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Radio manufacturers this year will offer to their military customers a new application that will provide easier connections to communication satellites.
The satcom integrated waveform (satcom IW) will ease the burden being placed on overtaxed ultra-high frequency (UHF) satellites, which are the military's primary means of transmitting secure cornmunications worldwide.
Thales Communications Ine and Harris Corp, two of the largest providers of radio gear to the U.S. military, are both in the process of receiving certifications to integrate satcom IW software into their respective handheld radios. Raydieon Ca and ViaSat Ine are among the other vendors working with satcom IW.
Communicating directiy with satellites has become more crucial in recent years as the war in Afghanistan has placed dismounted troops in canyons and other areas where line-of-sight communications with ground stations is difficult.
These same troops also want to lighten die amount of equipment they must carry. Thaïes executives said the waveform, which can be added to the company's software-defined handheld radios, will result in weight savings.
Currently, dismounted units must carry a separate radio to talk through a satellite, said Walt Hepker, vice president of business development at Thales.
"Now they don't have to carry diat extra 15 pounds," he said. "Our putting the IW in the handheld radio is lightening the soldier's load and increasing his capability with the equipment he already knows how to use and has on hand."
Software defined radios, as opposed to the more common analog communication gear, allow manufacturers to add different functions without having to alter the hardware.
"It's like adding new applications to a computer, which is an overused analogy because it is nowhere near that simple to port a waveform onto a joint tactical radio system," Hepker said.
The JTRS program was launched in the late 1 990s to bring software-defined communications gear to the military. There are five programs of record,...