VHF Narrowband Relay for LOS Extension

Author

Cohen, Aaron E. ; Kennedy, Edward J. ; Rupar, Michael A.

Author_Institution

U.S. Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

6-8 Oct. 2014

Firstpage

1275

Lastpage

1280

Abstract

The Marine Corps has frequent requirements for beyond-line-of-sight communications for voice and narrowband data in challenging terrains that normally limit or truncate links. The Naval Research Laboratory has developed a two-channel narrowband VHF relay that supports narrowband communications using standard Marine Corps radios. This relay is lightweight and designed to be borne aloft at altitudes above 65, 000 ft., providing connectivity to nodes as far as 150 nmi from the relay payload. This paper documents the design and the operation of the balloon-borne VHF relay, dubbed "Surrogate TACSAT", and details results from testing conducted out of Yuma Proving Ground in March of 2014.

Keywords

VHF radio propagation; military communication; radiocommunication; relay networks (telecommunication); LOS; Marine Corps radios; Naval Research Laboratory; Surrogate TACSAT; VHF narrowband relay; Yuma Proving Ground; balloon-borne VHF relay; beyond-line-of-sight communications; narrowband communications; narrowband data; two-channel narrowband VHF relay; voice data; Conferences; Military communication; Balloon; High Altitude; Radio; Relay; VHF;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Military Communications Conference (MILCOM), 2014 IEEE

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MILCOM.2014.212

Filename

6956932