Digital communications: industry pushing ahead with software-based radios.

LONDON -- THE U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT'S TROUBLED program to replace its radios with a family of software-based communications devices is plodding along slowly. Experts note that it could be several years before these next-generation technologies are available for military use.

The delays in the U.S. joint tactical radio have created a market for military radios that are seeking to fill a near-term demand, according to manufacturers. There is an immediate need--in the U.S. military and elsewhere--for devices that can exchange voice and data communications seamlessly and securely, industry officials say.

Some of the Defense Department's major radio suppliers are jumping into this market on the conviction that software-based radios are the future of military communications regardless of what happens with the U.S. joint tactical radio program.

ITT Corp., which produces military radios for the United States and several international customers, has developed an advanced wideband data radio called SpearNet.

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The 1.5-pound handheld radio has a range of 1 kilometer. The device operates like a small PC in a network--it automatically connects to other radios in the area and creates an ad-hoc net.

"The more radios you have in that network, the broader area of coverage you have in communications," says Ron Manley, director of international business development at ITT.

In a demonstration at a defense industry exhibition, a soldier outfitted with an Internet protocol-based video camera and a SpearNet radio strolled around and transmitted real-time images back to his "headquarters" at the company's booth.

Such capability allows information to travel from an individual soldier up through the squad to the battalion and finally to the brigade headquarters, says Manley. In urban environments, if troops need to transmit information around the corner, the data will jump through nearby radios to transmit to the intended endpoint.

The radio draws only 100 milliwatts of power, he adds.

Because the range of the radio is limited, the company is trying to integrate the Ethernet interface found on the high capacity data radios that currently are used by U.K. forces. These radios operate on ultra high frequency bands, which are commonly used for television and other radio transmissions.

The high capacity radio, combined with SpearNet, would create a longer-range backbone onto which other SpearNet radios can be populated, says Manley.

The radios also could be employed at sea and placed aboard small boats so units ashore could stay in communication with the larger ships. With the high capacity radio, the range can extend as far as 20 to 30 kilometers.

The radio operates in the 20 megahertz frequency, which is difficult to detect, intercept and jam, says Manley. It distributes data over the entire breadth of the frequency, which helps pipe through large amounts of information through a "mesh" network of nodes.

"If you have more radios in the environment, it provides different paths to pass data through," says Manley. "When one radio drops out, it looks to automatically reestablish paths. If the network is interrupted, it will find alternative routes to get that radio back into the network."

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Harris Corp. also has developed a wideband tactical radio that is IP-based and operates in an ad-hoc network. The RF-7800M-MP is a single channel radio that covers the 30 megahertz to 2 gigahertz frequencies.

Powered by a single battery, the "manpack" size system can be used as a fixed-site radio at tactical operations centers or inside vehicles, says Stephen Marschilok, Harris vice president and general manager for international government systems.

The company also has developed a broadband Ethernet radio, the RF-7800W, to create local area networks at tactical operations centers and forward operating bases, says Mike Buddendeck, product manager.

The technology is based on the WiMax 802.16 standard. WiMax, a nickname for wireless metropolitan area networks, is the "last mile" of communications that extends from the end of the fiber- optic line to homes.

"We've taken a technology that works in the commercial band and we've moved it into the military band," says Marschilok.

Users can link operations centers as far apart as 50 kilometers and transmit at data rates of up to 80 megabits per second, Buddendeck says. "Those are pretty nice numbers that customers haven't seen in the defense world."

If users want to connect several tactical operations centers, they can deploy a single unit at each location and have simultaneous transmissions because they are sharing bandwidth, he adds.

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The data is protected with a new type of encryption, says Marschilok. Most encryption works from point to point, meaning data sent from one end is encrypted and then decrypted and encrypted again at each node.

"The point-to-point encryption we have used does not lend itself to the whole push towards Internet protocol," he says.

The National Security Agency has developed a standard called HAIPE, High Assurance Internet Protocol Equipment, which employs an algorithm to encrypt data at the entry point and decrypt it at the final destination.

All wideband radios certified by NSA are required to implement the new HAIPE security protocol. NSA is beginning to certify HAIPE-compliant products, but it hasn't figured out the rules and regulations to release them for international use.

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