Abstract

Abstract

Modern military operations increasingly rely on compute resources deployed at the tactical edge, where systems can be exposed to environmental conditions far more demanding than those encountered in conventional data centers. Maintaining predictable compute, memory, and storage performance under sustained elevated temperatures is therefore an important requirement for tactical-edge infrastructure.

Anduril Industries commissioned Tolly to evaluate the performance stability of the Voyager VM 4.0 Tactical Edge Compute platform during prolonged high-temperature operation. Tolly installed the system in a controlled environmental test chamber and operated it continuously for approximately 24 hours while chamber temperatures were increased in stages, sustained at elevated levels, and subsequently reduced. The Voyager VM 4.0 ran Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.8 and was equipped with an Intel Xeon D-1746TER processor, 128GB of system memory, and NVMe storage. 

Throughout the thermal cycle, Tolly executed recurring CPU, memory, and storage workloads at approximately hourly intervals. Sysbench measured CPU processing consistency, y-cruncher exercised combined CPU and memory performance by calculating Pi to 250 million digits, and FIO generated random mixed read/write storage workloads. Chamber and processor temperatures were monitored throughout testing, with the analysis focused on identifying performance degradation or instability as temperatures increased and remained elevated.

Testing demonstrated consistent performance across all three workload categories. Sysbench CPU results varied by just 0.22%, while y-cruncher combined CPU and memory performance varied by approximately 1%. FIO storage read/write performance varied by approximately 3%. No progressive slowdown, interruption, or instability was observed during the high-temperature portion of the test.

The results demonstrate that the Anduril Voyager VM 4.0 maintained predictable compute, memory, and storage performance throughout 24 hours of sustained elevated-temperature operation.