Elma Electronic

Why are tactile feel and smooth operation important for industrial knobs and switches?

Tactile feedback and smooth rotation allow operators to accurately confirm positions without visual attention, improving control reliability in demanding environments. Proper sealing, durable materials, and defined indexing prevent wear, contamination, and mis-operation, ensuring consistent performance and long service life in heavy-duty equipment.

Sometimes, the simplest-looking part in complex equipment can be the most critical. Knobs and switches, for example, tend to be an afterthought… turn, push… what more could they do? A lot, actually. In fact, these small, often overlooked parts can provide big control functions and incorporate more capabilities than you might think.

Millions of rotary switches and knobs They are sold globally every year for heavy-duty commercial and industrial applications, where reliable operation, precise positional setting, and the ability to withstand harsh environments are critical for rugged use.

Reliable operation and dependability out in the field are just two of the core requirements needed for rotary switches and knobs. What good is the knob or switch on a “control panel” if the components fail to “control”? Elma Electronic has spent over six decades focusing on constant improvements to the feel (haptics) and robustness of its switches as well as on the aesthetics, including the finish and the precision fit of its knobs.

Construction is Important to Reliability

Another important consideration is panel and shaft sealing up to IP68 to prevent dust and water ingress into the equipment’s chassis. The option for panel sealing is a standard offering for all of Elma’s rotary switches and encoders. Shaft material should also be of primary concern because the shaft itself is overwhelmingly the point of damaging contact in equipment drops or radial or axial impacts of any kind. Brass as standard material, or stainless steel for added durability in harsh conditions, should always be considered.

In addition to the added robustness provided by brass and stainless, these two premium materials add to the reliability of panel sealing, due to the resultant machine finish on the exterior surface of the shaft, providing a much smoother surface for O-rings to seat against versus machined or tooled aluminum. Lastly, to ensure years of trouble-free electrical performance, all internal contacts are plated with hard gold over a nickel sealing layer.

Functionality Plays a Role

Rugged design elements for switches and knobs are only half the story; switches are available in many competing technologies and knobs are available in many different materials and fixing schemes…all with their advantages and disadvantages. Selecting the correct switch functionality or technology can be confusing, due to some of the common industry vernacular, and knob materials can range from basic plastic to high temperature plastic to different kinds of metals. These elements need to be considered, depending on the application.

Many factors influence the right switch technology, so be sure to ask questions, like the following, before selecting a knob or switch:

What rotational or switching cycle life is needed for the application?

What is the turning force (turning torque) required for the application?

Is the actuator stepped (click/click) or continuous (smooth turning)?

What is the expected indexing angle (space between position) desired for the application?

What are the cost consideration in comparison to your budget?

The following examples highlight some of the non-traditional uses where knobs and switches are helping to provide greater control and functionality in a growing number of rugged applications:

Multi-Mode Selection in Agricultural Applications

An increasingly diverse group of industries are turning to a more sophisticated user interface as digital technologies force the transition from inexpensive components to more sophisticated switches and knobs, and these components are finding their way into traditionally manual, heavy-duty applications.

In the agricultural world, switches and knobs play a critical role in all equipment from planting, harvesting and storage of crops. Because much of the machinery used in commercial agriculture spends its life outdoors, components need to stand up to challenging environmental conditions. Protection against moisture, dust and fine particles is critical to maintaining reliable operation.

In one case, Elma Electronic’s MR50 multi-rotary coded switch is used as the mode selector switch on a grain spreader that needed a switch capable of up to 16 positions with only 1/2” of round space horizontally and 10mm depth behind the panel.

The switch’s front panel meets IP68 panel sealing for ingress protection and operates in temperatures from -45°C to +85°C, ensuring reliable operation across the seasons, wet or dry, hot or cold.

The positive tactile feedback from the MR50 is excellent, even while using heavy-duty gloves; and the standard, low-profile, stainless-steel shaft provides resistance to lateral impacts of all kinds that can occur on a routine basis.

Highest Precision for Performance Aircraft

Air races…fast paced, high flying fun…and at the annual Red Bull Air Race, an official World Championship accredited by the FAI – The World Air Sports Federation, Elma was there, helping pilots cruise through the course!

At the event, pilots navigated their extremely light and maneuverable racing aircraft at a speed of up to 370 km/h (300 mph). This demanding, and extremely safety-critical, environment requires all on-board equipment to include the most reliable and haptic-rich switches available, as pilots do not always look at their controls, but rather turn and count the clicks to know where they are setting the switch, a practice commonly used in public safety radios, as well.

