Raytheon… Interoperability Is Assured (Comms)

[SatNews] Whether using P25 or 4G LTE systems…

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has developed a new server-based system that links 4G LTE and P25 systems over the same network. This ensures that public safety officials can all stay connected when they need it most, whether a firefighter using a legacy FM handheld, an EMS technician with a P25 radio, or a police officer with an LTE-linked mobile data computer in a squad car. Suitable for a wide variety of interoperability applications, the new Raytheon server is scalable, from individual cities to large regions, as desired by each customer. The system uses gateways (such as Raytheon’s recently-released ACU-5000) for local interoperability and also to convert non-IP communications (from radios, telephones, etc.) for transfer to the server. IP-based communications are brought directly to the server.

“Interoperability in a large-scale disaster is critical,” said Bill Iannacci, director of Civil Communications Solutions for Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems business. “Raytheon’s interoperable server solution promotes customer choice, as it integrates the existing equipment of each city and has built-in ability to support next-generation communications technology. This allows municipalities to upgrade hardware, from their preferred vendors, as budgets allow.”

Raytheon’s ACU (Audio Connect Unit) technology initiated the radio interoperability gateway concept in the late 1990s, and the new server system assists its users by incorporating all of the lessons learned since then. High among these is the understanding that during a disaster or other type of incident that requires inter-agency interoperability, most of the links will be local. The new system maintains this local interoperability, as well as the means to control it, even if infrastructure failure breaks the network link to the server.