Earlier this year Triad RF Systems had the opportunity to partner with the U.S. Army DEVCOM C5ISR Center and PEO C3T (Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical) in Lakehurst, New Jersey in support of their research for the US Army’s Aerial Tier Network (ATN).
The ongoing project will help inform the Army’s future modernization efforts to bring reliable, high-bandwidth communications into difficult terrain, including NLOS environments. As multi-domain warfare continues to evolve, this will be just one way to help provide the technical capabilities necessary to keep soldiers and other assets on the ground connected to the larger operational picture.
Over several days at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, tests were conducted across different frequency bands and weather conditions.
To simulate how the ATN might relay data between two groups without direct line-of-sight communication infrastructure, an aircraft containing a radio serving as a network node was flown in a circle over the test area, while data was relayed via the aerial node between two mobile ground station vehicles.
Triad supported this testing with several Triad High Power Radio (THPR) systems configured for the Silvus Technologies StreamCaster MANET/Mesh Network ecosystem:
THPR1021: 2 Channel C-Band radio, 20W maximum amplified power (10W per channel), with Silvus SC4200 radio module
THPR1055: 4 Channel S-Band radio, 80W maximum amplified power (20W per channel), with Silvus SC4400 radio module
THPR1060: 4 Channel S-Band radio, 200W maximum amplified power (50W per channel), with Silvus SC4400 radio module
The fully integrated and tested line of Triad High Power Radio systems are engineered to deliver long-range, high throughput MIMO performance while working to eliminate many of the issues commonly experienced during complex RF system integration, including: drift in gain or power over temperature and frequency, signal-to-noise ratio, co-channel RFI issues, radio setting configuration issues, and other variables that can add up to degradation in performance or failed links. The goal is to eliminate these issues before they can become mission-stopping problems for customers and their end-users.
