Mobile Communications

It’s a war movie cliché that has been repeated in film after film for decades: A group of soldiers is pinned down by enemy gunfire and the radio operator calls in air support, providing coordinates over the radio for aircraft to fly over and take out.

That’s a scenario that once might have been the only means of getting air support, but a host of the latest digital mobile communication equipment allows today’s warfighter to send everything from coordinate-embedded video of a threat to precise position information derived from an enemy’s own communications in near real time.

This can easily be accomplished with the touch of a button from vehicle-mounted terminals, tablet computers and even smartphones that take advantage of latest-generation higher bandwidth, secure military wireless systems. While wireless communication system integration with legacy radio and satellite systems remains a significant issue as the U.S. military attempts to solve equipment interoperability problems on the battlefield, such technology is becoming an increasingly critical part of the sharing intelligence in theater, providing special operations ground units and air support teams a once unthinkable strategic advantage in situational awareness and targeting for the sort of counterinsurgency, high-value target and other operations that dominate contemporary asymmetric warfare.

Logen Thiran, president of the Intelligence, Communications and Avionics Solutions division of Parsippany, N.J.-based DRS Technologies Inc., told Special Operations Technology that there is an unavoidable correlation between communications equipment and intelligence that is all aimed at one goal: ensuring threats are targeted and eliminated with a growing level of assuredness and sophistication.

“What [the warfighters] are looking for is verification before they take action,” said Thiran. “Communications and intel are an integral part of one another in terms of solving this problem.”

Small Radio, Big Power

AR Modular RF’s AR50 tactical amplifier is one of the smallest and most versatile VHF/UHF amplifiers on the market, offering high power 50W output for both line-of-sight (LOS) and UHF SATCOM communications, with switchable low noise amplifier in a package that can be used in both 24 volt military and 12 volt civilian vehicles or run from a battery.

The unit is designed to be used with handheld radios like the PRC-152 or MBITR PRC 148, as well as traditional “backpack” radios like the PSC5-D or PRC-117F/G. The 20 Watt KMW1031 provides a simple (no operator controls) backpackable unit to extend the range of communications for operators with low power handheld radios once they leave their vehicles, or to give improved penetration within dense urban environments where LOS communication ranges often fall down to just a few blocks with a normal handheld radio.

It comes with a built-in power supply that can deal with both military and civilian vehicle supplies or run off one battery.

L-3 Interstate Electronics Corp., a San Diego and Anaheim, Calif.- based division of L-3 Communications, is a provider of full motion video RSTA (reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition) and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) systems for the U.S. military. Its latest offering is the VideoScout system, a softwarebased proprietary system designed to retrieve, disseminate and archive full motion video or infrared sensor data.

Currently used by the Marine Corps in theater, the company recently expanded the mounted and unmounted systems to run on Android smartphones. The family of products includes a network system, laptop and tablet versions. While each provides for robust use, the richness of features does decline the smaller and more portable the unit. Nevertheless, the system not only disseminates video and other sensor information with two-way transmission between the field users and command center, it also can send still images and audio clips along with user notations. It also includes metadata and GPS-based geolocation mapping over moving images that can be used to support targeting and close air support for teams on the ground, including by UAVs while supporting Department of Defense collection tools like the Tactical Ground Reporting System (TIGR) database.

Nicholas Ortyl, vice president and general manager of L-3 IEC’s San Diego-based situational awareness business unit, told SOTECH that the interoperable system is in use on the ground in Afghanistan and adaptable across wireless communication platforms from Wi-Fi and mesh networks to military satellite and commercial cellular data systems, adapting to the bandwidth specifics of each that is secured with AES software encryption.

“There is technology built into all the platforms and all the software so it will appropriately throttle and compress the data so you don’t have any [streaming] issues,” said Ortyl. “If you said ‘What happens when you put 40 users on the system?’ we have algorithms and other technologies to manage all that so you don’t get into this situation where you overload the system.”

In terms of the future applications, Ortyl noted that the firm is exploring capabilities for submarines and adopting it with the help of integrators for incorporation into MRAPs or other ground vehicle retrofit efforts, potentially by combining it with other systems into a single video platform. He added that special forces community interest is particular high, such as for mounting on ATVs and other vehicles.

With close to 2,000 in use on the ground in Afghanistan, Ortyl noted that VideoScout had its genesis with special forces and the intelligence community a few years ago.

“We are getting a very nice pull in that direction because our roots are from the SOCOM world for the man-portable systems,” he said. “It really came out of the intel community. That effort to make it manportable was driven by special forces. They want to be able to push all this information to the tip of spear. That initiative leads us to make a family of portables into a tremendous force multiplier.”