Elma’s robust, mechanical encoder type E33, as well as our space-saving, dual concentric encoder type E37, are staples in the innovative, high-performance aircraft navigation systems developed by LXNAV, and used in a competition aircraft.

The IC-INT-VPX3l is a 3U VPX Single Board Computer based on the Intel® Xeon® W (code name Tiger Lake-H) processor and designed in alignment with the SOSA™ Technical Standard. This high-processing module is ideally suited for mil-aero applications and edge applications such as Mission Computer, Radar and Sonar HPEC.

This blog starts with a story—about surfing. On a recent trip to San Diego, I was watching some of the more experienced surfers sitting in the calm water, getting ready to catch the big wave.  So, I charged into the ocean, got about 10 yards in, and the roller pushes me back to the beach. But I'm not daunted; I get back on the board and the roller pushes me back again.  I got rolled back to the beach about 10 times in a row. I thought I was going to drown. Let’s stop right there

Interestingly, this image leads a little bit into the changes the defense industry is facing. If you feel like you're getting rolled back to the beach more often than catching a wave, you're not alone. The complexity of solutions needed in the defense industry is changing quite a bit, putting significant strain on all of the resources we have, not just in technology but across the board. At the same time the defense contractors are doing cost-down initiatives, electronics manufacturers are being asked to do more and more, with the pressure to do it for less and less.

Click Here : https://www.elma.com/en/news-events/blog/quality-solutions-that-meet-customer-expectations

When edge AI needs to be a system - Maximum integration flexibility in a minimal footprint!   At embedded world 2026, we demonstrate how VNX+ enables powerful computing exactly where it is needed: directly with the operator in the field. Visit our live demo at Hall 3 | Booth 470 and see what a lightweight mission setup in action can look like. A drone above the operator provides aerial awareness, while a compact system processes multiple sensor inputs in real time – including video, thermal imaging and short-range radar. The platform integrates satellite navigation, communication with the command center, augmented-reality support and even real-time translation.   The result: a compact architecture including integrated wearable subsystems that can support police, security forces and disaster-response teams – while remaining flexible enough to integrate a wide range of sensors and interfaces.   Why VNX+? SOSA-aligned architecture based on VITA 90, passively cooled for harsh environments and built on a European supply chain. Maximum integration flexibility in a minimal footprint.

Elma Electronic Inc. has released a 3U CMFF (CMOSS mounted form factor) chassis that is both SOSA and CMOSS aligned as well as SAVE-compliant. The new, off-the-shelf unit is ideal for integrated command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C5ISR) in ground vehicles, tactical combat environments and high-performance ground or rotary wing processing applications.

High Speed Backplanes

The backplane is at the heart of it all. High-performance signal integrity design is critical to reliable and successful systems aligned to SOSA, Building on decades of backplane manufacturing experience, Elma engineers are innovation leaders in high-speed signal processing design and developed the industry’s first SOSA backplanes.

VITA 66.4 optical, 67.1 RF and 67.3 RF/optical modules

Up to 100 Gbase-KR4

Slot counts from 2 - 12

Radial clock slot for IEEE 1588 precision timing protocol and network synchronization

Elma is a key contributor to several of the VITA Standards Organization's Working Groups, driving innovation in open systems standards. Our expertise in technical standards and global defense programs has resulted in a robust portfolio of products based on OpenVPX and the SOSA® Technical Standard, both rooted in VITA standards.

Collaborating with long-term partners, we design, develop, and deploy proven solutions for the most demanding defense applications.

Chassis Management Defined

VITA 46.11 defines a chassis management architecture for OpenVPX that provides automated oversight and administration tools, which serve to provide better insights into a system’s health. As more intelligent monitoring functions are implemented into OpenVPX applications, the need to properly enable smooth system operation and resource management becomes more important.

A Chassis Manager has three primary functions to help keep systems healthy, manage system power and ensure proper cooling (Figure 1):

Resource management: discover all intelligent FRUs (IPMCs), boards and sensors in the chassis as well as any other components that support VITA 46.11

Event monitoring: provide a history of all events on the sensors for each FRU, such as an over-temperature or an under-voltage condition

Diagnostics and response: flag any abnormal or failed sensors or fans as well as clogged filters; adjust fan speed for irregular temperature conditions; report or shut down due to over-/under-voltage/current conditions

Other components of a chassis management system include the IMPI, or Intelligent Platform Management Interface, which manages and monitors system capabilities independently of the host system, and the corresponding IPMB, or Intelligent Management Interface Bus that facilitates system management and IMPC, Intelligent Management Interface Controller designed to help manage the system.

