Persistent radios for US Army WMD teams
Persistent Systems will supply more than 950 MPU5 radios to the US Army National Guard's Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (WMD-CSTs) under a $8.9 million contract announced on 13 September.
The contract is in support of the US Army's Unified Command Suite (UCS) Program of Record, which aims to provide interoperable communications between military, federal, state and local emergency response elements on the scene of an incident.
The UCS is a self-contained communications vehicle that can either be driven to, or be air-lifted by C-130, to an incident location. The MPU5 radios enable a high-speed communication network to be established on-the-fly, allowing CST personnel to operate across an incident area while remaining connected both to the vehicle and to each other.
The MANET element of Persistent's solution creates a vast, self-forming, self-healing radio network that does not require outside infrastructure to work. Should a node drop out of the network, sensor data collected by a CST member will be routed another way.
Using the MPU5 reduces the number of relay radios needed to push signals over and around obstacles. The radios provide push-to-talk audio, video encoding, and an integrated Android computing environment that allows the installation of third-party applications. It is a 6W 3x3 radio which provides long range and throughput exceeding 100mbps, enabling national guard CSTs to network their sensors and transmit data collected in the field to the UCS vehicle and then on to a national lab for analysis.
Persistent has started delivering the radios and expects to make another delivery of 500 radios to the UCS programme this month.
You may also like
More from Digital Battlespace
-
![Clavister contracted to supply cyber protection for CV90s]()
Clavister contracted to supply cyber protection for CV90s
Clavister CyberArmour, an integrated defence cybersecurity system, will be used on BAE Systems Hägglunds’ CV90 platform in deployments with a Scandinavian country, as well as in an eastern European nation.
-
![Lockheed Martin completes tactical satellite demonstration and prepares for launch]()
Lockheed Martin completes tactical satellite demonstration and prepares for launch
The tactical satellite (TacSat) is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system and will participate in exercises in 2025.
-
![AUSA 2024: General Micro Systems adds four new products to the X9 Spider family]()
AUSA 2024: General Micro Systems adds four new products to the X9 Spider family
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
-
![BAE Systems gets go-ahead for second phase of mission communications programme]()
BAE Systems gets go-ahead for second phase of mission communications programme
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
-
![Just Released: Space Technology Report]()
Just Released: Space Technology Report
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
-
![Work-from-home warfare: the power of mixed reality]()
Work-from-home warfare: the power of mixed reality
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
