Mini Radio Reprogrammed With Software
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edited by Robert H. Williams
A pocket-sized communications device for infantry is now being produced by
Raytheon, in McKinney, Tex. About the size of a personal digital assistant,
the radio, called MicroLight, is software defined. This high-speed, secure digital
system is “capable of simultaneously supporting voice, data and Blue Force
tracking,” said a spokesman.
MicroLight is reprogrammable and is designed to seize on new technology to
help soldiers gain access to the Army’s tactical internet.
“It’s a small but powerful network radio that cuts several pounds
from a soldier’s equipment load. With MicroLight, soldiers carry one radio,
one set of batteries and one antenna,” said Jerry Powlen, vice president
of the company’s integrated communications systems. The next step in the
development of the deck-of-cards-sized radio is “compliance with the software
communications architecture so that radio can support other essential communications
waveforms.”