DHS Launches Multiband Radio Project
March 17, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
| |
| Defense & Security Tools |
IHS sells defense, military and security information services to meet the needs of today's engineers.
To learn more, and for a free quote, please complete the form below. |
|
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate issued a contract award of $6.275 million to Thales Communications Inc. to demonstrate a portable radio prototype that will allow emergency responders to communicate with partner agencies regardless of radio band.
The radio is equal in cost, size, and weight to existing portable radios, according to the DHS.
To support emergency response radio communications, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission reserved radio spectrum within several different frequency bands for public safety use.
Today, a radio is developed to operate within a specific frequency band with no one radio able to tune to channels within every public safety frequency band.
Consequently, emergency response agencies and support units such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and National Guard that operate in different radio frequency bands cannot communicate with each other.
The multiband radio project is touted as addressing this capability gap by demonstrating a single radio that operates on all public safety radio bands, said the DHS.
The contract has a performance period of 12 months and S&T's Command, Control and Interoperability (CCI) division will manage the multiband radio demonstration to determine how well the technology meets the needs of frontline emergency responders.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate.