Application Spotlight - Deer in the Headlights

It’s interesting to look at applications that use Industrial Grade Flash Storage to operate in harsh environments. While end users of this outdoor application are not the main target of the Cactus Industrial Grade Flash Storage products, it demonstrates a year round requirement of functionality in all types of weather.

One of our manufacturer’s representative partners asked to field test the Cactus SLC SD Card in a rugged application in which his previous “non-Cactus” card failed. We sent him our 806 Series Industrial Grade SD Cards which are designed to withstand harsh environments while being continually written with data.

Initially he had used a lower cost consumer SD card which bit the dust after a few seasons battling the elements. The Industrial Grade Cactus cards have continued to operate years without issue.

The SD cards are being used in a Trail Camera mounted to a tree in the woods. These cameras allow hunters and wildlife aficionados to get images of animals in their natural environment.

In this case, the cameras captured several different images of deer as they made their way through the woods.

The camera is triggered when there is movement of an animal in the vicinity. Once triggered, the camera will take pictures or videos, then return to its stand-by state.

In the field environment, typical temperatures in this Alabama location range from an average of over 90F (32C) degrees to 35F (2C). Worst case temperatures in the state were a high of 111F (44C) and a low of -17F (-29C).

The Cactus Industrial Grade SD Cards can last decades in this application. The standard temp version supports an operating temperature range of -25C to 85C and there is even an extended temperature version supporting -45C to 90C operation.

This may not be the exact application you are designing flash cards for, but for OEMs desiring a significantly more reliable flash card than consumer grade, feel free to contact us for more information.

Steve Larrivee has over 30 year's experience in the data storage market, including 5 years at Seagate Technology and 10 years at SanDisk. He joined Cactus Technologies Limited as an equity partner and Co-Founded Cactus USA in 2007 with partner Tom Aguillon. Learn more about Steve on LinkedIn.