Rajant Corporation, the pioneer of kinetic mesh networks and provider of pervasive, multi-frequency wireless solutions, today announced that it will provide its technology as part of a contract awarded to Kairos Autonomi by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Patuxent River, Maryland, for the Navy Moving Land Target (MLT) program.
Kairos Autonomi, a pioneer in the design and production of systems for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), provides the Pronto4 system, a robotic appliquéé kit that enables automobiles to drive themselves by following a pre-defined GPS path or via remote operation. The Navy intends to use the Pronto4 systems on pick-up trucks that will be used as unmanned moving targets that Navy pilots can fire upon during training exercises. The vehicles will be used nationwide as part of the Navy’s fleet training requirements, which provides Naval aviators the opportunity to engage upon realistic moving land targets.
Rajant will provide 60 BreadCrumb LX3 wireless transmitter-receivers, which will be used to monitor and send control commands to the vehicles and for transmitting video from the vehicles to the control stations. The network of 18 ground control and relay stations will provide communications across the coverage area where the MLT vehicles will operate.
The target vehicles are meant to act and look like enemy combatant vehicles, often unmarked pick-up trucks with mounted weapons, or simply a truck load of enemy combatants. Unmarked commercial vehicles are regularly encountered in theatre and are a dangerous threat to US military ground troops due to their mobility, elusiveness, and unpredictability.
“Portable and fixed BreadCrumb nodes are widely used in military and mining applications today, where ruggedness, motion and flexibility are paramount,” noted Rajant co-founder and CEO Robert Schena. “BreadCrumbs using Rajant’s InstaMesh technology are ideal for this type of application, as the nodes communicate with other BreadCrumb nodes to provide dynamic, on-the-fly frequency changes to adapt to physical surroundings or network availability. We’re proud to work with Kairos Autonomi to enable this level of training for our nation’s armed forces.”
“Rajant radios have proven their fidelity and performance on military training ranges and in other applications,” said Troy Takach, president and CEO of Kairos Autonomi. “We are pleased to partner with Rajant in providing robust data links as part of the Moving Land Targets program.”
The Rajant BreadCrumb LX3 is a rugged multi-radio wireless transmitter-receiver that forms a mesh network when used in conjunction with other BreadCrumb devices. This portable wireless mesh node contains two radios and supports secure connectivity with any Ethernet or 802.11a/b/g client equipment, ensuring full compatibility with millions of off-the-shelf devices including laptops, PDAs, IP cameras, sensors, VoIP phones and other IP gear.
Using Rajant’s advanced InstaMesh protocol, BreadCrumbs enable continuous and instantaneous routing of wireless and wired connections. This dynamic channel-hopping capability allows for total network mobility (kinetic meshing) as well as robust fault tolerance, high throughput and low latency. Specific military applications of Rajant’s kinetic mesh technology include convoy communications, perimeter security, surveillance, UAV applications, man-portable and PAN, instant high-bandwidth net, video monitoring, sensor aggregation and vehicle-communications on the move.