General Dynamics C4 Systems (GD4CS) has completed a series of radio-call tests using its AN / PRC-155 two-channel manpack radios and the Lockheed Martin-built mobile-user objective system (MUOS) satellite communications (SATCOM) system.
During the tests, the PRC-155 MUOS-manpack radio successfully connected company personnel located at Fort Bliss, Texas, Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the GD4CS facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, US.
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Featuring person-to-person radio calls and group conference calls, the tests confirmed that personnel using AN / PRC-154A Rifleman and legacy SINCGARS radios can connect with the PRC-155 MUOS-manpack radio to access the MUOS SATCOM system.
General Dynamics C4 Systems president Chris Marzilli said: "The PRC-155 MUOS-manpack radio is the only tactical radio to successfully connect and sustain voice and data communications using the MUOS satellite communications system.
"With the success of this test, the PRC-155 continues to deliver on the promise of the army’s tactical network, keeping soldiers informed and aware, from the most isolated foxhole to the Pentagon and back."
The company-funded test used one or both MUOS satellites, and included mobile and stationary mission environments.
Each test started with a call from a PRC-154A Rifleman or SINCGARS radio using the soldier radio waveform (SRW), which was received on one of two MUOS manpack radio channels.
The manpack radio quickly bridged the outgoing call to the second manpack radio channel, converted the call into the MUOS waveform before transmitting it directly to the MUOS satellite, down to the MUOS ground station and then up to the second MUOS satellite.
The call was then moved to the manpack radio, which switched it back into the legacy or SRW waveform, in addition to routing the call to the intended recipient using the second channel in the MUOS-manpack radio.
General Dynamics consultant and former US Army Training and Doctrine Command commander US Army general Scott Wallace said: "The cellphone-like clarity demonstrated during each call, the communications consistency and ability to use different radios with the PRC-155 MUOS-manpack radio acting as the communications bridge to the MUOS satellite communications system, is a significant step forward in placing the full power of the army’s tactical network in the hands of soldiers."