Among the competitors in this sphere, DRS Technologies produces a wealth of communications solutions for the U.S. warfighter, but Thiran pointed to several of its products—specifically in special operations use—including their MAGIC situational awareness systems and manpack COMINT direction finding system tactical signal collection system.

MAGIC (Mobile Mapping of Air and Ground Intelligence Communications) is currently used by special operations in mounted and dismounted avionics configurations in theater. They also provide man-portable versions for use with Windows-based tablets and smartphones.

The scalable, open architecture system provides near real-time geo-located intelligence data on a moving 3-D map display designed for integration with virtually any subsystem including intelligence broadcast receiver, situational awareness data link, MIDS/Link-16, PRC-117F/G, full motion video links, and electronic flight bag data sets. The firm also offers various data storage solutions to combine with a mounted unit and is looking to miniaturize the system further.

“Ultimately it [provides] network interconnectivity of airborne and ground bases, line of sight, non-line-of-sight [wireless communications], all tied together, meeting all those needs in an overarching network,” said Thiran.

DRS’s Manpack system allows a mounted or dismounted solider to collect tactical signal intelligence and geo-location information and share it across a network in theater with the intent of providing a line of bearing on a target to ensure a more rapid threat response.

“Narrowing the kill chain: at the end of the day that is what we are trying to do,” noted Thiran.

Verizon Wireless currently offers a number of component platforms for military use, including the DRS-supplied X10gx and Armor X7 rugged wireless tablets that connect through 3G cellular networks. Laura Cavey, associate director of federal data sales for Verizon Wireless, also pointed to their relationships with several software providers as integral to their effort to provide cellular- based software communications applications for the modern warfighter.

These include Lisle, Ill.-based Lextech Labs for situational awareness video solutions and Tampa, Fla.-based IP Vision Software’s video management solutions. Verizon is also heavily promoting its partnership with Salem, Mass.-based Blueforce Development Corp., which provides the Blueforce Tactical (BTAC) secure information sharing and sensor normalization software for smartphones and PDAs.

Tested and evaluated by Special Operations Command, the BTAC software solution is designed to provide monitoring of real-time soldier biometric sensor information along with video and other information from sensors worn by the soldier, along with location tracking. That test also incorporated perimeter video as well as gas and chemical explosive sensor monitoring.

“They [SOCOM] really want to be able to take care, monitor and understand what is going on with the warfigther in the middle of a mission,” said Cavey.

Cutting Edge

For systems intelligence gathering and dissemination systems to work in theater, they must have access to wireless communications networks. It’s an integral competency in the technology chain on which military suppliers continue to make strides.

Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Raytheon Network Centric Systems is currently in the process of upgrading the company’s SMART-T (secure mobile anti-jam reliable tactical terminal) satellite communications systems for the Army from EHF (extremely high frequency) transmission capability to advanced extremely high frequency (AEHF) capability, increasing the data transmission rate by a factor of five and providing for real-time video, mapping and targeting information transmission. The system provides long-haul communications that can connect multiple secure nodes for robust multi-channel non-line-of-sight communications in the field.

The Army just fielded the first of 365 of the updated HMMWV-mounted, generator-powered system to tactical units.

“[SMART-T] really has been a really great program,” Scott Whatmough, vice president of Raytheon Network Centric Systems’ Integrated Communications Systems, told SOTECH. “We’re just waiting to get some satellites up there so we can provide [further] extended bandwidth for folks in the field.” While it is one of Raytheon’s flagship communications programs, given its four-foot antenna, he admitted that a SMART-T is hard to hide, making it ill-suited for special operations use. But Whatmough said the company is looking at reducing the size of the terminal and antennas while investing in next generation modem capabilities.

“I believe that if we can get our collective ducks in a row, we can provide some [special operationscentric] tactical AEHF terminals,” he said. “It’s going to take a few years but I think special operations will be interested.”

Whatmough also pointed to the company’s MAINGATE (Mobile Ad hoc Interoperability Network GATEway) system as something viewed as a major advance in terms of joint and coalition interoperational radio communications systems for mounted vehicles. Developed with DRS as a partner and under DARPA contract, it can link cell phones, other manufacturers’ radio systems, and even incredibly slow analog legacy battlefield radios to provide combined signal throughput, utilizing airborne relay, SATCOM and other infrastructure interfaces for over-the-horizon communications.

Billed as the next generation of the DARPA Network Centric Radio System, the automatic spectrum management mobile solution has a data throughput capability of 10 MB per second, allowing for around 20 simultaneous live video feeds if deployed at full capacity, according to Whatmough. Though not in current operational use, there are 30 systems currently in theater.

