-performance, unparalleled quality and an unwavering commitment to delivering on-time, tailored solutions for our customers.

Our ATR enclosures and rack mount chassis deliver mission-critical air, sea and ground performance in the most demanding environments. Designed for comprehensive protection against extreme conditions, these custom-built products come in a range of configurations with a variety of design options. Contact us to develop your solution.

Product options matrix

Explore our chassis / enclosure detailed specifications and build a power-ready subsystem suited to your needs. 

Custom front panel, backplane and board capacity options

NGC black box

Custom front panel, rear panel, cooling, single or hybrid technology backplanes, standard or custom power supply solutions for power capacity and voltage rails, system monitoring and board capacity options. 

ATR sizes

black Macrolink box
Our ATR enclosures come in a range of standard sizes – from ½ ATR to 1 ½ ATR – with various "open architectures" to accommodate your needs.

Efficient cooling solutions

Thermal graphic

Whether its high altitude situations or extreme thermal environments, effective avionics cooling is vital to prevent damage from minimized air flow and excessive heat. We eliminate overheating risk by performing thermal analysis on every system. Using native, solid-model CAD geometry, we produce a selection of shaded display, particle trace animation and clipping planes to optimize thermal performance. This analysis ensures that your thermal requirements are met early in the design process, dramatically shortening product delivery time.

After testing a variety of heat transfer types, we’ll implement a cooling solution based on specific board requirements. Our cooling solutions include:

  • Convection (forced air): A filtered, right-sized air intake and baffle combined with high-efficiency fans provide generous airflow through the card cage and peripheral bay.
  • Conduction: Precision-machined card guides in the sidewalls cool both circuit card assemblies and the power supply, conducting heat through this brazed inner structural member to the mounting interface.
  • Liquid sidewall conduction: Liquid sidewall cooling is passed through precision-machined card guides in the sidewalls, cooling both circuit card assemblies and the power supply.

We'll combine or alter these cooling methods as necessary to suit your thermal management needs.

Rugged mechanical design

Falcon 5C white box
Using a blend of machined, formed and extruded components, our ATR enclosures achieve exceptional structural integrity while reducing the number of mechanical fasteners for improved reliability. Using lightweight aluminum brazed per MIL-B-7883, these chassis provide robust EMI and RFI shielding for avionics. Stainless steel captive hardware and self-locking helicoils protect enclosures from shock and vibration.

Corrosion and fungus-resistant finish

Our ATR enclosures are chromate conversion coated for maximum protection against corrosion on all surfaces, per MIL-DTL-5541 Class 3. The exteriors are epoxy painted to military standards and colors. For space applications, we use Anodic Coating per MIL-A-8625. All materials and finishes are fungus-resistant.

3U and 6U product options matrix

6U and 3U VITA
See our COTS and custom VITA compliant product offerings
3U 6U Vita PS Options Matrix

Design engineering

Engineer using CAD software on computer

Drawing from a wealth of experience, our engineers solve your most difficult electronics, interconnect and integration challenges, with a special emphasis on:

  • Electrical and electronics design
  • Power conversion engineering
  • Mechanical/electrical packaging and interface
  • Circuit card design and layout
  • Thermal analysis and modeling
  • Design to customer spec

Capabilities

slim gold box
  • Power supplies and power systems
  • Panels, consoles, and chassis
  • Electronic and electro-mechanical packaging
  • Automated Test Equipment (ATE) design
  • Complete system “box build”
  • Design or build-to-print, fully turn-key
  • Magnetics design
  • Environmental stress screening
  • In-house thermal and vibration capability
  • EMI test capability

System design, development and test

Black box
  • Cockpit control panels
  • Avionics and displays
  • Control systems
  • Obsolescence redesign and part substitution
  • Upgrades utilizing current technologies
  • Software development
  • Packaging and thermal design
  • Environmental stress screening
    • Thermal cycling
    • Random and sinusoidal vibration

Power supply design

Large gold box with handle
  • Power levels – 100 to 5,000 Watts
    • DC inputs -
      • 28VDC, 48VDC, 270VDC
  • AC inputs
    • Single Phase 400HZ
    • 3 Phase 400HZ
  • Input specifications
    • MIL-STD-704 Aircraft
    • MIL-STD-1399 Shipboard
    • MIL-STD-1275 Mobile
    • DO-160
  • Environmental requirements MIL-STD-810
  • EMI/EMC to MIL-STD-461
  • VME / VPX 3U and 6U Power Supply form factors to VITA standards
  • Custom packaging
  • Conduction or air cooling
  • Integrated systems management/communications
    • CAN, I2C, IPMI, VITA 48.11, Ethernet, fiber optic
  • Embedded processing

Platform experience

helicopter

We've developed solutions for a wide range of platforms, including:

  • CH-47 overhead, cockpit, and cargo bay switching panels
  • UH-60 throttle quadrant
  • Open architecture power solutions
  • Airborne radar power systems
  • S-76 cooling system/cockpit panels
  • S-70 searchlight controller
  • B-1B cockpit switching control
  • G/ATOR Humvee radar power supply
  • UAV applications

Key specifications

  • MIL-STD-704 Aircraft
  • MIL-STD-1399 Shipboard
  • MIL-STD-1275 Mobile
  • DO-160

Contacts

General downloads

Power conversion module downloads