Layers of Management Functionality

Layers of Management Functionality VITA 46.11 also defines two tiers of functionality for the chassis manager and the IPMC to enable implementation flexibility. Tier 1 is the easiest to implement, while Tier 2 provides the highest functionality (Tier 3 is in development).

Chassis Manager Baseline Tier-1:

Maintain an FRU population table containing information for each FRU in the chassis, whether a plug-in module or another type of chassis FRU

Bridge between the System Manager logical layer and the IPMC logical layer

Maintain IPMC state information for each IPMC in the chassis

Chassis Manager Advanced Tier-2:

Tier 2 is a superset of Tier 1, but adds functionality and complexity in capabilities

Support the discovery of each FRU in the chassis

Support management of chassis infrastructure

Participate in event generation and reception

Support event logging

Support dynamic sensor devices

Support FRU recovery, including FRU reset and power cycling

FRU payload control – power, reset, graceful reboot, and initiating diagnostics

IPMC Basic Tier-1:

Responsibility for system IPMB start-up and fault handling

Supporting the discovery of the FRU it controls

Supporting access to the management information for the FRU it controls

IPMC Advanced Tier-2:

Also a subset of Tier 1, adding more capabilities

Participate in event generation and reception

Support dynamic sensor device

The Impacts to on OpenVPX Systems

Chassis managers – as defined in VITA 46.11 – now enable the system designer to find faults before any defects negatively impact the individual board or the entire system; correctly implemented, the chassis manager also can help maintain power levels and reduce overall downtime. Monitoring the health, power and cooling of VPX boards used across military applications, including radar, electronic warfare (EW), communications, sensor processing, etc., is just as important as keeping an eye on the performance and capability of the end system.

When Tier 3 is available, it will also provide reconfigurability for faster redeployment and health monitoring in the event that elements of the chassis start to fail. This becomes even more important as open standards initiatives – such as the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard – are making chassis managers a requirement.

Positive Effects from the SOSA Initiative

During development of the SOSA Technical Standard, Consortium members worked together to introduce VITA 46.11 to power supply modules. This was because SOSA requires monitoring of the power supplies for reporting and control. The result is that chassis managers now have the capability to monitor power supplies within a chassis thanks to contributions from the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Consortium to the VITA 62 standard. So, although SOSA was pushing for power supplies to support 46.11, VITA 62.0 is where this is actually implemented.

In addition to power supplies now accepting commands from the chassis manager, a smart board is contained within VPX power supplies, so the PSU can interface with the chassis manager via the IPMB, providing even better oversight of system resources.

Want to learn more about VPX chassis management and how it relates to SOSA initiatives? Download the white paper ”Chassis Managers: Monitoring Chassis Health and OpenVPX and SOSA Aligned Boards in Military Systems“

Our lineup of easy access development platforms significantly enable fast and efficient system design and integration as well as testing of plug-in cards (PICs) aligned to SOSA. Features include open frame formats for probing and quick board changes; 3U VPX backplane with 1-12 profiles aligned to SOSA (or power and ground only for board development rear transition slots; chassis management; fixed or plug-in power; choice of air- and/or conduction-cooled card guides, VITA 48.x cooling and more.

The VPX3-TL 3U VPX processor blade is powered by Intel® Xeon® W-11865MRE Series Processor, formerly Tiger Lake-H and delivers a greater than generational improvement in performance for enhanced data and graphics and the AI acceleration capabilities required for next-generation mission-critical applications.

Elma Electronic has enhanced its line of SOSA aligned backplanes to include a 7-slot 3U OpenVPX model that further supports the DOD’s Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) mandate.

Complete with six VITA 65 slots and one VITA 62 PSU slot, the new backplane helps facilitate the development of a common architecture across critical C5ISR and EW systems. Specific application functions include mission, weapons or navigation control, surveillance, as well as threat detection and processes or environmental monitoring.

For CMOSS and RF applications, the new backplane features three payload slots and PNT support across all slots. All control and data plane links are designed for 25 Gbps data rates for high-speed signaling on all data paths and support dual domain Ethernet up to 100GBASE-KR4.

The full featured backplane offers cutting edge VITA 67.3 interconnect technology, with VITA 66 and VITA 67 connector modules installed in the backplane apertures upon request.

Support for a number of critical features including a radial slot card for precision timing and synchronization, support for VITA 48.2 2-Level Maintenance (2LM) and VITA 62 PSU isolation fins for high altitude applications are available on this 6+1 backplane.

The VITA Standards Organization (VSO), an ANSI-accredited group, supports the development of open standards like the VPX family. VITA 46 is the base standard that defines VPX. As part of the VPX family, OpenVPX, or VITA 65, provides a framework for system-level interoperability, defining integration points from modules to backplanes and chassis.