Whatmough said Raytheon is working with the military’s spectrum management operations to get the Joint Tactical Radio System compliant with the aim of getting it into the battlespace, adding that Boeing’s Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) for the Army is “once again under scrutiny.” That program has been plagued with cost overruns after the Army reduced its order from 86,209 to 10,293, boosting unit costs by 50 percent with, according to a Government Accountability Office report, research and development spending increasing by 69 percent from 2002 to 2011.

“[GMR] seems to have nine lives,” said Whatmough. “It does seem that GMR performance is going to open up that space for alternative solutions and we want to be one of those alternative solutions.” Raytheon is pushing intelligence to the tactical edge. The company has developed new capabilities to put critical, protected information directly in the hands of forward deployed units to enhance mission effectiveness.

Raytheon’s Tactical Hand-Off Using Nearest Database Resource (THUNDR) runs on a standard laptop and allows greater mobility for intelligence collection and dissemination by special operations units and echelons at battalion and below. It provides warfighters ready access to intelligence data, maps, images and video with updated information in near real time.

“THUNDR has a modular and scalable deployment footprint and provides connectivity to a service’s cloud computing environment while having the capacity to function in a stand-alone environment when bandwidth or communications are restricted,” stated Mark Bigham, vice president of business development, DCMS, for Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business.

“We’ve also developed the Raytheon Advanced Tactical System (RATS), a wireless mobile platform for users in communications-disadvantaged locations to connect to local available networks, providing interactive communications and collaboration.”

According to Bigham, RATS can be rapidly integrated with new data types, communications systems and databases, providing a unique, secure and tailorable interface along with a software development toolkit for creation of new and customized secure apps. “RATS software allows common mobile devices to be used on the battlefield where ruggedness, battery life and screen visibility are all addressable through various hardware vendors.”

Thiran pointed to the DRS satellite communications on-the-move antenna line that provides continuous K and Ku-Band in-motion satellite communications through a mounted dish platform in multiple configurations, for both ground and sea vehicles, as a key offering in special operations use.

He noted that they are considering expanding the system by lowering the size and footprint to allow for wider airborne use, and making it less physically prominent on ground vehicles. Additionally, they’ve tested the system on X and Ka bands and are hoping to get it certified for use on Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), which utilizes these spectrum ranges.

“It is a key capability that is needed today and is not widely available in the marketplace,” said Tiran. “That’s a key driver for us going forward.”

Boeing was awarded an additional $439 million Air Force contract in September for the components for an eighth WGS satellite. This continues the expansion of the fleet of fielded and proposed WGS satellites, three of which are already in orbit over the Pacific, Middle East and Atlantic regions. A fourth is scheduled for launch in January with two more, including one Australian-financed, expected to launch by 2013 and a seventh expected in 2015. All existing delivery options, part of the overall $1.1 billion contract awarded to Boeing, would bring the fleet of military WGS communications satellites to 12.

Satellite, deployable Wi-Fi and other wireless military communication systems are not the only means for special operations soldiers to both deliver and get access to intelligence information in theater with the level of bandwidth required by the latest technological intelligence gathering and dissemination tools. While cellular networks dominate in some parts of the world more than land lines, particularly in many of the less developed regions where special operations soldiers must now operate, cellular solutions are viewed by some as an increasingly viable battlefield communications solution.

Verizon Wireless’s Cavey told SOTECH that their greatest offering for military communications is its low-latency, high-speed 4G LTE network. While currently only deployed domestically, she predicted LTE will probably become the next global cellular standard with its international partner Vodaphone, China Mobile and other global carriers adopting the high speed standard.

“Without that high speed data access, video becomes more difficult to do on networks that can’t support it,” said Cavey.

“The biggest limitation now is that it is only deployed in the United States,” she acknowledged. “However, that is not permanent. It is just where we are today. Verizon Wireless is on the cusp. We are on the cutting edge of deploying the technology first.” A Navy pilot project testing their MPLS and mobile VPN solutions is currently underway. But while there is interest within DoD in new methods and technologies to secure communications data, that interest varies across the branches and even within them.

For instance, Cavey noted that SOCOM is more open to exploring new network security solutions when compared to Big Army and Big Navy, which are generally interested in sticking to tried and true data security concepts and communications technologies. Nevertheless, she added that the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., maintains a separate network used strictly for testing new products and solutions.

“It really depends on the customer which way we go,” Cavey said, about promoting conceptual tests and new means of securing data for the military end-user. “Some customers are open to looking at new ways of doing things. Others want to stick with the old handbook. If this pilot does work, that would be a way of rewriting the handbook, so to speak,” she added. Cavey also added that while many in the U.S. military are interested in secure, packaged communications solutions, SOCOM appears mostly interested in custom wireless communications products and is open to exploring cutting edge solutions that companies can provide. “They don’t want off-the-shelf solutions anymore, but something custom,” said Cavey.

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