The GVR5 mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) radio from Persistent Systems, LLC is a dual-band military radio designed in collaboration with General Dynamics Mission Systems that eases the sharing of voice, video, text, sensor, and location data while on the move. The compact dual-band radio provides secure, reliable communications without need of fixed infrastructure, operating with many different power systems found in military vehicles.
The GVR5 MANET radio can simultaneously operate on two different frequency bands, such as C- and L-band, C- and S-band, or L- and S-band frequencies. Shane Flint, the vice-president of business development at Persistent Systems, explains the role of the GVR5: “Like dismounted users, infantry fighting vehicles and similar platforms have a need for a robust, highly scalable MANET, but that MANET must also fit a special, vehicular environment, which is why we developed the GVR5.” The rugged GVR5 is built to handle the ballistic and gunfire shock requirements of military vehicles and operate within the complex local area networks (LANs) built into infantry fighting vehicles. The compact radio (Fig. 1) is hardened to meet the challenging electronic warfare (EW) requirements of near-peer adversaries.
The MANET radio was designed to aid primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency (PACE) communications. “It automatically routes communications over the best available band depending on geography and RF congestion,” Flint said, “and by leveraging the vehicle’s intercom system, it routes to tactical voice networks, such as SINCGARS, TACSAT, and HF.” The versatile GVR5 radio can connect to satellite communications (satcom) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular communications modems within a vehicle to extend beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) communications for dismounted users and take advantage of Persistent’s Wave Relay MANET technology. By using MPU5 networking devices, dismounted users can wirelessly connect and communicate with a MANET-equipped vehicle when in or near the vehicle and use the GVR5 radio and the system’s embedded Cloud Relay capability for messaging through the vehicle all the way back to a headquarters location.