ROCHESTER, NYHarris Corp. has announced that its Falcon III AN/PRC-117G(V)1(C) multiband manpack has become the first wideband networking radio to be certified as Software Communications Architecture (SCA) compliant. The certification, from the Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program, ensures that the radio is easily upgradable to JTRS wideband and narrowband waveforms. Harris is the only company to receive JTRS SCA certification for both manpack and handheld radios.
The new certification covers the operating environment of the AN/PRC-117G, which is designated as fully compliant with version 2.2 of the SCA of the JTRS. The SCA provides the overall blueprint for building JTRS software-defined radio systems. The operating environmentalong with the radio's waveform software applicationssynchronizes hardware, firmware, and cryptographic components and controls the radio's transmission of voice and data.
The AN/PRC-117G is a wideband manpack companion to the JTRS-approved Falcon III AN/PRC-152(C) multiband handheld radio, which previously was certified as fully compliant with the SCA. There are more than 40,000 AN/PRC-152(C) radios deployed around the world. Harris recently demonstrated the AN/PRC-117G and its wideband networking capabilities to JPEO JTRS at its headquarters in San Diego. The radio successfully passed voice, data, and video simultaneously in an ad-hoc network that included fixed, mobile,shipboard, and dismounted soldier locations secured with the radio's Type-1 certified HAIPE encryption.
The Falcon III AN/PRC-117G allows the mobile warfighter access to secure IP data at on-air rates up to 5 Mb/s. The radio features mobile ad-hoc networking, automated network establishment and maintenance, and integrated Type-1 security. The softwaredefined AN/PRC-117G offers legacy interoperability with currently fielded radios, incorporating SINCGARS, Havequick II, the High Performance Waveform (HPW), and MIL-STD-181B Tactical Satellite (TACSAT). The radio received Type-1 security certification from the National Security Agency in December 2007. Harris has also conducted field and training demonstrations of the radio for all branches of the Department of Defense.